Who was Sextus Julius Frontinus?

Sextus Julius Frontinus (born about 30 AD) served as governor in Britain, Lower Germany, and as proconsul for the province of Asia (Hierapolis and Smyrna). In 97 AD he was appointed Curator Aquarum of the city of Rome and was mainly responsible for the city’s water supply. It is likely that he continued in this position until his death around 103 AD. Based on his first-hand knowledge, he wrote a detailed description of Rome's water systems. This text has survived in full to the present, and describes the operation and maintenance of the city’s water systems, as well as the responsibilities and requirements for maintaining this complex network. It shows how intricate the water supply in Rome was.

The life of Sextus Iulius Frontinus, as well as his text (in Latin and German translation), are presented in volume 1 of the revised new edition of the Frontinus book series, Geschichte der Wasserversorgung -"Die Wasserversorgung im antiken Rom“, published in 2013.

Based on the edition by W. Letzner and W. Merkel in the book ‘Die Wasserversorgung im antiken Rom’ (Volume 1 of the Frontinus book series ‘Geschichte der Wasserversorgung’), our member Manfred Hainzmann has created an online database, which provides access to the full vocabulary of this unique manuscript of Frontin while simultaneously labelling all deviating readings compared to four other editions:

- Frontin. Les aqueducs de la ville de Rome, ed. P. Grimal, Paris (2nd edition) 1961.
- Sex. Iulius Frontinus, De aquaeductu urbis Romae, ed. C. Kunderewicz, Leipzig 1973.
- Frontino. De aquae ductu urbis Romae, ed. F. del Chicca, Roma 2004.
- Frontinus: de aquaeductu urbis Romae, ed. R. H. Rodgers, Cambridge 2004.

To access this database, click  here  .

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