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ROME (Roma)

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Originally appearing in Volume V23, Page 584 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ROME (See also:Roma) , the See also:capital of the See also:modern See also:kingdom of See also:Italy, in' the See also:province of Rome, on the See also:river See also:Tiber, r7 See also:miles N.E. from its mouth on the Mediterranean. As formerly the centre of the See also:ancient See also:Roman See also:republic and of the Roman See also:empire, and the headquarters of the See also:Christian See also:Church, Rome is unique among See also:historical cities, and its antiquarian See also:interest far surpasses that of any other locality in the See also:world. In the following See also:account the See also:general subject of Rome is treated broadly under two aspects, themselves subdivided. These are:-(r) the See also:topography and growth of the See also:city of Rome, the See also:evolution of which is traced from the earliest times to the See also:present, and (2) Roman See also:history, i.e. the See also:political and social history of the Roman republic, empire and See also:medieval See also:commune. The nine or ten hills and ridges on which the city stands are formed of masses of tufa or conglomerated See also:sand and ashes thrown out by neighbouring volcanoes now See also:extinct, but active down to a very See also:recent See also:period. One See also:group of these volcanoes is that around Lago See also:Bracciano, while another, still'nearer to Rome, composes the See also:Alban Hills. That some at least of these craters have been in a See also:state of activity at no very distant period has been shown by he See also:discovery at many places of brokefii pottery and See also:bronze See also:imp; ments below the strata of tub, or other volcanic deposits. Traces of human See also:life have even been found below that See also:great See also:flood of See also:lava which, issuing from the Alban Hills, flowed towards the site of Rome, only stopping about 5 miles See also:short, by the See also:tomb of See also:Cecilia Metella. The superficial strata on which Rome is built are of three See also:main kinds: (I) the plains and valleys on the See also:left 'batik of the Tiber are covered, as it were, by a See also:sea of alluvial deposits, in the midst of which (2) the hills of volcanic origin rise like somany islands; and (3) on the right See also:bank of the Tiber, around the' Janiculan and Vatican Hills, are extensive remains of an ancient sea-See also:beach, conspicuous in parts by its See also:fine See also:golden sand and its de-posits of greyish See also:white See also:potter's See also:clay. From its yellow sand the Janiculan has been sometimes known as the Golden See also:Hill, a name which survives in the church on its See also:summit called Pietro in Montorio (See also:Monte d'Oro). In addition to these three See also:chief deposits, at a few places, especially in the Aventine and Pincian Hills, under-strata of travertine See also:crop out—a hard See also:limestone See also:rock, once in See also:solution in See also:running See also:water, and deposited gradually as the water lost its carbonic-See also:acid solvent, a: See also:process still rapidly going on at See also:Terni, See also:Tivoli and other places in the neighbourhood. The conditions under which the tufa hills were formed have been' very various, as is clearly seen by an examination of the rock at different places.

The volcanic ashes and sand of which the tufa is composed appear in parts to See also:

lie just as they were showered down from the See also:crater; in that See also:case it shows but little sign of, stratification, and consists wholly of igneous products. In parts See also:time and pressure have See also:bound together these scoriae into a soft and friable rock; in other places they still lie in loose sandy beds and can be dug out with the See also:spade. Other masses of tufa again show signs either of having been deposited in water, or else washed away from their first resting-See also:place and redeposited with visible stratifications; this is shown by the .water-worn pebbles and chips of limestone rock, which See also:form a See also:conglomerate bound together by the volcanic ashes into a sort of natural See also:cement. A third variety is that which exists on the See also:Palatine Hill. Here the shower of 'red-hot ashes has evidently fallen on a thickly growing See also:forest, and the burning See also:wood, partly smothered by the ashes, has been converted into See also:charcoal, large masses of which are embedded in the tufa rock. In some places charred branches of trees, their form well preserved, can be easily distinguished,. The so-called " See also:wall of See also:Romulus ". is built of this conglomerate of tufa and charred wood; a veryperfect See also:section of the See also:branch of a See also:tree is visible on one Of" the blocks by the ScalaeCaci. So great have been the See also:physical changes in the site of Rome since the first See also:dawn of the historic period that it is difficult now to realize what its aspect once was. The See also:Forum Romanum, the Velabrum, the great Campus Martins (now the most crowded See also:part of modern Rome), and other valleys were once almost impassable marshes or pools of water (Ov. See also:Fasti, V. 401; Dionys. ii. 5o).

The draining of these valleys was effected by means of the great cloacae, which were among the earliest important architectural See also:

works of Rome (See also:Varro, See also:Ling. See also:Lat. iv. 149). Again, the various hills and ridges were once more numerous and very much more abrupt than they are now. At an See also:early period, when each hill was crowned by a See also:separate See also:village fort, the great See also:object of the inhabitants was to increase the steepness of its cliffs and render See also:access difficult. At a later time, when Rome was See also:united under one See also:government, the very 'physical peculiarities which had originally made its hills so populous, through their natural adaptability for See also:defence, became extremely inconvenient in a united city, where architectural symmetry and splendour were above all things aimed at. Hence the most gigantic See also:engineering works' were undertaken: tops of hills were levelled, whole ridges cut away, and See also:gentle slopes formed in the place of abrupt cliffs. The levelling of the See also:Velia and the ekcavation of the site forTrajan's forum are instances of this. The same works were' continued in the See also:middle ages, as when in the 14th See also:century an access was made to the Capitoline Arx 1 from the See also:side of the Campus See also:Martius; up to that time a steep cliff had prevented all approach except from the side of the Forum. Finally, after Rome had become the capital of united Italy, the last See also:quarter of the 19th century, an extensive government See also:plan (piano regulatore) was gradually carried out, with the 'object of reducing hills and valley to a See also:uniform level and constructing wide boulevards on the chessboard method of a modern See also:American city. The See also:constant fires which have at times devastated Rome have been a powerful See also:agent in obliterating the natural See also:contour of the ground; and the accumulated rubbish from this and other causes has in some plates overlaid' the ground to a See also:depth of 4o ft., notably in the valleys.

End of Article: ROME (Roma)

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