The Tiber only has one island in the urban section of its course: it's a small accumulation of alluvional sediments, and despite being far smaller than the similar one on the river Seine in Paris, it's still packed with story, legends, mysteries and interesting aspects. This first post is about its legendary origin.
The legend about the origin of the island, called in Latin Insula Tiberina or Insula Tiberis (Tiber's Island), dates back to the 6th Century B.C.: Historical records of the uprising of the Roman people against the last of the Seven Kings, the Etruscan Tarquinius Superbus (Tarquinius the Proud) have it that the people, angried by the heavy taxes imposed by the King, dumped the wheat havested in the Campus Martius (of Royal property) in the river, and that this impressive mass of grain and hay formed the inital core of the island.
This event, dating back to the year 510 B.C. is clearly legendary, but it's mostly probable that, in the last year of the Roman Monarchy (the Roman Republic was founded the following year, 509 B.C.) many actions of this kind took place in Rome as sign of rebellion against the King, who symbolized the domination of a foreign population and culture: the Etruscan one, more ancient and with extremely interesting and mysterious aspects, which filled the center of the Italian peninsula with beautiful tombs, marvelous golden artifacts, and refined structures such as temples, aqueducts and sewers.
This event, dating back to the year 510 B.C. is clearly legendary, but it's mostly probable that, in the last year of the Roman Monarchy (the Roman Republic was founded the following year, 509 B.C.) many actions of this kind took place in Rome as sign of rebellion against the King, who symbolized the domination of a foreign population and culture: the Etruscan one, more ancient and with extremely interesting and mysterious aspects, which filled the center of the Italian peninsula with beautiful tombs, marvelous golden artifacts, and refined structures such as temples, aqueducts and sewers.
