Cloaca Maxima

The Cloaca Maxima was the large central sewer in Rome. Even today, parts of it are used to drain rainwater from the modern city. Originally an open canal built by the Etruscans in the 6th century BC, the Romans built over the waterway as the population grew. Water came into Rome via the aqueducts and then passed through the fountains, palaces, baths and latrines down into several tributary drains. These emptied into the Cloaca Maxima before all the waste of Rome went into the River Tiber and finally out to sea. Private houses had their own sewage systems in chamber pots and cess pits! This highly sophisticated drainage scheme had its own deity to watch over it: the goddess Cloacina ensured a clean city above.