INSULA TIBERINA
the island in the Tiber, included in the
fourteenth
region of Augustus, and now called isola di S. Bartolomeo (111. 32; cf.
also 111. 37). It seems to be the end of the ridge of which the Capitoline
hill is a part, and owing perhaps to the harder character of its tufa, the
river did not cut it away entirely but divided and flowed on either side.
It was often called simply insula, but was also spoken of by different
names-insula Tiberina (
Vitr. iii. 2. 3; Acro Schol. in Hor.
Sat. ii. 3. 36),
inter duos pontes (Plut. Popl. 8; lustin. Martyr. apol. i. 26; Aeth.
83, Riese; Chron. 145; inscr.
BCr 1905, 231; FUR 42), insula
Aesculapii (Suet. Claud. 25;
Dionys. v. 13), insula serpentis Epidaurii
(Sidon. Apoll.
Ep. i. 7. 12); and in the Middle Ages, insula Lycaonia
(HJ 632, note 21; and esp. Besnier, 76-87). It was also called simply
insula (
CIL vi. 9824, 33864; Fest. 110).
The present length of the island is 269 metres, and its greatest width
67 metres. Tradition held that its nucleus was formed by the grain
from the fields of the Tarquins, which was thrown into the Tiber in
great quantities after the expulsion of the kings (
Liv. ii. 5;
Dionys. v. 13;
see GAIA). In 292 B.C. the serpent of Aesculapius, which, with the
statue of that god, was being brought to Rome, left the ship and swam
ashore on the island. A temple was erected to the god and the island
was consecrated as its temenos, although shrines to other divinities
(e.g.
IUPITER,
FAUNUS,
TIBERINUS,
SEMO SANCUS, q.v.) were afterwards
built on it.
1 In consequence of this legend of the serpent the island
itself was made to resemble a ship. A stone platform was built round
it, and upon this a wall was erected which in shape reproduced exactly
the sides of a Roman ship (Ann. d.
Inst. 1867, 389 ff.; Durm, Baukunst,
fig. 537). A considerable part of the travertine stern can still be seen
at the east end of the island (LR 19). An obelisk, fragments of which
are in the museum at Naples, is thought to have represented the mast.
We are not informed as to the time when this was done, but the remains
of the walls point to the same period as that of the construction of the
pons Fabricius (62 B.C.) and pons Cestius (70-42 B.C.), and it is possible
that the erection of these two bridges was part of the same plan as the
building of the ship. Before the building of these stone bridges, the
island was doubtless connected with the left bank by a wooden structure
at least as early as the time when the cult of Aesculapius was established
(cf.
Liv. xxxv. 21. 5, where the flood of 193 B.C. is said to have destroyed
' duos pontes ').
For a complete discussion of the history, topography, and antiquities
of the island, see Besnier, L'lle Tiberine dans l'Antiquit6, Paris 1902
(Bibl. Ec. Franc. fasc. 87); see also HJ 630-638; Jord. i. I. 402; DuP
59-69; and for the discovery of remains, also
LS iii. 246;
iv. 79, 164.
For a restoration, D'Esp.
Mon. ii. 144-148;
Fr. ii. 97, 98; and for a
medallion of Antoninus Pius (Cohen, Antonin, 17-19) which perhaps
represents it, see
JRS 1911, 187-195; but cf.
NAVALIA.