Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1222

 1198 TIBEEIS. turn, are, the Hmella (^Aia) and the FARFAnus oi-.Fabaris (Far/a). The Tiber is unquestionably, in a merely geo- graphical point of view, the most important river of Central Italy, but its great celebrity is derived from its flowing under the walls of Rome, or rather through the heart of the city, after this had attained to its full extension. The detailed account of the river in this part of its course must be sought in the article RojiA: we need here only mention that after flow- ing under the Milvian Bridge [Pons Mila'ius or MuLVius] the river makes a considerable bend to the W. so as to approach the foot of the Vatican hills, and leave, on the other side, between its left bank and the nearest ridge of hills, a broad tract of plain, early known as the Campus ]Iartius, the whole of which was eventually included within the imperial city. A short distance lower down, but still within the walls of the city, its stream was di- vided into two by an island known as the Insula TiBEHiNA, and reported by tradition to have been formed by alluvial accumulations within the period of Roman history. It is remarkable that this is the onlv island of any consideration in the whole course of the river, with the exception of that called the Insula Sacra, at its mouth, formed by the two arms of the river, and which is undoubtedly of late growth, and in great part of artificial formation. The Tiber was at all times, like most rivers which are supplied principally by mountain streams, a turbid, rapid, and irregular river, that must always have presented considerable difficulties to navigation. The yellow and muddy hue of its turbid waters is re- peatedly alluded to by the Roman poets ("flavum Ti- berim," Hor. Car7n.i. 2. 13; " suo cum gurgite fiavo," Virg. Aen: i:s. 816; &c.), and the truth of Virgil's description," Vorticibusrapidiset multa flavus arena," (.-lew. vii. 31), must be familiar to everyone who Las visited Rome. In the upper part of its course, as we learn from Pliny, the river was with difficulty navigable, even for small boats ; nor did its first tributarie,-, the Tinia and Clanis contribute much to its facilities in this respect, though their waters were artificially dammed up, and let off from time to time in order to augment the main stream. (Plin. iii. 5. s. 9.) But from the point of its junction with the Nar, the Tiber became navigable for larger vessels, and even from an early period extensive supplies of various kinds were brought down the river to Rome. (Liv. ii. 34, v. 54; Cic. de Rep. ii. 5; &;c.) In the more flourishing period of the city the navigation of the Tiber was of course enor- mously increased ; and vast supjilies of timber, stone, and other materials for building, as well as corn and provisions, were continually introduced by means of the river and its tributaries. (Strab. v. p. 235.) Corn was brought down the Tiber even from the neighbourhood of Tifernum, when the upper part of the stream was navigable. (Plin. Ep. v. 6.) It seems also to liave been used as an ordinary mode of travelling, as we are told that in A. d. 20, Piso, the murderer of Germanicus, proceeded fiom Narnia to Rome by descending the Nar and the Tiber. (Tac. Ann. iii. 9.) At the present day the river is navi- gated by boats of large size as far as the confluence of the Nera, and small steamers ascend as far as Borghetto, a few miles from Otricoli. But it was from Rome itself to the sea, a distance of 27 miles by the river (Strab. v. p. 232), that the navigation of the Tiber was the most important. Pliny speaks of it as in this part of its course na- TIBERIS. vigable for the largest vessels (" quamlibet magna- rum navium ex. Italo mari capax "). and as becoming the receptacle of merchandise from every part of the world. The latter statement may be readily ad- mitted; but the former is calculated to astonish any one acquainted with the river in its present condition yet it is partly confiimed by the distinct statement of Strabo (v. p. 232), that the larger da.-s of mer- chant vessels used to ride at anchor in the open .--ea off the mouth of the river, until they had been lightened of a part of their cargoes, which they dis- charged into barges, and aftenvards proceeded up I the river to Rome. Dionysius gives the same ac- count, with the exception that vessels which ex- ceeded 3000 amphorae in burden were unable to enter the river at all, and forced to send their cargoes up by barges. (Dionys. iii. 44.) But all kinds of rowing vessels, not excepting the largest ships of war, were able to ascend the river (/i.); and thus we find the younger Cato on his return from Cyprus proceeding at once in his galley to the Navalia within the walls of Rome. (Flut. Cat. 3Hn. 39.) We learn also from Livy that the ships of war which had been taken from Perseus king of Macedonia, though of unusual size (" inusitatae ante magnitu- dinis"), were carried up the river as far as the Campus Martins (Liv. xlv. 42); and even the gigantic vessel constructed for the purpose of bringing the obelisk that was set up in the Circus Maximus, was able to ascend as far as the Vicus Alexandri, within three miles of Rome (Ammian. xvii. 4. § 14). The cliief difficulties that impeded the navigation of the river in the time of Strabo were caused by its own accumu- lations at its mouth, which had destroyed the port of Ostia. These were afterwards in great measure re- moved by the constraction of an artificial port, called the PoRTUs AuGUSTi, commenced by Claudius, and enlarged by Trajan, which communicated by an artificial canal or arm with the main stream of the river. (The history of these works, and the changes which the mouths of the Tiber underwent in conse- quence, are fully given in the article Ostia.) The importance of the navigation of the Tiber led to the formation of distinct bodies or corporations in connection with it, called Navicnlarii and Lenun- cularii, both of which are frequently mentioned in inscriptions of imperial times (Preller, p. 147). Another disadvantage under which the Tiber laboured, in common with most rivers of mountain origin, arose from the frequent inundations to which it was subject. These appear to have occurred in all ages of the Roman history ; but the earliest re- corded is in B. c. 241, immediately after the close of the fir.st Punic War (Oros. iv. 11), which is said to have swept away all the houses and buildings at Rome in the lower part of the city. Similar inunda- tions, which did more or less damage to the city are recorded by Livy in b. c. 215, 202, 193, and again in 192 and 189 (Liv. sxiv. 9,xxx. 38, xxxv. 9, 21, xsxviii. 28) and there is little doubt that it is only from the loss of the detailed annals that we do not hear again of the occurrence of sinjilar cata- strophes till near the close of the Republic. Thus we find a great inundation of the Tiber noticed as taking place in B.C. 54 (Dion Cass, xxxix. 61), which is alluded to by Cicero {ad Q. Fr. iii. 7); and several similar inundations are known to have occurred in the time of Augustus, in b. c. 27, 23 and 22, of which the first is probably that alluded to by Horace in a well-known ode. (Hor. Caiin. i. 2. 13; Orell. Excurs. ad I. c. ; Dion Cass. liii. 20,