If
the city of London has the Thames and
the city of Paris has the Seine, then
Rome has the Tiber. It’s name dating
back before the time of the Roman Empire;
the river is thought to be named after
the mythical King Tiberinus who was said
to have drowned in the ancient Albula
river, which was subsequently renamed
the Tiber. Its course flows through the
Campagna and Rome in its course from Mount
Fumaiolo to the Tyrrhenian Sea, which
it reaches in two branches that cross
the suburbs of Ostia-Isola Sacra in the
south and Fiumicino in the north.
There is another legend that says that
ancient Rome's founder (a man named Romulus)
and his twin brother (a man named Remus)
were abandoned in its waters, where they
were rescued by a she-wolf who raised
them as wolves. When the boys had grown
they were told of their past, and after
a short bout of vengeance they set off
to make a town of their own. Reportedly
lead to the Palatine Hill with a view
of the Tiber, Romulus decided he had found
the spot, and began drawing the city’s
borders with a plough. Remus crossed this
holy border as a sign of its insignificance,
and Romulus struck him dead. With this
he reportedly declared, “Everyone
who dared to offend Rome would pay with
his life”. This set the pattern
of slaughter and arogance that would last
the span of the Roman Empire.
The
Tiber of course is (and has always been)
an important river for trade and commerce.
Since the days of the Punic Wars the harbour
at Ostia was a key naval base, important
for controlling the area. The river is
heavily charged with sediment but does
not form a delta, owing to a strong north-flowing
sea current close to the shore, to the
steep shelving of the coast, and to slow
tectonic subsidence. This silt has buried
many a treasure and monument, and every
once and a while the river gives up a
treasure or secret from the past. The
ancient Romans connected the river with
a sewer system (the Cloaca Maxima) and
with an underground net of tunnels and
other channels to bring water into the
middle of the city.
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