The Aesepus Bridge (, "Dove Bridge") was a

late antique Late antiquity marks the period that comes after the end of classical antiquity and stretches into the onset of the Early Middle Ages. Late antiquity as a period was popularized by Peter Brown in 1971, and this periodization has since been wide ...

Roman bridge The ancient Romans were the first civilization to build large, permanent bridges. Early Roman bridges used techniques introduced by Etruscan immigrants, but the Romans improved those skills, developing and enhancing methods such as arches and k ...

over the

Aesepus River The Aesepus River or Aisepos River () was a river of Northern ancient Mysia, Mysia. Description The river was mentioned by Homer in the ''Iliad'' as flowing past Zeleia, at the foot of Mount Ida (Turkey), Ida; and in another passage as one of the ...

(today ''Gönen Çayı'') in the

ancient Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history through late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the development of Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient h ...

region of

Mysia Mysia (UK , US or ; ; ; ) was a region in the northwest of ancient Asia Minor (Anatolia, Asian part of modern Turkey). It was located on the south coast of the Sea of Marmara. It was bounded by Bithynia on the east, Phrygia on the southeast, Lyd ...

in modern-day

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. It is notable for its advanced hollow chamber system which has also been employed in other Roman bridges in the region, such as the Makestos Bridge. In a field examination carried out in the early 20th century, the four main vaults of the bridge were found in ruins, while nearly all piers and the seven minor arches had still remained intact. Today, the two remaining pier stubs in the riverbed are still extant, while the condition of the rest of the structure is difficult to determine.

Location and dating

The Aesepus Bridge is located in northwestern Turkey, 8 km north of Sariköy, approximately 5.6 km upstream of where the Gönen Çayı flows into the

Sea of Marmara The Sea of Marmara, also known as the Sea of Marmora or the Marmara Sea, is a small inland sea entirely within the borders of Turkey. It links the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea via the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits, separating Turkey's E ...

, slightly above the point where the narrow river valley opens into the wide estuary plain and a modern bridge carries the highway 200 across the Gönen Çayı. The Aesepus Bridge was part of a

Roman road Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...

, which in ancient times led across Mysia to the coastal town of

Cyzicus Cyzicus ( ; ; ) was an ancient Greek town in Mysia in Anatolia in the current Balıkesir Province of Turkey. It was located on the shoreward side of the present Kapıdağ Peninsula (the classical Arctonnesus), a tombolo which is said to have or ...

, and which, having preserved some of its original Roman paving of 13–15 cm deep small round stones, was in the 19th century still the preferred route for travelling between close by

Bandırma Bandırma ()Greek: Panormos(Πανορμος)is a municipality and district of Balıkesir Province, northwestern Turkey. Its area is 755 km2, and its population is 167,363 (2024). Bandırma is located in the south of the Marmara Sea, in the ...

(Panderma) and Boghashehr. The earliest investigation on the Aesepus Bridge was published by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

archaeologist Frederick Hasluck in 1906. Based on structural similarities with other hollow chamber bridges in Mysia like the White Bridge and the Makestos Bridge, as well as Constantine's Bridge, he dates the bridge quartet to the early 4th century AD, in the era of

Constantine the Great Constantine I (27 February 27222 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was a Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337 and the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. He played a Constantine the Great and Christianity, pivotal ro ...

(† 337 AD), when

Byzantium Byzantium () or Byzantion () was an ancient Greek city in classical antiquity that became known as Constantinople in late antiquity and Istanbul today. The Greek name ''Byzantion'' and its Latinization ''Byzantium'' continued to be used as a n ...

was elevated to the capital of the eastern half of the empire. According to the Italian scholar Galliazzo, though, the characteristic pattern of alternating brick and stone layers in the arch rip (see picture showing the ''arch of eastern abutment'') rather points at an early

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

reconstruction from the second half of the 5th or the first of the 6th century AD, during the reign of

Justinian Justinian I (, ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 527 to 565. His reign was marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovatio imperii'', or "restoration of the Empire". This ambition was ...

. In his view, only the pier foundations and the abutments with their minor arches are unequivocally of Roman origin.

Structure

While all four main arches had collapsed at the time of Hasluck's visit, both ramps and nearly all bridge piers were still standing to full height; only the third pier from the west bank had completely disappeared. The exposed upper part of the piers showed four parallel, slot-like hollow spaces running through the entire length of the structure, which were meant to reduce the load on the vaults. The piers themselves were protected on their up- and downstream side by large cutwaters with pointed caps. Aesepus Bridge 1

The bridge is 5.60 m wide and around 158 m long. Hasluck gave the spans of the third and seventh opening as 12.20 m each. The facing, including breakwaters and hollow chambers, consists of

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

blocks, whereas the interior is filled with mortar-bound

rubble Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture; undressed especially as a filling-in. Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as 'brash' (compare cornbrash)."Rubble" def. 2., "Brash n. 2. def. 1. ''Oxford English Dictionar ...

. The well-preserved paving of the remaining roadway is made of large, occasionally squared stones, and rests on the roof slabs of the hollow chambers. Since the Gönen Çayı at the site passes close to the west slope of the valley, the western abutment is comparatively short. Its two arch vaults, only one of which has a semi-circular shape, were built of brick, with the outer

voussoir A voussoir ( UK: ; US: ) is a wedge-shaped element, typically a stone, which is used in building an arch or vault.“Voussoir, N., Pronunciation.” Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, June 2024, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/7553486115. Acces ...

s alternating between groups of stone and brick, as it is also typical of the Makestos Bridge. The 58 m long eastern ramp rests on five arches of diminishing size (the overgrown arch 9 has only been conjecturally reconstructed by Hasluck). At the approach are the remains of an

exedra An exedra (: exedras or exedrae) is a semicircular architecture, architectural recess or platform, sometimes crowned by a semi-dome, and either set into a building's façade or free-standing. The original Greek word ''ἐξέδρα'' ('a seat ou ...

in brick around which the road forks, an alignment also found at the

Sangarius Bridge The Sangarius Bridge or Bridge of Justinian ( Turkish: ''Justinianos Köprüsü'' or ''Beşköprü'') is a late Roman bridge over the river Sakarya (, Greek Σαγγάριος) in Anatolia, in modern-day Turkey. It was built by the East Roman ...

; an 80 cm high cylindrical stone which may have been used for recording repairs stands next to the exedra.

Gallery

File:Aesepus Bridge. Picture 03.jpg, File:Aesepus Bridge. Picture 04.jpg, File:Aesepus Bridge. Picture 05.jpg,

References

Sources

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External links