Tiber

The Tiber in Rome with the Ponte Sant'Angelo

The Tiber (Italian Tevere, Latin Tiber ) is 405 km in length after the Po and the Adige River is the third longest river in Italy. It rises in the Apennines, flows through the Italian capital of Rome and flows west of the city in the Tyrrhenian Sea.

Name

The legend laid the naming of the Tiber in early, possibly vorlatinische time. The ninth king of Alba Longa, Tiberinus was drowned in the river that was later named after him.

Source

The Tiber rises in the Apennines at Monte Fumaiolo (1407 m) at 1348 meters above the village Balze (municipality Verghereto ), which still belongs to the region of Emilia -Romagna. This goes back to Benito Mussolini, who was from the Romagna region. He had embarrassed the region boundary, so that from then on was no longer the source in Tuscany, but in his native region. A column was prepared and added to a marble inscription: "Here arises the Tiber, sacred origin of Rome ."

Course

Already at the foot of the mountain reaches of the river Tuscany and runs from here substantially parallel to the highway " 3 bis " and reached around 30 km just outside the village of Sansepolcro Umbria. Accompanied by the expressway, it flows through the towns of Citta di Castello, Umbertide, Perugia to Todi. From here you can follow the river on the road 448 to the nature reserve " Parco del Tevere Fluvial " where the Tiber is to Lago di Corbara (138 m). On discharge coming from Orvieto A1 is achieved, which now accompanies the Tiber to Rome. The Tiber valley forms the border between Umbria and Lazio until after places in Magliano Sabina Lazio finally be achieved. At the ancient streets of Via Tiberina and the Tiber Via Salaria is now flowing to Rome. In the Tiber island, the river divides below the steep Capitol Hill, what a river crossing and a settlement of the Latins allowed early on the Palatine Hill, from which the later Rome grew.

Mouth

In ancient times the Tiber flowed about 60 km southwest in the port city of Ostia into the sea. Already AD 42 caused the silting of the estuary in a new plant and relocation of the port under the Emperor Claudius, and again under Trajan after Portus. Meanwhile, the sea is 3 km far from Ostia Antica. At the port of Claudius of Airport, the hexagonal harbor of Porto is surrounded by private land is located. The modern Lido di Ostia is a suburb of Rome, with sandy beaches and especially in summer a popular recreation area.

Mouth of the Tiber, left Lido di Ostia, right Isola Sacra

Tributaries

The main tributaries of the Tiber are Chiascio Chiani, Allia, Nera and Aniene.

The Tiber in Roman history

The Tiber is also demonstrated by its old name Albula, has always played a significant role in Roman history. So the twins Romulus and Remus should have been exposed in a basket on the Tiber River and have been washed ashore in the area of the later Forum Boariums. Romulus is said to have founded Rome in 753 BC.

In the Tiber flowed the Cloaca Maxima, the great sewer of ancient Rome.

From the port of Ostia, later Porto attracted ox wagons with goods loaded vessels upriver to Rome. The shards of broken Roman river port in the ancient city gate Porta Portese amphorae were for centuries collected on a hill, the Monte Testaccio, which is still 40 meters high today.

In the ancient Milvian Bridge (Italian: Ponte Milvio ) in the north of present-day Rome co-emperor Constantine I defeated his rival Maxentius on 27 October 312 From the former pontoon bridge (the actual bridge had been canceled for strategic reasons ) Maxentius fell with his heavy arms into the Tiber and drowned. The then newly-built bridge is still preserved in parts. The key to the rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire episode is shown on the Arch of Constantine in Rome.

After the aqueducts had been destroyed in the migration period, remained out of the fountain of the Tiber River, the only water source of the city, which is why the settlement focus shifted to the Tiber knee on the former Field of Mars and Trastevere. While the body of the Synod in the year 897 the strained from her crypt corpse of Pope Formosus was thrown into the river.

The silted channel from the time of Trajan, the river, the sea and the port of Porto had in common was opened under Pope Paul V in 1612 again and still exists today. The same pope had also set ancient aqueducts repaired.

Because of the Tiber in the city, whose focus was now right near the Vatican on the river, repeatedly brought devastating floods, he was laid in 1870 by the particularly bad in 1876 within Rome in a deep channel, so as well as cut living water vein, destroyed the ancient buildings on the shore. Today we tried to renature the Tiber and regain as the lifeblood of the city.

Others

In early December 2008, the level of the Tiber rose sharply by heavy rains. Within one night nearly 100 liters of rain per square meter went down, which corresponds to the rainfall of the month. This led to flooding of numerous suburbs; especially the northern city of Rome were affected. Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno called on 12 December 2008 a state of emergency. The Tiber rose to its highest level in 40 years.