Aqua vetustate et incuria delapsa: il degrado degli impianti idrici e gli interventi di restauro nella documentazione epigrafica

The inscriptions provide a wide and detailed documentation on the degradation of the Roman aqueducts and the consequent interruption of the water flow. These phenomena were mainly related to the collapse of the supporting structures, due to multiple factors, such as incorrect design, lack of characteristics knowledge of the soil on which the arches rested, the action of water thieves or, even, the lack of maintenance. Often, the damage was so serious that, as the inscriptions remind us, the construction of a new fabric was preferred to the restoration of the already existent one. Since interventions on aqueducts are often linked to evergetism initiatives, implemented to promote the image of the character (the emperor or a magistrate, for instance) who paid for the work, the data offered by epigraphs must always be verified by crossing them with those offered by other sources, in particular from the archaeological evidence