Forgotten rival of Ancient Rome featured an impressive water basin

The city of Rome has been inhabited continuously for 14,000 years—long before it became known by its current name. While this makes the Italian capital city a world capital in terms of archaeology and ancient history, the centuries and centuries of construction make it difficult to study the city’s ancient beginnings.

Enter Gabii, an ancient Roman city 11 miles east of Rome you’ve probably never heard of unless you’re an expert in the field.

ancient ruins — Built around 250 BCE with evidence that some parts may be even older, this man-made structure may be one of the earliest examples of Roman monumental architecture other than temples and city walls. *Image: Marcello Mogetta.*

“While Rome’s earliest layers were buried beneath centuries of later construction, Gabii–a once-powerful neighbor and rival of Rome, first settled in the Early Iron Age–was largely abandoned by 50 B.C. and later reoccupied on a much smaller scale,” Marcello Mogetta, an archaeologist at the University of Missouri, said in a statement. “Because of this, Gabii’s original streets and building foundations are unusually well preserved, offering a rare glimpse into early Roman life.”

Within this context, Mogetta’s team found the remains of a giant stone-lined basin smack dab in the middle of Gabii. This example of early Roman monumental architecture is partially dug into the bedrock and dates back to around 250 BCE, though some parts might be older. As such, the basin provides rare insight into early Roman city planning, according to Mogetta.

aerial view of an ancient city in italy — An aerial view of the ancient Roman city of Gabii, located just 11 miles east of Rome. *Image: Marcello Mogetta.*

What’s more, its place in the ancient city’s center and close to the primary crossroads indicates that it could have been a monumental pool in Gabii’s forum. Forums were important public spaces in the center of ancient Roman cities. According to Mogetta, the early Roman Forum is still a bit of a mystery, thus Gabii sheds crucial light on its evolution.

In the future, archaeologists at Gabii plan to continue excavating the layers that collected in the basin and around it, as well as look into a strange anomaly nearby, originally identified via thermal imaging scans. The anomaly might be a temple or other sort of big civic building.

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“If it’s a temple, it could help us explain some of the artifacts we’ve already found in the abandonment levels of the basin, such as intact vessels, lamps, perfume containers and cups inscribed with unusual markings,” Mogetta explained. “Some of these objects may have been deliberately placed there as religious offerings or discarded in connection with the ritual closing of the pool around 50 C.E.–thus underscoring the crucial role played by water management in ancient cities.”

It still remains to be seen whether early Roman monumental architecture was more influenced by political or religious life.