Editing Tiber

{{short description|Major river in central Italy}}
{{about|the Italian river}}
{{Infobox river
| name              = Tiber
| native_name       ={{native name|it|Tevere}}
| image             = PonteSantAngeloRom.jpg
| map               = Tibre.png
| image_caption     = The Tiber in [[Rome]] near the [[Ponte Sant'Angelo]]
| mapframe          = yes
| mapframe-zoom     = 6
| source1_location  = [[Mount Fumaiolo]]
| mouth_location    = [[Tyrrhenian Sea]]
| subdivision_type1 = Country
| subdivision_name1 = [[Italy]]
| length            = {{convert|406|km|mi|0|abbr=on}}
| source1_elevation = {{convert|1268|m|ft|-1|abbr=on}}
| mouth_elevation   =
| discharge1_avg    = {{convert|239|m3/s|ft3/s|-2|abbr=on}}{{citation needed|date=July 2018}} (in Rome)
| basin_size        = {{convert|17375|km2|mi2|0|abbr=on}}
| extra             = 
}}

[[File:0 Tibre - Pont Vittorio Emanuele II - San Spirito in Sassia - St-Pierre (Vatican).jpg|thumb|right|View of the Tiber looking towards [[Vatican City]]]]
[[File:Rome flood marker.jpg|thumb|Rome [[Historical marker|flood marker]], 1598, set into a pillar of the [[Ospedale di Santo Spirito in Sassia|Santo Spirito Hospital]] near [[Basilica di San Pietro]].]]
[[File:tiber in flood.jpg|thumb|right|Highest level of Tiber for 40+ years, 13 December 2008, at [[Tiber Island]].]]

The '''Tiber''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|t|aɪ|b|ər}} {{respell|TY|bər}}; {{langx|it|Tevere}} {{IPA|it|ˈteːvere|}};<ref>{{in lang|it}} [http://www.dizionario.rai.it/poplemma.aspx?lid=6319&r=19952 Dizionario d'ortografia e di pronunzia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201202061558/http://www.dizionario.rai.it/poplemma.aspx?lid=6319&r=19952 |date=2020-12-02 }}</ref> {{langx|la|Tiberis}}<ref>{{cite book |title=Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World: Map-By-Map Directory |editor=Richard J. A. Talbert |volume=I |year=2000 |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton, NJ and Oxford, UK |isbn=0691049459 |page=630 }}</ref>) is the [[List of rivers of Italy|third-longest river]] in [[Italy]] and the longest in [[Central Italy]], rising in the [[Apennine Mountains]] in [[Emilia-Romagna]] and flowing {{convert|406|km|mi|0|abbr=on}} through [[Tuscany]], [[Umbria]], and [[Lazio]], where it is joined by the River [[Aniene]], to the [[Tyrrhenian Sea]], between [[Ostia (Rome)|Ostia]] and [[Fiumicino]].<ref>[http://www.lifeinitaly.com/tourism/lazio/default.asp Lazio – Latium | Italy] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090828051204/http://www.lifeinitaly.com/tourism/lazio/default.asp |date=28 August 2009 }}</ref> It [[Drainage basin|drains a basin]] estimated at {{convert|17375|km2|0|abbr=on}}. The river has achieved lasting fame as the main watercourse of the city of [[Rome]], which was founded on its eastern banks.

The river rises at [[Mount Fumaiolo]] in Central Italy and flows in a generally southerly direction past [[Perugia]] and Rome to meet the sea at [[Ostia (town)|Ostia]]. Known in ancient times as {{langnf|la|'''[[Wikt:flavus|Flavus]]'''|the Blond|links=no}}, in reference to the yellowish colour of its water, the Tiber has advanced significantly at its mouth, by about {{convert|3|km|0|abbr=on}}, since Roman times, leaving the ancient port of [[Ostia Antica (archaeological site)|Ostia Antica]] {{convert|6|km|0|abbr=off}} inland.<ref name="eb">"Tiber River". ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. 2006</ref><ref>"Tiber". ''World Encyclopedia''. Philip's, 2005.</ref> However, it does not form a proportional [[river delta|delta]], owing to a strong north-flowing sea current close to the shore, due to the steep shelving of the coast, and to slow [[tectonic subsidence]].

==Sources==
[[File:Source of Tiber.JPG|thumb|Column built in 1930s near the source of Tiber]]

The [[Source (river or stream)|source]] of the Tiber consists of two [[Spring (hydrosphere)|springs]] {{convert|10|m|abbr=on}} away from each other on [[Mount Fumaiolo]]. These springs are called ''Le Vene''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.turismo.fc.it/_vti_g2_608.aspx?rpstry=30_ |title=Tiber Springs – Mount Fumaiolo |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927020843/http://www.turismo.fc.it/_vti_g2_608.aspx?rpstry=30_ |archive-date=27 September 2013 |access-date=23 February 2019 |work=turismo.fc.it}}</ref> The springs are in a [[beech]] forest {{convert|1268|m|abbr=on}} above [[sea level]]. During the 1930s, [[Benito Mussolini]] had an antique [[marble]] Roman column built at the point where the river rises, inscribed <small>QUI NASCE IL FIUME SACRO AI DESTINI DI ROMA</small> ("Here is born the river / sacred to the destinies of Rome"). An [[eagle]] is on the top of the column, part of its [[fascist symbolism]]. The first miles of the Tiber run through [[Valtiberina]] before entering Umbria.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tuscanyfarmholiday.net/tuscany-tours/tevere-monte-fumaiolo.php |title=Tuscany tours – the origin of the Tiber River |work=Farm Holidays Le Ceregne |access-date=23 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100511054240/http://www.tuscanyfarmholiday.net/tuscany-tours/tevere-monte-fumaiolo.php |archive-date=11 May 2010}}</ref>

==Etymology==
The genesis of the name ''Tiber'' probably was pre-Latin, like the Roman name of Tibur (modern [[Tivoli, Italy|Tivoli]]), and may be specifically [[Italic languages|Italic]] in origin. The same root is found in the Latin ''[[praenomen]]'' ''[[Tiberius (praenomen)|Tiberius]]''. Also, [[Etruscan language|Etruscan]] variants of this praenomen are in ''Thefarie'' (borrowed from [[Faliscan language|Faliscan]] ''*Tiferios'', lit. '(He) from the Tiber' < ''*Tiferis'' 'Tiber') and ''Teperie'' (via the Latin hydronym ''Tiber'').<ref name="everett">"Tiber". ''Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names''. [[John Everett-Heath]]. [[Oxford University Press]] 2005.</ref><ref>George Davis Chase, "The Origin of Roman Praenomina", in ''Harvard Studies in Classical Philology'', vol. VIII (1897)</ref>

Legendary king [[Tiberinus Silvius|Tiberinus]], ninth in the king-list of [[Alba Longa]], was said to have drowned in the River Albula, which was afterwards called ''Tiberis''.<ref name="everett"/> The myth may have explained a memory of an earlier, perhaps [[Proto-Indo-European language|pre-Indo-European]] name for the river, "white" (''alba'') with sediment, or "from the mountains" from [[Pre-Indo-European languages|pre-Indo-European]] word "alba, albion" mount, elevated area.<ref>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.</ref> ''Tiberis/Tifernus'' may be a pre-Indo-European substrate word related to [[Tyrsenian languages#Aegean language family|Aegean]] ''tifos'' "still water", Greek [[phytonym]] ''τύφη'' a kind of swamp and river bank weed (''[[Typha angustifolia]]''), [[Iberian language|Iberian]] [[hydronym]]s ''Tibilis'', ''Tebro'' and [[Numidian]] ''Aquae Tibilitanae''.<ref>G. Simonetta "La stratificazione linguistica dell' Agro Falisco" p. 6 citing G. Alessio.</ref> Yet another etymology is from *dubri-, water, considered by Alessio as [[Sicel]], whence the form Θύβρις later Tiberis. This root *dubri- is widespread in Western Europe e.g. Dover, Portus Dubris.<ref>G. Alessio "Problemi storico-linguistici messapici" in ''Studi Salentini'' '''12''' 1962 p. 304.</ref>

==History==
According to legend, the city of Rome was founded in 753 BC on the banks of the Tiber about {{convert|25|km|abbr=on}} from the sea at [[Ostia Antica|Ostia]]. [[Tiber Island]], in the center of the river between [[Trastevere]] and the ancient city center, was the site of an important ancient [[Ford (crossing)|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.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1570109/The-legend-of-Romulus-and-Remus.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1570109/The-legend-of-Romulus-and-Remus.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=The legend of Romulus and Remus |first=Malcolm |last=Moore |date=21 November 2007 |access-date=23 February 2019 |newspaper=[[Telegraph (newspaper)|Telegraph]] |publisher=[[Telegraph Media Group Limited]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

The river marked the boundary between the lands of the [[Etruscans]] to the west, the [[Sabines]] to the east and the [[Latins (Italic tribe)|Latins]] to the south. [[Benito Mussolini]], born in [[Romagna]], adjusted the boundary between [[Tuscany]] and [[Emilia-Romagna]], so that the springs of the Tiber would lie in Romagna.

The Tiber was critically important to Roman trade and commerce, as ships could reach as far as {{convert|100|km|mi|-1|abbr=on}} upriver; some evidence indicates that it was used to ship grain from the Val Teverina as long ago as the fifth century BC.<ref name="eb"/> 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.<ref name="eb"/> 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.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Roma/Rome/_Texts/PLATOP*/horti.html| title = Horti:LacusCurtius • Gardens of Ancient Rome (Platner & Ashby, 1929)}}</ref> These may have been sold and developed about a century later.

The heavy sedimentation of the river made maintaining Ostia difficult, prompting the emperors [[Claudius]] and [[Trajan]] to establish a new port on the Fiumicino in the first century AD. They built a new road, the ''[[Via Portuensis]]'', to connect Rome with Fiumicino, leaving the city by [[Porta Portuensis|Porta Portese]] (the port gate). Both ports were eventually abandoned due to silting.

Several [[pope]]s 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.<ref name="eb"/>

The Tiber was once known for its floods — the Campus Martius is a [[flood plain]] and would regularly flood to a depth of {{convert|2|m|abbr=on}}. There were also numerous major floods; for example, on September 15, 1557 the river flooded to a height of 62 feet above sea level and over 1,000 people died.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Long |first=Pamela O. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1028881404 |title=Engineering the Eternal City : infrastructure, topography, and the culture of knowledge in late sixteenth-century Rome |publisher=The University of Chicago Press |year=2018 |isbn=978-0-226-54379-6 |location=Chicago |pages=19–20 |oclc=1028881404}}</ref> The river is now confined between high stone embankments, which were begun in 1876. Within the city, the riverbanks are lined by boulevards known as ''[[lungoteveri]]'', streets "along the Tiber".

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 [[Roman Catholic]]ism.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Madigam |first=Kevin |year=2010 |title=Pope Benedict, Disaffected Anglicans, and Holocaust-Denying Bishops |url=https://bulletin-archive.hds.harvard.edu/articles/winterspring2010/pope-benedict-disaffected-anglicans-and-holocaust-denying-bishops |journal=Harvard Divinity Bulletin |volume=38 |issue=1 & 2 |access-date=16 June 2022 |archive-date=28 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201028201717/https://bulletin-archive.hds.harvard.edu/articles/winterspring2010/pope-benedict-disaffected-anglicans-and-holocaust-denying-bishops |url-status=dead }}</ref> A Catholic who converts to Protestantism, in particular Anglicanism, is referred to as "swimming the [[River Thames|Thames]]" or "crossing the Thames".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Olderr |first1=Steven |title=Symbolism : a comprehensive dictionary |date=2012 |publisher=McFarland & Co |location=Jefferson, N.C. |isbn=978-0-7864-6955-0 |page=202 |edition=2nd}}</ref>

In ancient Rome, [[Capital punishment|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 [[bridge]]s over the Tiber in Rome, there remain a few [[Ancient Rome|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.
[[File:Roman sculpture.jpg|right|thumb|Roman representation of Tiber as a [[god]] ([[Tiberinus (god)|Tiberinus]]) with [[cornucopia]] at the [[Campidoglio]], Rome]]

==Representations==

Following the standard Roman depiction of rivers as powerfully built reclining male gods, the Tiber, also interpreted as a god named [[Tiberinus (god)|Tiberinus]], is shown with streams of water flowing from his hair and beard.<ref>Tiber. ''Bloomsbury Dictionary of Myth'' (1996)</ref>

==See also==
* [[Hollywood on the Tiber]]

==References==
{{reflist|33em}}
==Further reading==
*{{cite book |last1=Schönau |first1=Birgit |title=Die Geheimnisse des Tibers: Rom und sein ewiger Fluss |date=2023 |publisher=C.H. Beck |location=München |isbn=9783406808371}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|position=left}}
{{clr}}
[[File:Comune di Fiumicino and the Tiber River, near Rome.jpg|thumb|center|900px|{{center|The [[river mouth]] of the Tiber and city of [[Fiumicino]] on the [[Tyrrhenian Sea]]}}]]
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{{Emilia-Romagna}}
{{Lazio}}
{{Tuscany}}
{{Umbria}}
{{Authority control}}

{{coord|41.7405|N|12.2334|E|source:wikidata|display=title}}

[[Category:Tiber| ]]
[[Category:Rivers of Italy]]
[[Category:Rivers of the Apennines]]
[[Category:Drainage basins of the Tyrrhenian Sea]]
[[Category:Waterways of Italy]]
[[Category:Rivers of Emilia-Romagna]]
[[Category:Rivers of Lazio]]
[[Category:Rivers of Tuscany]]
[[Category:Rivers of Umbria]]
[[Category:Geography of Rome]]
[[Category:Metropolitan City of Rome Capital]]
[[Category:Topography of the ancient city of Rome]]
[[Category:Rivers of the Province of Perugia]]
[[Category:Rivers of the Province of Rieti]]
[[Category:Rivers of the Province of Terni]]
[[Category:Rivers of the Province of Viterbo]]
[[Category:Rivers of the Province of Arezzo]]
[[Category:Rivers of the Province of Forlì-Cesena]]
[[Category:Rivers of the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital]]
[[Category:Geography of Perugia]]