is no reference for this version of events; this ritual is somewhat unclear and may be the same as the Roman Liberalia.) Alternately, Samuel Ball Platner explains that the ritual involved priests travelling to all (27 or 30) of the shrines (sacella) called Argei in the original 4 regions of Rome before arriving at the Pons Sublicius. The pontiffs and the magistrates were carrying straw effigies of bound men, also called Argei, which the Vestals threw into the Tiber. The Flaminica Dialis was dressed in mourning. The ceremony has sometimes been interpreted as an Etruscan magical military tactic, comparable to another in which a Gallic man and woman were buried alive in the Forum Boarium. The Greeks and the Gauls were being ritually buried or drowned, which the superstitious Romans believed had a real effect on their Greek or Gallic enemies. They carried out this type of sacrifice also after major defeats. New developments The publication Papers of the British School at Rome, volume 72, 2004, contains an article by Pier Luigi Tucci, "Eight Fragments of the Marble Plan of Rome Shedding New Light on the Transtiberim", where he claims that fragments 138a–f and 574a–b of the Forma Urbis, a marble plan of Rome from the time of Septimius Severus, show the right bank of the Tiber, opposite the Aventine. A road appears there, formerly thought to cross the Pons Aemilius, but shown on the forma crossing another bridge, the last remains of which were removed in the late nineteenth century. This bridge is thought to have been the pons Sublicius. For an update, see Pier Luigi Tucci, ‘The Pons Sublicius: a reinvestigation,’ Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome, volume 56-57 (2011–2012), pp. 177–212 See also Roman bridge List of Roman bridges Ponte Sublicio, the modern bridge in a similar location References External links Tiber River Bridges A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome Pons article by Anthony Rich Monte Aventino e Vestigi del Ponte Sublicio (English) The Waters of Rome: Tiber River Bridges and the Development of the Ancient City of Rome LacusCurtius: Argei Bridges in Rome Roman bridges in Italy Rome R. XII Ripa Rome R. XIII Trastevere