Lead water pipe, with inscription, Rome Alison E. Cooley AEC/ASHL AN1924.8.xml Oxford Ashmolean Museum AN1924.8 AshLI 441

A section of lead water pipe (fistula) with inscription.

Dimensions. Length: 0.355; circumference: 0.342 (Accessions Register)

Letters, 0.025 (Accessions Register) Rome AD c.71 (date of Vespasian’s repair of the aqua Claudia) It was found near the aqua Claudia outside the Porta Maggiore in Rome (Vickers 1992 p.25 fig. 24). Ink labels upon the object indicate that it was found in Rome in 1879, and was given to the museum by Mr Welbore St. Clair Baddeley, a well-known local antiquarian in Gloucestershire. It is currently on display in the Rome Gallery Photograph.
Imperatoris Caesaris Augusti Vespasiani sub cura Callisti Augusti liberti procuratoris

Of Imperator Caesar Augustus Vespasian, under the management of Callistus, imperial freedman, procurator

Other similar water-pipes are recorded found in the area of the via Veneto in Rome (AE 1902, nos 183-84; ILS 8678; AE 1954, no.61). The first procurator known to have been appointed in charge of the aqueducts dates from the Claudian period: as in this example, he was an imperial freedman, and would have been delegated with tasks by the higher status curator aquarum (Bruun 1991: p.207

Ashmolean Museum Department of Antiquities MS. Accession Register 1924.8; Vickers 1992: p.25 fig. 24

Vickers M. 1992 The Ancient Romans Oxford Ashmolean Museum Bruun C. The Water Supply of Ancient Rome: A Study of Roman Imperial Administration Helsinki Societas Scientiarum Fennica