Cloaca Maxima
The Cloaca Maxima is a location in Rome and the city's primary sewer system. The location appears as a Secret Location and Lair of Romulus in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood.
Constructed in ancient Rome in order to drain local marshes and remove the waste of one of the world's most populous cities, it carried an effluent to the River Tiber which ran beside the city, making it one of the most innovative pieces of infrastructure of its time. It is is one of the world's earliest sewage systems.
The name literally means Greatest Sewer. According to tradition it may have been initially constructed around 600 BC under the orders of the king of Rome, Tarquinius Priscus.
This public work was largely achieved through the use of Etruscan engineers and large amounts of semi-forced labour from the poorer classes of Roman citizens. Underground work is said to have been carried out on the sewer by Tarquinius Superbus, Rome's seventh and last king.
Although Livy describes it as being tunnelled out beneath Rome, he was writing centuries after the event. From other writings and from the path that it takes, it seems more likely that it was originally an open drain, formed from streams from three of the neighbouring hills, that were channelled through the main Forum and then on to the Tiber. This open drain would then have been gradually built over, as building space within the city became more valuable. It is possible that both theories are correct, and certainly some of the main lower parts of the system suggest that they would have been below ground level even at the time of the supposed construction.
Aqueduct outfall
The eleven aqueducts which supplied water to Rome by the first century AD were finally channelled into the sewers after having supplied the many public baths such as the Baths of Diocletian and the Terme di Traiano, the public fountains, imperial palaces and private houses. The continuous supply of running water helped to remove wastes and keep the sewers clear of obstructions. The best waters were reserved for potable drinking supplies, and the second quality waters would be used by the baths, the outfalls of which connected to the sewer network under the streets of the city. The aqueduct system was investigated by the general Frontinus at the end of the first century AD, who published his report on its state direct to the emperor Nerva.
The Romans are recorded to have dragged the bodies of a number of people to the sewers rather than give them proper burial, among them the emperor Elagabalus and Saint Sebastian
Slaves were initially responsible for completing this major job, some ending their own lives to avoid the grueling and painful work.
