Floods of the Tiber in Ancient Rome

Appendix I

Appendix I List of Major Floods at Rome, 414 BC–AD 2000 241 † able A.1 includes historically attested major floods from 414 BC to AD 2000. For ancient through Renaissance floods, at least one primary source is listed. From 1702 onward, almost all the floods are known from measurements taken at Ripetta.1 For floods that are additionally attested by one or more flood markers, this information is also noted under “Source” along with the number of markers erected commemorating that flood. When known, the height of the floodwaters is given. The accuracy of the listed flood heights increases over time, from approximations for the medieval floods, to more reliable numbers derived from flood markers or early flood measurements, to the modern, highly accurate measurements recorded at Ripetta in Rome. From 1702 onward, all the heights given are from measurements taken at Ripetta. For the period 1871–1999, all instances when the water level reached 13.00 masl at Ripetta are included even though not all of these resulted in flooding in the city due to the presence of the embankment walls.2 From 1947 to 2000, no flood reached a height of 13 masl.3 The modern Tiber embankment walls were constructed between approximately 1875 and 1925. Many other authors have compiled similar lists. The most recent and complete of these appear in the appendixes of Bersani and Ben- 242 Table A.1. Major Floods at Rome, 414 BC to AD 2000 Height Date (masl) Source 414 BC Livy 4.49.2–3 363 BC Livy 7.3.2 241 BC Augustine, De Civitate Dei, 3.18; Orosius 4.11.6 215 BC Livy 24.9.6 203 BC Livy 30.26.5 202 BC Livy 30.38.10–12 193 BC Livy 35.9.2–3 192 BC Livy 35.21.5–6 189 BC Livy 38.28.4 181 BC Plutarch, Numa 22.4 156 BC Iulius Obsequens 16 60 BC Cassius Dio 37.58.3–4 54 BC Cassius Dio 39.61.1–2; Cicero, Ad Quintum fratrem 3.7.1 44 BC Horace, Carmina 1.2.1–20 32 BC Cassius Dio 50.8.3 27 BC Cassius Dio 53.20.1 23 BC Cassius Dio 53.33.5 22 BC Cassius Dio 54.1 13 BC Cassius Dio 54.25.2 AD 5 Cassiodorus, Chronicon 604; Cassius Dio 55.22.3 (continued) Appendix I civenga (2001), the tables in Bersani and Bencivenga (2003), the article by Alessandroni and Remedia (2002), the tables in Bencivenga et al. (1995), the text of Di Martino and Belati (1980), and the tables of Frosini (1977). Not all authors are in agreement on the list of floods at Rome. I have included in my list floods that are known from a variety of different sources, including literary and epigraphic ones, but I have attempted to include only those floods for which the sources seem reasonably reliable. Nevertheless, some of the floods, particularly those before 1700, must be regarded as at least somewhat speculative. 243 Table A.1. (Continued) Height Date (masl) Source 12 Cassius Dio 56.27.4 15 Tacitus, Annales 1.76; Cassius Dio 57.14.7–8 36 Cassius Dio 58.26.5; Zonaras 11.3 69 Plutarch, Otho 4.5; Suetonius, Otho 8.3; Tacitus, Historiae 1.86 Reign of Nerva Sextus Aurelius Victor, Epitome 13 Reign of Trajan Pliny, Epistulae 8.17; Sextus Aurelius Victor, Epitome 13 Reign of Hadrian SHA, Hadrian 21.6 147 SHA, Antoninus Pius 9.3; Fasti Ostiensis 162 SHA, M. Aurelius 8 217 Cassius Dio 79.25.5 253 Sextus Aurelius Victor, De Caesaribus 32 371 Ammianus Marcellinus 29.6.17–18 398 Claudian, De Bello Gildonico 41–43 411 Castiglione (1599b), Bonini (1663) 555 Castiglione (1599b), Bonini (1663) 570 Castiglione (1599b), Bonini (1663) 589 De Gestis Langobardorum 3.24 685 Bonini (1663) 716 De Gestis Langobardorum 6.36; Liber Pontificalis, Gregory II, 6 725 Liber Pontificalis, Gregory II, 1 778 Bonini (1663) (continued) Major Floods at Rome, 414 BC–AD 2000 244 Table A.1. (Continued) Height Date (masl) Source 791December 20 Liber Pontificalis, Adrian I, 22 844 November 22 Liber Pontificalis, Sergius II, 22 856 January Liber Pontificalis, Benedict III, 22 860 October 30 Liber Pontificalis, Nicholas, 15 860 December 27 Liber Pontificalis, Nicholas, 15 1180 January.16 1230 February 2 ⬎16 Marker 1277 November 6 ⬎16 2...