Tiber Island

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A view from the south-east on the Tiber Island.

A view of the Tiber Island in a 1593 print.

The Tiber Island (Italian: Isola Tiberina, Latin: Insula Tiberina) is a boat-shaped island in the southern bend of the Tiber river in Rome. Approximately 270 m in length and 67 m at its widest, the island is well-known for being the site of an ancient temple to Aesculapius, the Greek god of medicine and healing.

1 Legends
- 1.1 Origin
- 1.2 Construction of the Temple
2 Factual history
3 Use by Jewish ascetics who were the forerunners of Christianity
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Legends

[edit] Origin

Legend has it that after the fall of the hated tyrant Tarquinius Superbus (510 BC), the angry Romans threw his body into the Tiber. It settled onto the bottom, where dirt and silt accumulated around it.

Another version says that the people gathered up the wheat and grain of their despised ruler and threw it into the Tiber, where it eventually became the foundation of the island.

Owing to its dark origins, the Tiber Island was, in Roman times, considered a place of ill omen. Until the temple was built, nobody went onto the island, and only the worst criminals were condemned to pass the remainder of their lives on it.

[edit] Construction of the Temple

The island's boat shape is all that remains of the great temple which once stood there. Accounts say that in 293 BC, there was a great plague in Rome. Upon consulting the Sibyl, the Roman Senate was instructed to build a temple to Aesculapius, the Greek god of healing, and sent a delegation to obtain a statue of the deity.

Upon its return trip up the Tiber river, a snake (a symbol of Aesculapius) was seen slithering off the ship and swimming onto the island. This was seen as the god's own choice for his temple's location, and the temple was built on the island, thus ending the plague.

This location was probably chosen for the temple due to its separation from the rest of the city, which meant that it would not be reached by plague and illnesses.

[edit] Factual history

Western end of Isola Tiberina. Note the travertine stone giving the distinctive trireme shape..

The island eventually became so identified with the temple it supported that, as a reminder of the miraculous event, it was modeled to resemble a ship. Travertine facing was added by the banks to resemble a ship's prow and stern, and an obelisk was erected in the middle, symbolizing the vessel's mast. Walls were put around the island, and it actually came to resemble a Roman ship. In the Christian age the obelisk was replaced by a column with a cross on the top. After it was destroyed in 1867, Pope Pius IX had an aedicula, called Spire, put in its place. This monument, designed by Ignazio Giacometti, is decorated with the statues of the four saints related to the island: St. Bartholomew, St. Paulinus of Nola, St. Francis and St. John.

Although little of the Aesculapius temple remains, the island can still be considered a place of healing, as a modern-day hospital (Fatebenefratelli Hospital) stands on the western section of the island.

In 998 Emperor Otto III had a new basilica, that of San Bartolomeo all'Isola, built over the temple's ruins. This was dedicated to his friend, the martyr Adalbert of Prague. The name of St. Bartholomew was added only later; today the church is commonly known as San Bartolomeo all'Isola.

Remains of the travertine are still visible at the east end of the island. Parts of the obelisk are now in the museum in Naples.

The island is linked to the rest of Rome by two bridges. The Ponte Fabricio is the oldest bridge in Rome, dating to 62 BC. It connects the island from the northeast to the Campus Martius (rione Sant'Angelo). The Ponte Cestio, dating to 46 BC, connects the island to Trastevere on the south.

[edit] Use by Jewish ascetics who were the forerunners of Christianity

Entrance of the Fatebenefratelli Hospital

It is of some interest to point out that the detail of the use and structure of Tiber Island is compatible with the case made by fringe theorist Dr Barbara Thiering for its occupation by Jewish ascetics as a missionary center from the 1st century BC. It was from these ascetics that Christianity developed, very much earlier than has been supposed.

The Tiber Island was used for quarantine purposes, appropriately to its position. Medical practices were developed there. The Jewish ascetics included the Therapeutae, “healers”. Like their related Essenes, they studied the properties of plants and minerals for medical application. It is known that there were Jews well established in Rome, at least since Herod the Great had been favored by Augustus (Antiquities of the Jews 15, 194-201 written by Josephus). Herod had his sons educated in Rome (Antiquities 17, 20). He himself had been educated by an Essene and had come to favor them (Antiquities 15, 373; 378). At the time of Herod’s death Roman Jews were socially divided over the succession, some supporting Herod Archelaus, others supporting his brother Herod Antipas (Antiquities 17, 227). It is far from impossible, then, that the Therapeutae in sympathy with one of the Herodian parties conducted medical work on the Tiber Island.

The island had been shaped into a boat form. That is entirely consistent with evidence Dr Thiering has pointed to that the ascetics initiated Gentiles into their kind of Judaism by a drama of “Noah's Ark”. They had a boat moored at a shore, bringing “animals” (Gentiles) into the “ark”, then sailing up a channel to deposit them on the dry land of “salvation.” They were saved from the “Flood” of coming world destruction as in the Noah story, alluded to in the Second Epistle of Peter 2:5. Lower grade Gentiles were likened to “fish” caught from the ark. This accounted for the fish symbol of Christians, arising from the drama that proceeded the word play later devised.

The initiation drama of Gentiles was enacted in many places, including at the Dead Sea in the gospel period. See link below.

(Note. The Josephus references are to the modern Loeb Classical Library edition of the Antiquities, translated by R.Marcus (vol VIII) . The 19th century translation of William Whiston which is in the public domain is more difficult to use and contains errors.}