Roman Tunnels

• Roman Tunnels were built to transfer water underground or to pass a road or aqueduct through a mountain. The Fucine Lake was drained by a tunnel.
• Tunnels were also built for mines, sewers and for underground tombs. Several Roman tunnels still exist today.

Road Tunnels

• Grotta di Cocceio, Naples (38-36 BCE)
  • This is the longest Roman road tunnel with a length of 0.6 mile (1km), also built using the counter excavation method It is closed to the public.
• Crypta Neapolitana (37 BCE)
  • The Crypta Neapolitana is a Roman Tunnel 0.5 mile (700 m) long connecting Naples with Pozzuoli on the Via Domitiana.
  • It was built in 37 BCE by Agrippa, during the Civil war between Octavian and Sextus Pompey.
• Petra Pertusa (Passo dei Furlo) (69-79 CE)
  • Petra Pertusa means ‘Tunneled Rock’ and is a Roman Tunnel built using the counter excavation method, which is still in use today. It is also known as Passo del Furlo.
  • It was built by Vespasian (69-79 CE) in the narrowest point of a mountain gorge on the Via Flaminia, 25 miles (40km) from the Adriatic It is 121 feet (37m) long and 20 feet (6m) high.

Water Supply Tunnels

• Qanat Tunnels
  • In De Architectura the Roman Engineer Vitruvius (c.88 BCE-c.15 CE) describes how qanat tunnels were built in order to supply water. These tunnels were also built to divert lakes and rivers for irrigation.
  • He describes how qanat tunnels were built using a series of regular vertical shafts known as (puteus or lumen) for access and ventilation.
• The Fucine Lake Tunnel
  • In 41 CE Claudius drained the Fucine Lake with a 3.5 mile (5.6km) tunnel which utilised vertical shafts and took 30,000 men eleven years to build.
• Titus Tunnel (69-161 CE)
  •  The Titus Tunnel is a pair of Roman Tunnels located in Syria, 15 miles (24km) from Antioch and built to transfer flood waters.
  • It was commenced by Vespasian in 69 CE and completed by Antoninus Pius in 161 CE. The total length of the structure is 2,870 ft (875m) and includes a section of canal.
  • The Tunnel was designed by engineers from the Legio X Fretensis, and was completed by Legionaries from the Legio IIII Scythica and Legio XVI Flavia Firma.
  • Running inside both tunnels on one side is a raised cistern to conduct spring water.
  • The Tunnels can be visited by the public.

Sewer Tunnels

• Cloaca Maxima
  • The Cloaca Maxima is the ‘Great Sewer’ of Rome. It is an underground canal or conduit built around 600 BCE and is still in use today.
  • It passes underneath the Forum Romanum, in Rome and empties into the river Tiber.
• York Sewer Tunnels
  • The Roman Fortress had drainage tunnels built underneath which were excavated in 1974.

Tunneling from both ends

• This was known as the Counter Excavation Method where two teams started at opposite ends intending to meet in the middle. The method was developed in the 6th century BCE to penetrate mountains.
• The Roman Engineers had to guess where the two tunnels would meet and sometimes missed either because they were at the wrong height or because they bypassed each other.
• Saldae Aqueduct, Algeria (c.150 CE)
  • An inscription by the Roman Engineer Nonius Datus describes how the two tunnels missed and had to be connected by a cross tunnel. Fortunately, the tunnels were on the same level.
  • The tunnel was 1,404 feet (428m) long.

Military Tunnels

• The Roman Army had engineers who knew how to build tunnels, but they were usually built for mining operations or for creating a water supply.
• Siege tunnels by the Roman Army were rare, however they were used against the Roman Army on two notable occasions.
• During the Siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE, the defenders successfully tunneled under the Roman siege machines and collapsed them.
• In 256-7 CE the walls of the Roman fortress of Dura Europos were tunneled under by the Persian soldiers and the fortress fell to the Sassanid Empire.

Mining Tunnels

• Roman Mine Meurin
  • This is an excavated Roman Tuff mine near Koblenz in Germany which is open to the public.
  • Visitors can explore the galleries which have been uncovered.

Tunnels for Tombs

• Catacombs of Ancient Rome
  • Tunnels were driven through the volcanic tuff rock under the city of Rome.
  • Rome has 40 known Catacombs. Many are several miles long and have up to four levels. They lie between 22-65 ft (7-19m) below ground.

Roman Tunnels that still exist today

• Titus Tunnel, Syria.
  • The tunnel was built to transfer flood waters.
• Petra Pertusa, Italy.
  • The tunnel was built for a road.
• Crypta Neapolitana, Naples, Italy.
  • This tunnel was also built for a road.
• Chislehurst Caves, England.
  • Chislehurst Caves are man made tunnels constructed by the creation of an Ancient chalk and flint mine that the Romans continued to develop.

Titus Tunnel