The Cloaca Maxima is a reliable indicator of the urban and infrastructural transformation of the central area of ancient Rome as well as constituting a revealing observation point
for reconstruction of the urban history of the city, dating from the period of kingdom to the
end of the Imperial Age.
Here we offer a critical review of the ancient sources on the Cloaca, a reconstruction
of the main historical events it went through and an analysis of its functional and symbolic
significance, also in relation to the monuments which, above ground, kept trace of its route
(
sacrum Cloacinae, lacus Curtius, Doliola, signum Vertumni).