Tiber
Tiber | |
---|---|
Native name | Tevere (Italian) |
Location | |
Country | Italy |
Physical characteristics | |
Source | |
• location | Mount Fumaiolo |
• elevation | 1,268 m (4,160 ft) |
Mouth | |
• location | Tyrrhenian Sea |
Length | 406 km (252 mi) |
Basin size | 17,375 km2 (6,709 sq mi) |
Discharge | |
• average | 239 m3/s (8,400 cu ft/s)[citation needed] (in Rome) |
The Tiber (
The river rises at
Sources
The
Etymology
The genesis of the name Tiber probably was pre-Latin, like the Roman name of Tibur (modern
Legendary king
History
According to legend, the city of Rome was founded in 753 BC on the banks of the Tiber about 25 km (16 mi) from the sea at Ostia. Tiber Island, in the center of the river between Trastevere and the ancient city center, was the site of an important ancient ford and was later bridged. Legend says Rome's founders, the twin brothers Romulus and Remus, were abandoned on its waters, where they were rescued by the she-wolf, Lupa.[13]
The river marked the boundary between the lands of the
The Tiber was critically important to Roman trade and commerce, as ships could reach as far as 100 km (60 mi) upriver; some evidence indicates that it was used to ship grain from the Val Teverina as long ago as the fifth century BC.[4] It was later used to ship stone, timber, and foodstuffs to Rome.
During the Punic Wars of the third century BC, the harbour at Ostia became a key naval base. It later became Rome's most important port, where wheat, olive oil, and wine were imported from Rome's colonies around the Mediterranean.[4] Wharves were also built along the riverside in Rome itself, lining the riverbanks around the Campus Martius area. The Romans connected the river with a sewer system (the Cloaca Maxima) and with an underground network of tunnels and other channels, to bring its water into the middle of the city.
Wealthy Romans had garden-parks or horti on the banks of the river in Rome through the first century BC.[14] These may have been sold and developed about a century later.
The heavy sedimentation of the river made maintaining Ostia difficult, prompting the emperors
Several popes attempted to improve navigation on the Tiber in the 17th and 18th centuries, with extensive dredging continuing into the 19th century. Trade was boosted for a while, but by the 20th century, silting had resulted in the river only being navigable as far as Rome.[4]
The Tiber was once known for its floods — the Campus Martius is a
Because the river is identified with Rome, the terms "swimming the Tiber" or "crossing the Tiber" have come to be the shorthand term for converting to
In ancient Rome, executed criminals were thrown into the Tiber. People executed at the Gemonian stairs were thrown in the Tiber during the later part of the reign of the emperor Tiberius. This practice continued over the centuries. For example, the corpse of Pope Formosus was thrown into the Tiber after the infamous Cadaver Synod held in 897.
Bridges
In addition to the numerous modern bridges over the Tiber in Rome, there remain a few ancient bridges (now mostly pedestrian-only) that have survived in part (e.g., the Ponte Milvio and the Ponte Sant'Angelo), or in whole (Pons Fabricius).
In addition to bridges, the Metro trains use tunnels.
Representations
Following the standard Roman depiction of rivers as powerfully built reclining male gods, the Tiber, also interpreted as a god named Tiberinus, is shown with streams of water flowing from his hair and beard.[18]
See also
References
- ^ (in Italian) Dizionario d'ortografia e di pronunzia Archived 2020-12-02 at the Wayback Machine
- ISBN 0691049459.
- ^ Lazio – Latium | Italy Archived 28 August 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c d "Tiber River". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2006
- ^ "Tiber". World Encyclopedia. Philip's, 2005.
- ^ "Tiber Springs – Mount Fumaiolo". turismo.fc.it. Archived from the original on 27 September 2013. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
- ^ "Tuscany tours – the origin of the Tiber River". Farm Holidays Le Ceregne. Archived from the original on 11 May 2010. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
- ^ a b "Tiber". Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names. John Everett-Heath. Oxford University Press 2005.
- ^ George Davis Chase, "The Origin of Roman Praenomina", in Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, vol. VIII (1897)
- ^ Cf. e.g. G. Alessio "Studi storico-linguisitci messapici" in Archivio Storico Pugliese p. 304; "Sul nome di Brindisi" in Archivio Storico Puglese VIII 1955 p. 211 f.; "Apulia et Calabria nel quadro della toponomastica mediterranea" in Atti del VII Congresso Internazionale di Studi Onomastici Firenze 1962 p. 85.
- ^ G. Simonetta "La stratificazione linguistica dell' Agro Falisco" p. 6 citing G. Alessio.
- ^ G. Alessio "Problemi storico-linguistici messapici" in Studi Salentini 12 1962 p. 304.
- Telegraph Media Group Limited. Archivedfrom the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
- ^ "Horti:LacusCurtius • Gardens of Ancient Rome (Platner & Ashby, 1929)".
- OCLC 1028881404.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: date and year (link - ^ Madigam, Kevin (2010). "Pope Benedict, Disaffected Anglicans, and Holocaust-Denying Bishops". Harvard Divinity Bulletin. 38 (1 & 2). Retrieved 16 June 2022.
- ISBN 978-0-7864-6955-0.
- ^ Tiber. Bloomsbury Dictionary of Myth (1996)
Further reading
- Schönau, Birgit (2023). Die Geheimnisse des Tibers: Rom und sein ewiger Fluss. München: C.H. Beck. ISBN 9783406808371.