The Eurymedon Bridge was a late Roman bridge over the river Eurymedon (modern ''Köprüçay''), near

Aspendos Aspendos or Aspendus ( Pamphylian: ΕΣΤϜΕΔΥΣ; Attic: Ἄσπενδος) was an ancient Greco-Roman city in Antalya province of Turkey. The site is located 40 km east of the modern city of Antalya. It was situated on the Eurymedon ...

, in

Pamphylia Pamphylia (; grc, Παμφυλία, ''Pamphylía'') was a region in the south of Asia Minor, between Lycia and Cilicia, extending from the Mediterranean to Mount Taurus (all in modern-day Antalya province, Turkey). It was bounded on the north b ...

in southern

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

. The foundations and other stone blocks (''

spolia ''Spolia'' (Latin: 'spoils') is repurposed building stone for new construction or decorative sculpture reused in new monuments. It is the result of an ancient and widespread practice whereby stone that has been quarried, cut and used in a built ...

'') of the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

structure were used by the Seljuqs to build a replacement bridge in the 13th century, the Köprüpazar Köprüsü, which stands to this day. This bridge is characterized by a significant displacement along its mid-line, noticeable by looking at its

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

piers Piers may refer to: * Pier, a raised structure over a body of water * Pier (architecture), an architectural support * Piers (name), a given name and surname (including lists of people with the name) * Piers baronets, two titles, in the baronetages ...

Roman bridge

Structure

The original shape and construction of the Roman-era bridge have been reconstructed digitally, based on the extant remains of the ancient structure: the ramps, the

abutment An abutment is the substructure at the ends of a bridge span or dam supporting its superstructure. Single-span bridges have abutments at each end which provide vertical and lateral support for the span, as well as acting as retaining wal ...

s, and foundations of the piers. Several pieces of the original bridge are scattered along the river bed on both banks, and were not used during reconstruction. Originally, the bridge had a length of 259.50 m and a width of 9.44 m, and had nine

semicircular In mathematics (and more specifically geometry), a semicircle is a one-dimensional locus of points that forms half of a circle. The full arc of a semicircle always measures 180° (equivalently, radians, or a half-turn). It has only one line o ...

arch An arch is a vertical curved structure that spans an elevated space and may or may not support the weight above it, or in case of a horizontal arch like an arch dam, the hydrostatic pressure against it. Arches may be synonymous with vau ...

es. It crossed the river at a basic 90-degree angle, although it bent slightly on one end. The two access ramps provide information about the overall height of the structure, and the

gradient In vector calculus, the gradient of a scalar-valued differentiable function of several variables is the vector field (or vector-valued function) \nabla f whose value at a point p is the "direction and rate of fastest increase". If the gr ...

on each end is similar (12.3% and 12.2%), The midpoint of the bridge was approximately 4.1 m higher than the later Seljuk structure. This middle section stood on six arches, while both sides had smaller arches (one on the right and two on the left) which served as

spillway A spillway is a structure used to provide the controlled release of water downstream from a dam or levee, typically into the riverbed of the dammed river itself. In the United Kingdom, they may be known as overflow channels. Spillways ensure th ...

s in case the river overflowed. At its normal level, the river flowed between the three central arches, constrained by double-wedge-shaped reinforcements of masonry, placed at the two outer pillars and intended to prevent their undermining by the river. These masonry structures were – according to the archaeological record – markedly higher on the upstream side (8.15 m) than on the downstream (4.76 m). In addition, wedge-shaped

breakwaters A breakwater is a permanent structure constructed at a coastal area to protect against tides, currents, waves, and storm surges. Part of a coastal management system, breakwaters are installed to minimize erosion, and to protect anchorages, h ...

were added on the piers, although not all piers feature them on both sides. The clear spans of the three central arches have been determined at 23.52 m for the central arch and 14.95 m for the two flanking arches, while the two piers supporting the central arch were measured at 9.60 m. The gaps in the right end of the structure reveal the hollow chamber construction method of the bridge deck, typical of several Roman bridges in

Asia Minor Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

, e.g. the

Aesepus Bridge The Aesepus Bridge ( tr, Güvercin Köprüsü, "Dove Bridge") was a late antique Roman bridge over the Aesepus River (today ''Gönen Çayı'') in the ancient region of Mysia in modern-day Turkey. It is notable for its advanced hollow chamber syst ...

. The great height of the ancient structure is further verified by the discovery of 1.5 m long iron threaded rods, which, bound together with hooks and loops, were used to reinforce the masonry in the bridge's foundations. The main body of the bridge was built using

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wid ...

, which survives in at least one Seljuq-era pier as a foundation.

Dates

The exact date of the bridge's construction is uncertain. The date of construction is closely connected with the Aqueduct of

, parts of which were re-used in the bridge. In the outer shell of the bridge alone, 250 pipe-shaped stones from the aqueduct's main pressure conduit were re-used. Since the aqueduct has been known to have functioned until into the 4th century AD, that provides a ''

terminus post quem ''Terminus post quem'' ("limit after which", sometimes abbreviated to TPQ) and ''terminus ante quem'' ("limit before which", abbreviated to TAQ) specify the known limits of dating for events or items.. A ''terminus post quem'' is the earliest da ...

'' for the construction of the Eurymedon bridge, although it is still possible that an earlier bridge already existed on this location. This bridge could possibly have been destroyed in the large

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, fr ...

of May 363, which also ruined the aqueduct, thus explaining the use of the latter's duct stones in the rebuilding of the bridge.

Seljuq bridge

In the early 13th century, the Seljuq Sultan

Kayqubad I Alā ad-Dīn Kayqubād ibn Kaykhusraw ( fa, علاء الدين كيقباد بن كيخسرو; tr, I. Alâeddin Keykûbad, 1190–1237), also known as Kayqubad I, was the Seljuq Sultan of Rûm who reigned from 1220 to 1237. He expanded th ...

(1219–1237) built a new bridge over the remains of the late antique structure, which had collapsed, probably also because of an earthquake. The Seljuq builders followed closely the course of the Roman remains, even in sections where the piers had been partly moved downstream from their original position; as a result, the Seljuq bridge features a quite sharp displacement. This zigzag course, formed by two successive, 90 degree bends, in combination with the pointed arches give the Seljuq-era bridge an appearance that is quite distinct from that of its Roman precursor. The Seljuq bridge is also considerably reduced in dimensions, something that allowed the full use of the Roman remains. Thus, for instance, the reduction of the width to almost half the original made the integration of halfway surviving ancient piers possible. The medieval arches were also 4.1 m lower than the Roman ones, and the length of the bridge was shortened, so that the new bridge ramp began at the place where the Roman structure had already reached its final height level. The bridge is mainly constructed of stone blocks, while parts of the antique structure have been reused, including the duct stones, which were built into the new ramp. Restoration works in the late 1990s in the bridge's crumbling breastwork also revealed stone inscriptions in

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

and

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

References

Sources

External links

The Aspendos Aqueduct and the Roman-Seljuk Bridge Across the Eurymedon
{{Authority control Roman bridges in Turkey Seljuk bridges in Turkey Deck arch bridges Stone bridges in Turkey Bridges completed in the 4th century Bridges completed in the 13th century Pamphylia Buildings and structures in Antalya Province Arch bridges in Turkey