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Bible Encyclopedias
Rome
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or ( ῾Ρώμη [in Greek, strength; but probably from Romulus, the founder], expressly mentioned in the Bible only in the books of the Maccabees, and in Acts 18:2, etc.; Romans 1:7; Romans 1:15; 2 Timothy 1:17; see also "Babylon, "Revelations 14:8, etc.), the ancient capital of the Western world, and the present residence of the pope and capital of Italy. In the following brief account, we treat only of its ancient, and especially its Biblical, relations. (See ROMAN EMPIRE).
I. General Description. — Rome lies on the river Tiber, about fifteen miles from its mouth, in the plain of what is now called the Campagna (Felix illa Campania, Pliny, Hist. Nat. 3, 6), in lat. 41° 54' N., long. 12° 28' E. The country around the city, however, is not altogether a plain, but a sort of undulating table land, crossed by hills, while it sinks towards the southwest to the marshes of Maremma, which coast the Mediterranean. In ancient geography, the country in the midst of which Rome lay was termed Latium, which, in the earliest times, comprised within a space of about four geographical square miles the country lying between the Tiber and the Numicius, extending from the Alban Hills to the sea, having for its chief city Laurentum. The "seven hills" (Revelations 17:9) which formed the nucleus of the ancient city stand on the left (eastern) bank. On the opposite side of the river rises the far higher ridge of the Janiculum. Here from very early times was a fortress, with a suburb beneath it extending to the river. Modern Rome lies to the north of the ancient city, covering with its principal portion the plain to the north of the seven hills, once known as the Campus Martius, and on the opposite bank extending over the low ground beneath the Vatican to the north of the ancient Janiculum.
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