Meta Sudans

As Meta Sudans a type of an ancient fountain is called, in which, in a pool of water, a conical meta ( turning point of a Roman Circus) is; from its tip from running over them water in the basin, so that the meta seems to sweat, of which the name sudan ( sweating ) originates.

Most famous was the Meta Sudans in Rome near the Colosseum. Coins of the year 80/81 AD, these Meta Sudans together with the completed amphitheater. Excavations from the 1980s confirm this dating. Probably the most well marked a point at which since the time of Augustus met four or five boroughs. At the same time this began the Via Sacra, which led to the Roman Forum. The foundation of the Meta Sudans was 10 m deep, the Meta 17 m high, the basin had a diameter of 15.9 m. The tip of the Meta was crowned with a gargoyle equipped middle part with niches. The complex was obtained in parts and was eliminated under Mussolini 1933-1936 in connection with the expansion of Via dell'Impero (now the Via dei Fori Imperiali ), together with the remains of the base of the Colossus of Nero. In the 1990s, the remains of the Meta Sudans were exposed again.