List of Roman cisterns

The list of Roman cisterns offers an overview over Ancient Roman cisterns. Freshwater reservoirs were commonly set up at the termini of aqueducts and their branch lines, supplying urban households, agricultural estates, imperial palaces, thermae or naval bases of the Roman navy.^[1]

The Basilica Cistern in Constantinople provided water for the Imperial Palace.

Cisterns

	Cistern	Location	Country	Water supply	Width (m)	Length (m)	Clear height (m)	Water depth (m)	Capacity (m³)	Volume (m³)
	Basilica Cistern or Yerebatan Saray	Constantinople	Turkey	Rainwater harvesting	65	138	9		85,000 [2]
	Bordj el-Djedid	Zaghouan	Tunisia	Aqueduct of Carthage	39	154.6 (oblong)			25,000 to 30,000 [2]
	Cistern of Philoxenos or Binbirdirek Cistern	Constantinople	Turkey	Rainwater harvesting	66	65	14 to 15		32,500 [2]
	Theodosius Cistern	Constantinople	Turkey	Rainwater harvesting
	Cistern System at Masada (Northern Cisterns)	Judaean Desert	Israel	Rainwater harvesting					40,000[3]	40,000[3]
	Piscina Mirabilis	Bacoli near Misenum	Italy	Serino Aqueduct	25 [4] (27 [2])	166 [4] (72 [2])	10.3 [4] (±10 [2])	7.5 [4] (? [2])	10,700 [4] (12,600 [2])	14,300 [4] (? [2])
	Roman cisterns	Fermo	Italy	Rainwater harvesting	30	170	6	0,70	3,000	10,000 [4]
	Grotta Dragonara	Bacoli near Misenum	Italy	Rainwater harvesting	70 [4] (6 [5])	172 [4] (60 [5])	19.5 [4] (? [5])	4.5 [4] (? [5])	17,700 [4] (? [5])	11,900 [4] (? [5])
	Il Cisternone	Albano	Italy							10,132 [6]
	Cisternone Romano	Formia	Italy		25	65	6.5			8,000 [2]
	Aïn Mizeb	Thugga	Tunisia	Aqueduct						19,000
	Aïn El Hammam	Thugga	Tunisia	Aqueduct						16,000
	Cripta Romana	Cumae	Italy	Serino Aqueduct	31	138	18.0	3.0	12,100	15,300 [4]
	Piscina Cardito, Southern Reservoir	Puteoli	Italy	Campanian Aqueduct[7]	16	155	16.0	4.5[B 1]	14,000[B 1]	15,300 [4]
	Piscina Lusciano	Puteoli	Italy	Serino Aqueduct	25	127	16.5	4.0[B 1]	12,700[B 1]	14,400 [4]
	Tunnel Cistern[A 1]	Baiae	Italy	Rainwater harvesting	13.5	300	13.0	2.0	12,100	12,800 [4][B 1]
	Cento Camerelle, Upper Reservoir	Misenum	Italy	Rainwater harvesting	18	123	17.8	5.5	12,000	12,450 [4]
	Cento Camerelle	Puteoli	Italy	Campanian Aqueduct?	17	170	15.2	2.0	11850	12,000 [4]
	Cento Camerelle, Lower Reservoir[A 1]	Misenum	Italy	Rainwater harvesting	12	160	14.0	3.0	11960	11,100 [4][B 1]
	Piscina Cardito, Northern Reservoir	Puteoli	Italy	Campanian Aqueduct[7]	18	134	1?	1.3[B 1]	11350[B 1]	1? [4]
	Domitian's Villa [6]	Albano	Italy		11	123
	Villa Jovis	Capri	Italy

Notes

1. Estimated values

1. Excavated parts

See also

• Roman architecture
• Roman engineering
• Roman technology

References

1. Döring 2002, pp. 310–319
2. De Feo, Giovanni & De Gisi, Sabino & Malvano, Carmela & De Biase, O. (2010). The Greatest Water Reservoirs in the Ancient Roman World and the “Piscina Mirabilis” in Misenum. Water Science & Technology: Water Supply. vol. 10, issue 3, pp 350–358. Publication by IWA Publishing, 2010.
3. "Masada National Park". Israel Nature and Parks Authority. Retrieved 2023-03-28.
4. All data from: Döring 2002, pp. 310–319 (esp. 313)
5. Cucco, Mauro (10 January 2022). "Grotta della Dragonara". bacoli.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2023-03-27.
6. Adam 2004, pp. 250–51
7. Ferrari, Graziano. "The campanian aqueduct stairway rediscovered". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

Sources

• Adam, Jean-Pierre (2004), Roman Building. Materials and Techniques, Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-20866-6
• Döring, Mathias (2002), "Wasser für den 'Sinus Baianus': Römische Ingenieur- und Wasserbauten der Phlegraeischen Felder", Antike Welt, vol. 33, no. 3, pp. 305–319

Further reading

• De Feo, Giovanni & De Gisi, Sabino & Malvano, Carmela & De Biase, O. (2010). The Greatest Water Reservoirs in the Ancient Roman World and the “Piscina Mirabilis” in Misenum. Water Science & Technology: Water Supply. vol. 10, issue 3, pp 350–358. Publication by IWA Publishing, 2010.

External links

Media related to Roman cisterns at Wikimedia Commons

• Roman Aqueducts – Basins in Roman aqueducts
• Traianus – Technical investigation of Roman public works