Sea or bay

Lacus Timavi

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The broad green lake drawn beside Aquileia carries no label at all, yet it is identified as the Lacus Timavi, which the Roman historian Livy describes as a lake overlooking the sea, where a consul pitched camp. The map shows it cut off from the Adriatic, although the river Timavus actually flows into that sea; the Latin word lacus could also mean slow-moving water, which may explain the picture. The spot is usually placed at the Lisert marsh in Italy. The green paint seems to have run across a red outline, and scholars still disagree whether a real lake ever lay here.

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