 The Nymphaeum did not perhaps figure in the first, late-republican, forum and was perhaps devised when 
forum was raised in level in the remodelling of the first century AD in the Claudius era.It is, however, a very old example since its construction must date from the early years of the 1st c. AD, and therefore well before the great nymphaea of Africa (2nd c. AD) so that Valeria is closer to the older Hellenistic types.The hillside fell abruptly on this side of the Forum and it was necessary to build a high retaining wall which would have compromised its aesthetic appearance.