Velabrum
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2006-11-10T10:48:30Z
RobotG
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Bot: Changing Category:Topography of Ancient Rome per [[WP:CFD|CFD]], see [[Wikipedia:Categories for deletion/Log/2006 November 2]]
The '''Velabrum''' is the low valley in the city of [[Rome]] that connects the [[Roman Forum|Forum]] with the [[Forum Boarium]], and the [[Capitoline Hill]] with the western slope of the [[Palatine Hill]]. Before the construction of the [[Cloaca Maxima]], which probably follows the course of an ancient stream, the area was a swamp. Ancient authorities state that the roots of a [[fig]] tree growing in this swamp caught and stopped the basket carrying [[Romulus and Remus]] as it floated along on the [[Tiber]] current. The place therefore has a high symbolic significance.
Even after the Cloaca was built, the area was still prone to flooding from the Tiber, until the ground level was raised after the [[Nero]]nian fire.
It is the site of the [[Arch of Janus]], the [[Arcus Argentariorum]] and the church [[San Giorgio al Velabro]].
== External links ==
*[http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Roma/Rome/_Texts/PLATOP*/Velabrum.html Exerpt from ''A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome'' by London: Oxford University Press, 1929]
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