Roman bridge

The Alcántara Bridge, a masterpiece of ancient bridge building

Pons Fabricius in Rome.

Severan Bridge, Turkey.

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 2 meters above the body of water.

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

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)

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

See also

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

References

• Gazzola, Piero (1963). Ponti romani. Contributo ad un indice sistematico con studio critico bibliografico. Florence.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• O'Connor, Colin (1994). Roman Bridges. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-39326-4.

External links

• Traianus - Technical investigation of Roman public works
• The Waters of Rome: Tiber River Bridges and the Development of the Ancient City of Rome
• http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=vLNmHFcDnxg - The second longuest mosque and a Roman Bridge with 17 arches Córdoba, Roman City(Spain)-
• Livius.org: Pontes longi - Roman bog bridges