"apud" - anyway to check if "in" or "near"?

[Mic_]

Hello everyone in the Textkit forum!

I'm posting this to see if anyone can give me a hand, by trying to assure me if in the following sentence, "apud" means "in Rome" or "near Rome":

"...quas tibi tradidimus apud Romam..."

If anyone can help me on this - if possible justifying it with grammar rules - I would be immensely grateful!

[thesaurus]

I'm pretty sure it means "near," as in "...which we related to you near Rome..."

If it were simply "at Rome," it is more likely that the author would have used the locative form, "Romae."

It might help to have more context from the sentence, too.

[adrianus]

Often in Vulgar/Later Latin "apud" or "in" before the placename serves for the locative, note also. Classically, as you say, thesaurus.
Et hoc nota: vulgari serioreque in sermone "apud" seu "in" ante loci nomen pro casu locativo non rarò substituitur. Si classicè autem dicitur, "apud" praepositio "prope" significare potest, ut rectè dicit thesaurus.

[Mic_]

First of all, thanks to thesaurus and adrianus.

I've made a thorough investigation about the context in which this medieval latin term was used, and I reached the conclusion that in legal documents, "apud" was used with "at" meaning.

The latin "in" before the name of a city, was used to refer to any part inside the limits of the city or of the land (a more restrict area), while "apud" was used to refer a more general location, or with the limits less defined.