[4] Before constructing the Cloaca Maxima, Priscus, and his son Tarquinius Superbus, worked to transform the land by the Roman forum from a swamp into a solid building ground, thus reclaiming the Velabrum.

[8][9][10] At the beginning of the sewer's life it consisted of open-air channels lined up with bricks centered around a main pipe.

[citation needed] By the time of the late Roman Republic this sewer became the city's main storm drain.

[16][17][18] Pliny the Elder, writing in the late 1st century, describes the early Cloaca Maxima as "large enough to allow the passage of a wagon loaded with hay.

In more recent times, the remaining passages have been connected to the modern-day sewage system, mainly to cope with problems of backwash from the river.

In the 1600s the Cardinal Chamberlain imposed a tax on residents of Rome in order to pay for the upkeep of the sewer.

Pietro Narducci, an Italian engineer was hired by the city of Rome to survey and restore the parts of the sewer by the Forum and the Torre dei Conti in 1862.

[13] The Cloaca Maxima started at the Forum Augustum and followed the natural course of the suburbs of ancient Rome, which led between the Quirinal, Viminal, and Esquilline Hills.

The extraordinary greatness of the Roman Empire manifests itself above all in three things: the aqueducts, the paved roads, and the construction of the drains.

It could transport one million pounds of waste, water, and unwanted goods, which were dumped into the streets, swamps, and rivers near Rome.

It used gutters to collect rainwater, rubbish, and spillage, and conduits to dispense up to ten cubic meters of water per second.

Aside from religious significance, the Cloaca Maxima may have been praised due to its age and its demonstration of engineering prowess.

[32][33] Livy describes the sewer as:Works for which the new splendor of these days has scarcely been able to produce a match.— Titus Livius, Titus Livius, The History of Rome, Book 1The writer Pliny the Elder describes the Cloaca Maxima as an engineering marvel due to its ability to withstand floods of filthy waters for centuries.

British writer Henry James stated that it gave him: "the deepest and grimmest impression of antiquity I have ever received."