The Alcántara Bridge, Spain, a masterpiece of ancient bridge building

Pons Fabricius in Rome, Italy

Severan Bridge, Turkey

Pont-Saint-Martin Bridge, Italy

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, see arch bridge. Most utilized concrete as well; which the Romans were the first to use for bridges.

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 2 meters above the body of water.

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

[edit] Typical characteristics

• 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] Arch shapes

Early Roman arch bridges, influenced by the ancient notion of the ideal form of the circle, often describe a full circle, with the stone arch continuing underground. A typical example is the Pons Fabricius in Rome. Later, Roman masonry bridges rested mostly on semi-circular arches, or, to a lesser extent, on segmental arches.^[1][2] For the later design, which shows an early, local concentration in north-eastern Italy, but can be found scattered throughout the whole empire, the Limyra Bridge, the Alconétar Bridge and the Ponte San Lorenzo are prime examples. In addition, a number of other arch form make rare appearances, in some cases of which later deformations cannot be ruled out though. The late antique Karamagara Bridge represents an early example for the use of pointed arches.

[edit] Gallery

Römerbrücke in Trier, Germany	Pont Julien in Apt, France	The Roman Bridge in Vaison-la-Romaine, France	Pont Ambroix, France
Ponte Sant'Angelo in Rome, Italy	Ponte Milvio in Rome, Italy	Pons Fabricius in Rome, Italy	Ponte di Pietra in Verona, Italy
Pons Aemilius in Rome, Italy	Puente de Alconétar, Spain	Limyra Bridge, Turkey	Severan Bridge, Turkey

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] References

• Fuentes, Manuel Durán: La construcción de puentes romanos en Hispania, Xunta de Galicia, Santiago de Compostela 2004, ISBN 9788445339374
• Galliazzo, Vittorio (1995), I ponti romani, Vol. 1, Treviso: Edizioni Canova, ISBN 88-85066-66-6 
• Galliazzo, Vittorio (1994), I ponti romani. Catalogo generale, Vol. 2, Treviso: Edizioni Canova, ISBN 88-85066-66-6 
• Gazzola, Piero (1963). Ponti romani. Contributo ad un indice sistematico con studio critico bibliografico. Florence. 
• O’Connor, Colin (1993), Roman Bridges, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-39326-4 

[edit] See also

• Arch bridge
• Bridges in city of Rome
• Roman architecture
• Roman engineering
• Roman technology

[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

v • d • e Roman bridges Germany Caesar's Rhine bridges  · Römerbrücke (Trier) France Pont Ambroix  · Pont de Bornègre  · Pont Flavien  · Pont du Gard  · Pont Julien  · Pont sur la Laye  · Pont des Marchands  · Pont Serme  · Roman Bridge (Saint-Thibéry)  · Roman Bridge (Vaison-la-Romaine) Italy Pons Aemilius  · Ponte Altinate  · Pons Cestius  · Pons Fabricius  · Pons Sublicius  · Pont d'Aël  · Pont de Pierre (Aosta)  · Pont-Saint-Martin  · Ponte d'Augusto (Rimini)  · Ponte Corvo  · Ponte del Gran Caso  · Ponte Milvio  · Ponte Molino (Padua)  · Ponte Nomentano  · Ponte Pietra (Verona)  · Ponte di Pioraco  · Ponte di Quintodecimo  · Ponte Salario  · Ponte San Lorenzo  · Ponte Sant'Angelo Portugal Ponte de Rubiães  · Ponte São João  · Roman Bridge (Chaves) Spain Acueducto de los Milagros  · Alcántara Bridge  · Alconétar Bridge  · Aqüeducte de les Ferreres · Puente Romano (Mérida)  · Segovia Aqueduct Bridge Syria Bridge at Nimreh  · Gemarrin Bridge  · Kharaba Bridge Turkey Aesepus Bridge  · Bridge at Oinoanda  · Constantine's Bridge (Mysia)  · Eurymedon Bridge  · Karamagara Bridge  · Kemer Bridge  · Limyra Bridge  · Makestos Bridge  · Nysa Bridge  · Penkalas Bridge  · Pergamon Bridge  · Sangarius Bridge  · Severan Bridge  · Stone Bridge (Adana)  · Valens Aqueduct Bridge  · White Bridge (Mysia) Other countries Chesters Bridge  · Constantine's Bridge (Danube)  · Leontes Bridge  · Piercebridge Roman Bridge  · Trajan's Bridge Full list of Roman bridges