Tibur
Tibur, known today as Tivoli, is a historic city located in the Lazio region of Italy, approximately eighteen miles east-northeast of Rome. Perched above the scenic gorges and waterfalls of the Anio River, Tibur has a rich ancient history, with legends suggesting its founding predates that of Rome itself. Historically, it was a prominent member of the Latin League and engaged in several conflicts with Rome before becoming a Roman citizen community in 90 BCE. The city is renowned for its travertine stone, which contributed to its economic prosperity, and it was a center of worship for various deities, including Hercules and Vesta.
Tibur became a fashionable resort for Roman elites, with notable figures such as poets Catullus and emperors Augustus and Hadrian owning villas in the area. Among the architectural highlights are Hadrian's Villa, a sprawling complex built in the 120s and 130s CE that showcases innovative design and diverse structures, reflecting the emperor's admiration for various locales in his empire. The town also features significant ancient structures, including temples and an amphitheater, as well as remnants of Roman aqueducts that once supplied the city. Today, Tibur remains a location of cultural and historical significance, attracting visitors interested in its rich heritage and stunning landscapes.
Subject Terms
Tibur
(Tivoli)
A city of Latium (Lazio) in western Italy, eighteen miles east-northeast of Rome, perched above gorges and waterfalls of the Anio (Aniene) at the point where that river leaves the Sabine hills. According to legend Tibur was founded four centuries before Rome; its founders were variously described as Arcadians (under Catillus) or as Siculi, who were later expelled either by Tiburnus, the son of Amphiaraus, or by Amphiaraus' grandsons Tiburtus, Catillus and Cetas. Remains of an important early Iron Age village have come to light. Diodorus described the place as a colony of Alba Longa.
Subsequently, it became one of the principal members of the Latin League, dominating several dependent towns, and in the fourth century frequently fought against Rome, suffering defeats in 360 and 354 and losing much of its territory in 338. Thereafter, however, it remained independent until 90, when it became a Roman citizen community. It was notable (as now) for its building stone the lapis Tiburtinus (travertine), and earned revenue from the sale of its fruits. Tibur's cults of Hercules, Vesta and Sibyl Albunea (among various other deities) were celebrated by major poets, and the place became a fashionable resort. The poet Catullus and the emperors Augustus and Hadrian (see below) owned villas in or near the town, and one such mansion was allocated to Zenobia, queen of Palmyra, after she had been taken prisoner by Aurelian (AD 273).
The forum, on the hillside, was supported by a vaulted arcade that may have served as a covered street-market. To the southwest, likewise resting upon a vaulted substructure, was a two-storeyed colonnaded terrace, on which stood a temple of Hercules Victor, adjoined by a place of assembly. The temple probably dates from the early first century BC, like two picturesque shrines, the round so-called `Temple of Vesta’ (perhaps, in fact, dedicated to Hercules) and a rectangular `Temple of the Sibyl’ (more probably Tiburnus), that rise aloft above the Anio at the northern end of the town. At the southern extremity of the habitation center are traces of an amphitheater, rebuilt in the second century AD. To the west stands a well-preserved circular building of fourth-century date (the Tempio della Tosse). Four of Rome's aqueducts passed beside Tibur, and traces of their bridges across the neighboring valleys are still to be seen.
About three miles southwest of the city rise the enormous but fragmentary remains of Hadrian's Villa, erected in the 120s and 130s AD, on and around the site of an earlier mansion. The group of loosely related or independent edifices that constituted this palatial complex was intended to recall the localities and buildings that the emperor had admired on his empire-wide travels; but this was only a modest pretext for a massive display of adventurous design and virtuosity (best discernible from a model at the entrance). The inventions of some talented experimental architect, prompted and stimulated by the emperor's own enquiring, restless mind, these structures ingeniously exploit the potentialities of an uneven terrain, displaying impressive mastery of their concrete, brick-faced material. Nothing, anywhere, is straight or obvious; curvilinear shapes, of abundant diversity, prevail on every side.
At the entrance to the Villa is the Poikile, a gigantic version of the Painted Porch of Athens. Beyond it is a round, artificial island (known misleadingly as the `Teatro Marittimo’), surrounded by a moat and by a colonnaded circular promenade. The residential quarters of the palace, flanked by large colonnaded squares (the Piazza d'Oro, and `Court of the Libraries’), lie in ruins, but enough can be seen of two sets of baths to appreciate their surprising, asymmetrical design. The Canopus is a complex of pool- and stage-architecture, designed to imitate a famous sanctuary of Serapis near Alexandria; it was overlooked, at one end, by a nymphaeum or fountain-building (commonly known as the Serapeum), in which numerous sculptures were discovered; many of them are now in the Capitoline and Vatican museums, but there is also a small local antiquarium.