Larry Miller, Tennessee Place Names: "There also being a Carthage in this county, it is likely this name was chosen for its classical connotations. Sometimes, places named Rome were situated in hilly regions, suggestive of Rome's seven hills . . ."
As Miller suggests, Rome is located in a hilly region of middle Tennessee, and like ancient Rome, it sits on the bank of a river. I suspect, however, that another geographical feature played a role in the naming of this community - an island in the Cumberland River, reminiscent of a very similar island in the middle of the Tiber.
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| An abandoned ferry in Rome, Tennessee, on the banks of the Cumberland River . . . a rather ironic transportation dead end in a placed named for an empire known for its transportation efficiency. |
Ancient Rome
Sample Latin Text:
Sample Latin Text:
Of course, an abundance of Latin literature glorifies the city of Rome. Leave it to the satirist Juvenal, on the other hand, to present a darker side of life in the city . . . a very noisy city, unless you can afford the luxury of silence.
Juvenal, Satires 3.232-242
Plurimus hic aeger moritur vigilando (sed ipsum
languorem peperit cibus inperfectus et haerens
ardenti stomacho); nam quae meritoria somnum
admittunt? Magnis opibus dormitur in urbe . . .
Si vocat officium, turba cedente vehetur
dives et ingenti curret super ora Liburna
atque obiter leget aut scribet vel dormiet intus;
namque facit somnum clausa lectica fenestra.
Loeb Translation:
"Here at Rome very many invalids die from insomnia, although it’s food undigested and clinging to the fevered stomach that induces the malaise in the first place. Which lodgings allow you to rest, after all? You have to be very rich to get sleep in Rome . . . If duty calls, the crowd gives way as the rich man is conveyed, racing along above their faces in his huge Liburnian galley, reading or writing on the way or sleeping inside (you know how a litter with its window closed brings on drowsiness)."
