Roman aqueduct
Rome's first aqueduct was built in 312 BC, and supplied a water fountain at the city's cattle market. By the 3rd century AD, the city had eleven aqueducts, sustaining a population of over a million in a water-extravagant economy; most of the water supplied the city's many public baths. Cities and towns throughout the Roman Empire emulated this model, and funded aqueducts as objects of public interest and civic pride, "an expensive yet necessary luxury to which all could, and did, aspire".
Piscina Publica
There is some disagreement as to whether the reservoir was fed by one of several springs in the immediate area or by the "aqua Appia", the first public aqueduct built by Appius Claudius Caecus. Located just inside the Porta Capena, it was the first site for both communal water distribution and sports. The aqueduct supplied water for wool processors near the "piscina".