<P> There is a legend which says that after the fall of the hated tyrant Tarquinius Superbus (510 BC), the angry Romans threw his body into the Tiber . His body then settled onto the bottom where dirt and silt accumulated around it and eventually formed Tiber Island . Another version of the legend says that the people gathered up the wheat and grain of their despised ruler and threw it into the Tiber, where it eventually became the foundation of the island . </P> <P> In ancient times, before Christianity spread through Rome, Tiber Island was avoided because of the negative stories associated with it . Only the worst criminals and the contagiously ill were condemned there . This however changed when a temple was built on the island . </P> <P> Tiber Island was once the location of an ancient temple to Aesculapius, the Greek god of medicine and healing . </P> <P> Accounts say that in 293 BC, there was a great plague in Rome . Upon consulting the Sibyl, the Roman Senate was instructed to build a temple to Aesculapius, the Greek god of healing, and sent a delegation to Epidauros to obtain a statue of the deity . The delegation went on board a ship to sail out and obtain a statue . </P>

Why does tiber island have the shape of a ship