Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1224

 1200 TIBUR. tion is, therefore, tliat assigned it by De la Marmora, who fixes it on the port or small bay called Porto di Lungo Sardo, almost close to the northernmost point of the island, the Errebantium Prom, of Ptolemy. (De la Marmora, Voy. en Sardaigne, vol. ii. pp. 421 — 432, where the whole question is fully examined and discussed.) [E. H. B.] TIBUK (?) TiSovpivMV or Ti§ovp-i]vwv tt6Ais, Polyb. vi. 14 ; ra TiSovpa, Strab. v. p. 238 ; rh TL€ovp, Pto'l. iii. 1. § 58; :^ Ti§vpis, Steph. B. p. 564: £lh. Tiburs, Liv. vii. 9 ; Virg. Aen. xi. 757; Hor. S. i. 6. 108; Tac. ^ww. xiv. 22, &c.; Tiburtinus, Cic. Phil. V. 7; Prop. iv. 7. 85; Plin. Pj). vii. 29, &c.; Tiburnus, Stat. Silv. i. 3. 74; Prop. iii. 22, 23: now Tivoli), an ancient and celebrated town of Latium, seated on the Anio, to the NE. of Rome, from which it was distant 20 Roman miles {Itin. Ant. p. 309; cf. Mart. iv. 57; Procop. B. G. ii. 4). Tibar lies on an offshoot or spur thrown out from the northern side of what is now called Monte RipoU, at a level of between 800 and 900 feet above the sea. This ledge extends across the bed of the Anio to Monte Cntlllo on its north bank, thus form- ing a natural barrier over which the river leaps into the valley below, from a height of about 80 feet, and forms the celebrated wateifall so fre- quently mentioned by the ancient writers (Strab. /. c; Dionys. H. v. 37 ; Hor. Od. i. 7. 13, &c.). The town lay principally on the cliff on the left or southern bank, where it is half encircled by the Anio. It is probable that at a remote period the waterfall was lower down the river than it is at present, since there are tokens that the stream once washed the substructions of the terrace on which the round temple is built; especially a broken wheel embedded in the cliff at a height of 150 feet above the abyss called the Grotto of Neptune. The awful catastrophe in a. d. 105 recorded by the younger Pliny (/s;;. viii. 17), when the Anio burst its banks and carried away whole masses of rock — monies he calls them — with the groves and buildings upon them, must have produced a remarkable change in tiie character of the fall. We may gather, from .some descriptions in Propertius (iii. 16. 4) and Statius (Silv. i. 3. 73), that previously to that event the Anio leaped indeed from a high rock, but that its fall was broken towards its lower part by projecting ledges, which caused it to form small lakes or pools. From the time of Pliny the cataract probably re- mained much in the same state down to the year 1826, when the river again swept away a number of houses on the left bank, and threatened so much danger to the rest that it was found necessary to divert its cour.se by forming a tunnel for its waters through Monte Catillo on the right bank. This alteration spoiled the romantic points of view on the side of the grottoes of Neptune and the Sirens; but the fall is still a very fine one. Scarcely inferior to it in picturesque beauty are the numerous small cascades, called Cascatelle, on the western side of the town. These are formed by water diverted from the Anio for the supply of various manufactories, which, after passing through the town, seeks its former channel by precipitating itself over the rock in several small streams near what is connnonly called the villa of ]Iaecenas. Nothing can be finer than the view of these cascades from the declivities of Monte Pesckiavatore, whence the eye ranges over I he whole of the CampagnUj, with Rome in the dis- tant background. The country around Tibur was not very fertile TIBUR. in grain; but it was celebrated for its fruit-trees and orchards ("pomosi Tiburis arva," Col. 7^. /?.x.p. 347, ed. Lugd 1548 ; cf. Propert. iv. 7. 81: " Pomosis Anio qua spumifer incubatarvis"), and especially for its grapes and figs (Plin. xiv. 4. s. 7, xv. 19). Its stone, now called travertino, was much used at Rome for building, whither it was easily conveyed by means of the Anio, which became navigable at Tibur (Strab. I. c). Vast remains of ancient quarries may still be seen on the banks of that river (Nibby, Viaggio Ant. i. 112). Of this material were con- structed two of the largest edifices in the world, the Colosseum and the Basilica of St. Peter. The air of Tibur was healthy and bracing, and this was one of the recommendations, together with its beautiful scenery, which made it a favourite retirement of the wealthy Romans. Besides its salubrity, the air was said to possess the peculiar property of bleaching ivory (Sil. It. xii. 229; Mart. viii. 28. 12). Tibur was also famed for its pottery (Sen. Ep. 119). The foundation of Tibur was long anterior to that of Rome (Plin. xvi. 87). According to Diony.sius of Halicarnassus (i. 16), it was one of the cities founded by the Siculi when they had possession of Italy; in proof of which statement he adduces the fact that in his own time part of the town was still called Sicelion ; a name which would also indicate its having been one of the chief cities of that people. Another legend aiBrmed that the Siculi were ex- pelled by Tiburtus, Coras and Catillus II., sons of Catillus I. The last was the sou of Amphiaraus, the celebrated Theban king and prophet, wLo flou- rished about a century before the Trojan War. Ca- tillus migrated to Italy in consequence of a ver sacrum. Tiburtus, or Tiburnus, the eldest of his three sons, bec:ime the eponymous hero of the newly founded city ; for such it may be called, since the Siculi dwelt only in unwalled towns, which were subsequently fortified by the Greek colonists of Italy. According to Cato's version of the legend, libur was founded by Catillus, an officer of Evander (Solin. i. 2). From these accounts we may at all events infer the high antiquity of Tibur. The story of its Greek origin was very generally adopted by the Roman poets, whence we find it designated as the " moenia Catili" by Horace (Crf. i. 18. 2; cf. Ih. ii. 6. 5; Virg. Aen. vii. 670; Ov. Fast. iv. 71, Amor. iii. 6. 45; Stat. 5z"fo. i. 3.74: Sil. It. iv. 225, viii. 364). Tibui- possessed a small surround- ing territory, the limits of which, however, we are unable to fix, all that we know respecting it being that the towns of Empuluni and Sassula, besides one or two others, at one time belonged to it. Both these places lay in what is called the Valle di Sici- liano, to the NE. of the town, the name of which is probably connected with the Sicelion of Dionysius. Enipulum is identified with the present Ampiglione, a place about 4 miles distant from Tibur. Sassula probably lay 2 or 3 miles beyond Empulum, in the same direction. The boundary between the Tibur- tine territory and that of the Sabines was very un- certain. Augustus adopted the Anig as the limit ; yet considerable uncertainty seems to have prevailed even subsequently to the assumption of that boundary. Thus according to Tacitus {Ann.'s.iw 22), the terri- tory of Tibur extended beyond the Anio, and in- cluded Sublaqueum, the modern Stibiaco, which is commonly assigned to the Aequi. Originally Tibur with its territory seems to have belonged to the Sabine.s. Pliny enumerates Tibur among the Sabine towns (iii. 12. s. 17).