Backstory, I am trying to find "Mucia Prata" so when I visit Italy I can visit the land my ancestors had.
This text from this website says it is "across the river"
" His condicionibus composita pace, exercitum ab Ianiculo deduxit Porsinna et agro Romano excessit. Patres C. Mucio virtutis causa trans Tiberim agrum dono dedere, quae postea sunt Mucia prata appellata. Ergo ita honorata virtute, feminae quoque ad publica decora excitatae, et Cloelia virgo "
and this source says it is on "the right bank".
Would Romans have known North at this time? And if they did would they refer to it on maps as the top?
Any ideas? Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks!
If you look at this map of Rome roughly at the time Livius' story takes place, you'll see that it is completely on the left bank of the river. 'Trans Tiberim' is here the area immediately across the Tiber from the city itself. You'll often see this formula to refer to places in the (larger) city of Rome or its surroundings, for example in the church of Sanctae Mariae trans Tiberim (St. Maria Trastevere), or in documents referring to their location.
This map shows Rome in the time of the Empire, the XIVth region is the region 'Trans Tiberim', which is today called Trastevere as a region of modern Rome.
Trans Tiberim was also a legal term in the Twelve Tables, where it dictated that people who defaulted on their debts could only be sold into slavery trans tiberim, peregre, so abroad, across the Tiber (i.e. in Etruscan land for all intents and purposes).
For a Roman, it was pretty clear what 'across the Tiber' meant, since the center of his world was on the left bank.
right bank of a river is on your right side when facing downstream, so north is not important. On the maps /u/Astrogator posted it seems the "right" side and "across the river" are the same, as Rome is "left" of the river
