The Ides of March
Page 27
TIBER ISLAND – An alluvial island in the Tiber river, connected to the mainland by two bridges, the Pons Fabricius and the Pons Cestius. In the first century BC, it was given the shape of a ship, achieving an extraordinary monumental and scenic effect. The Temple of Aesculapius, god of medicine, was built on the island in 290 BC, after a great plague broke out in Rome. The island may have been one of the reasons Rome was originally chosen as a settlement site, acting as a natural ford between the north and south banks of the Tiber, thus connecting the north and south of the Italian peninsula.
TULLIANUM PRISON (later Mamertine Prison) – The oldest prison in Rome, excavated in the south-eastern slopes of the Capitoline hill. Notable prisoners included Tiberius Gracchus, Lentulus and Cethegus – Catiline’s fellow conspirators – Vercingetorix, Jugurtha the King of Numidia and, according to an early Christian tradition, the apostle Peter.
VIA SACRA - The street that went from the Velia, where the rex sacrorum lived, to the Regia. From here, it continued to the Temple of Saturn where it turned into the Clivus Capitolinus.
VICUS JUGARIUS – The street which began at the Tiber river and led to the Forum, passing between the Temple of Saturn and the Basilica Julia.