Birth Control and Sex Drive

I found this interesting and it had never occurred to me that birth control could cause this problem.

A bit of info:   Testosterone is a hormone that gives a woman her sex drive. Testosterone is produced by the testicles of men.  But in women it is produced by the adrenal gland.   I have a low to non existant sex drive and also had a tumour of the adrenal gland.

The Aqua Marcia

Excuse me for my excess.  I always get excited when I find something with my name on it.  I never heard of another Marcia in my childhood and adolesence and have still only met one other.  I’m 52, so this is dire.  So, I am delighted to find my name in history even though it is thousands of years ago.

The Aqua Marcia was the longest of the 11 aqueducts that supplied the city of ancient Rome. It arose from springs in the Anio valley, near the modern day towns of Arsoli and Agosta and followed an ancient road between Rome and Tivoli called the via Tiburtina. After a journey of over 91 km the aqueduct reached Rome and supplied water to the Viminal Hill, Caelian, Aventine, Palatine, and Capitoline regions of the city.

The Aqua Marcia was constructed between 144 – 140 BC by the Roman Magistrate PraetorQuintus Marcius Rex, after whom it was named. The aqueduct was funded from the spoils from the Roman conquests of Corinth and Carthage during the Third Punic War. The water provided by the Aqua Marcia was an important ingredient allowing Rome’s expansion into a large imperial city.

During its long history it was extended and joined to other aqueducts. One such extension to the Capitoline Hill caused controversy due to a warning in the prophetic Sibylline Books about bringing water there. The aqueduct was repaired on a number of occasions. Both Marcus Agrippa and then later the Emperor Augustus are recorded to have been responsible for renovation works on part of the aqueduct. Augustus also linked it to the Aqua Augusta, which doubled its output. However, in the time of the Emperor Nero the output was reduced to a trickle, having had much of its supply siphoned off by the populace before reaching the city. However, later generations insured the supply was increased again. By the time the distinguished Roman aristocrat Frontinus measured the city’s aqueducts in about 97AD, the Aqua Marcia was supplying 187,600,000 litres a day to the city. This made it the second-greatest source of the city’s water.

The Aqua Marcia can be seen today in various ruins around Rome and its outskirts. The still-functioning Aqua Felice, built in 1586, runs along long stretches of Aqua Marcia’s route.