The Alcántara Bridge, a masterpiece of ancient bridge building

Puente de Segura, early 2nd century

Roman bridge and Moorish alcazaba at Mérida, Spain

Roman pontoon bridge across the lower Danube

For a list of all known Roman bridges, see List of Roman bridges

For the railway station in Wales, see Roman Bridge railway station

Roman bridges, built by ancient Romans, were the first large and lasting bridges built.

Roman bridges were built with stone and had the arch as its basic structure. Most utilized concrete as well.

Built in 142 BC, the Pons Aemilius, later named Ponte Rotto (broken bridge) is the oldest Roman stone bridge in Rome, Italy.

The biggest Roman bridge was Trajan's bridge over the lower Danube, constructed by Apollodorus of Damascus, which remained for over a millennium the longest bridge to have been built both in terms of overall and span length. They were most of the time at least 60 feet above the body of water.

An example of temporary military bridge construction are the two Caesar's Rhine bridges.

[edit] Usual characteristics of Roman Bridges

• Many are more than 5 meters wide
• Most of them slope slightly
• Many have rustic work
• The stonework has alternating stretcher and header courses ; i.e. one layer of rectangular stones is laid lengthwise, and the next layer has the ends facing outwards
• Stones linked with dovetail joints or metal bars
• Indents in the stones for gripping tools to hold onto

(Source Traianus - An endeavour to identify Roman Bridges built in former Hispania)

[edit] Gallery

Römerbrücke in Trier, Germany	Puente Romano in Córdoba, Spain	Pont Julien in Apt, France	The Roman Bridge in Vaison-la-Romaine, France
Ponte Sant'Angelo in Rome, Italy	Ponte Milvio in Rome, Italy	Pons Fabricius in Rome, Italy	Ponte di Pietra in Verona, Italy
Ponte dell'Abbadia, Italy	Pont-Saint-Martin Bridge, Italy	Segmental arch Bridge near Limyra, Turkey	Severan Bridge, Turkey

[edit] See also

• List of Roman bridges
• Bridges in city of Rome
• Roman architecture
• Roman engineering
• Roman technology

[edit] References

• Piero Gazzola, "Ponti romani. Contributo ad un indice sistematico con studio critico bibliografico", Vol. Ponti romani 2, Florence 1963
• Colin O'Connor, "Roman Bridges", Cambridge Univ. Press (1994) ISBN 0-521-39326-4

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Roman bridges

• Traianus - Technical investigation of Roman public works
• The Waters of Rome: Tiber River Bridges and the Development of the Ancient City of Rome
• Livius.org: Pontes longi - Roman bog bridges

 This Ancient Rome-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.