Tiber

views updated May 11 2018

Tiber a river of central Italy, upon which Rome stands. It figures in the doom-laden prophecy of Virgil's Aeneid, book 6, ‘I see…the Tiber foaming with much blood’, a line referred to by the Conservative politician Enoch Powell (1912–98) in April 1968 when he predicted disastrous results for Britain's immigration policy.

Tiber

views updated May 21 2018

Tiber (Tevere) River in central Italy. It rises in the Etruscan Apennines, flows s then sw through Rome, and empties into the Tyrrhenian Sea at Ostia. The silting of the river closed Fiumara, one of its two mouths, and its delta continues to expand; the ancient coastal port of Ostia Antica now lies 6km (4mi) inland. Length: 404km (251mi).