The Aqua Marcia was constructed in 144 BC by Quintus Marcius Rex, for whom it is named. It followed the via Tiburtina into Rome and entered the city in its eastern boundary at the Porta Tiburtina of the Aurelian Wall. The aqueduct was well known for its cold and pure waters.
The aqueduct was repaired by Marcus Agrippa in 33 BC, and then later again by Augustus, according to the inscription in the arch that was later made into the Porta Tiburtina. Augustus also augmented the supply by linking it to an additional source, the Aqua Augusta, doubling the throughput. Much of its supply was siphoned off by private citizens for their own use, making it effectively only a trickle in the city by the time of Nero. The supply was increased again by later emperors. By the time Frontinus measured the city's aqueducts in 97 AD, the Aqua Marcia was capable of supplying 49,600,000 gallons of water a day to the city, the second-greatest source of the city's water.