1130
It is notable that despite their diversity of background, each of these men believed that knowledge of ancient texts and artifacts was centrally relevant to the solution of urban problems of hydraulic engineering. Discussions concerning the nature of water and the causes of flooding, references to Vitruvius, Pliny, and Frontinus, reporting of ancient inscriptions, and concrete engineering solutions all appear in their writings. It can be assumed that these writings, with their combined antiquarian and practical focus, enhanced the authority and reputations of their authors.
[…]
Given the cultural importance of Rome in the late Renaissance, the significance of the link between hydraulic engineering and antiquarian research is especially noteworthy. It shows that the practice of engineering had great continuity, that ancient Roman engineering had urgent relevance to sixteenth-century projects. It also shows that the sixteenth-century context differs profoundly from more recent engineering practice, with its requirements concerning the professionalization of engineers and its em- phasis on technical specifications, innovative practices, and inventions. Further, evidence is lacking for this decade in Rome of the developing interest in the application of mathematics and the study of physical laws to hydraulic problems that appears in the late sixteenth century in other regions of Italy, particularly in the North.80 In contrast, Roman hydraulic engineering between 1560 and 1570 brought to completion massive [Forts. S. 1131]