Tiber

The Tiber ( ; it, Tevere ; la, Tiberis) is the third-longest river in Italy and the longest in Central Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, where it is joined by the River Aniene, to the Tyrrhenian Sea, between Ostia and Fiumicino. It drains a basin estimated at . 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. Known in ancient times (in Latin) as ''flavus'' ("the blond"), in reference to the yellowish colour of its water, the Tiber has advanced significantly at its mouth, by about , since Roman times, leaving the ancient port of Ostia Antica inland."Tiber River". ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. 2006 However, it does not form a proportional 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.

Sources

The source of the Tiber consists of two springs away from each other on Mount Fumaiolo. These springs are called ''le Vene''. The springs are in a beech forest above sea level. During the 1930s, Benito Mussolini had an antique marble Roman column built at the point where the river rises, inscribed QUI NASCE IL FIUME SACRO AI DESTINI DI ROMA ("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.

Etymology

The genesis of the name ''Tiber'' probably was pre-Latin, like the Roman name of Tibur (modern Tivoli), and may be specifically Italic in origin. The same root is found in the Latin ''praenomen'' ''Tiberius''. Also, Etruscan variants of this praenomen are in ''Thefarie'' (borrowed from Faliscan ''*Tiferios'', lit. '(He) from the Tiber' < ''*Tiferis'' 'Tiber') and ''Teperie'' (via the Latin hydronym ''Tiber'')."Tiber". ''Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names''. John Everett-Heath. Oxford University Press 2005.

Legendary king Tiberinus, ninth in the king-list of Alba Longa, was said to have drowned in the River Albula, which was afterward called ''Tiberis''. The myth may have explained a memory of an earlier, perhaps pre-Indo-European name for the river, "white" (''alba'') with sediment, or "from the mountains" from pre-Indo-European word "alba, albion" mount, elevated area. ''Tiberis/Tifernus'' may be a pre-Indo-European substrate word related to Aegean ''tifos'' "still water", Greek phytonym