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The Secrets of the Tiber

Birgit Schönau

Rome and its eternal river

Lifeblood; the river to Hell; a place to relax and have fun – for millennia, the Tiber was Rome’s river of destiny. Revered as a god and feared as a scourge, it shaped the life of the Eternal City. Its banks became home to the Papal States, to ghettoes, grand palaces and almshouses; people fought, suffered and celebrated there – and also made history. A river full of grandeur, terror and wonder, whose story is told in Birgit Schönau’s captivating book.

Rome and the Tiber share a 3000-year history, spanning the period from the Roman Empire to the golden age of the Popes to the present day. For a long time, the city and its river existed in a close symbiosis. The Tiber kept daily life moving – it was used to transport everything from grain to marble obelisks. Its water drove mill wheels, and its good fishing grounds made the Church rich. It was also a force of nature: the Romans feared its frequent floods. But they enjoyed bathing in the river, and it formed the beautiful backdrop to the pleasure gardens of the Renaissance. Rich princes and paupers flocked to its banks in search of spiritual salvation. Knights were dubbed on the banks of the Tiber, orphan girls were married, executions were carried out, plague victims were cured and prostitutes were corralled. In Birgit Schönau’s gripping double biography of Rome and the Tiber, everything converges: good times and terrible times, religion and crime, art and cesspits, history and mystery.

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Book

28.00 EUR

Published 2023-09-21T09:52:17.435Z by C.H.Beck , ISBN: 9783406808371

ISBN: 9783406808371