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 Ri ...

, in

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

in southern

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

. The foundations and other stone blocks (''

spolia ''Spolia'' (Latin for 'spoils'; : ''spolium'') are stones taken from an old structure and repurposed for new construction or decorative purposes. It is the result of an ancient and widespread practice (spoliation) whereby stone that has been quar ...

'') 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 Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

structure were used by the

Seljuqs The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; , ''Saljuqian'',) alternatively spelled as Saljuqids or Seljuk Turks, was an Oghuz Turkic, Sunni Muslim dynasty that gradually became Persianate and contributed to Turco-Persian culture. The founder of the S ...

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 through late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the development of Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient h ...

piers.

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 that provide vertical and lateral support for the span, as well as acting as retaining walls ...

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

arch An arch is a curved vertical structure spanning an open space underneath it. Arches may support the load above them, or they may perform a purely decorative role. As a decorative element, the arch dates back to the 4th millennium BC, but stru ...

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 f of several variables is the vector field (or vector-valued function) \nabla f whose value at a point p gives the direction and the rate of fastest increase. The g ...

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 tha ...

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. Breakwaters have been built since antiquity to protect anchorages, helping isolate vessels from marine hazards ...

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 (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

, e.g. the Aesepus Bridge. 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 aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...

, 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 A ''terminus post quem'' ('limit after which', sometimes abbreviated TPQ) and ''terminus ante quem'' ('limit before which', abbreviated TAQ) specify the known limits of dating for events or items.. A ''terminus post quem'' is the earliest date t ...

'' 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 earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

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 Kay-qubād ibn-e Kay-xusraw (; , 1190–1237), also known as Kayqubad I, was the Seljuq Turkish Sultan of Rûm who reigned from 1220 to 1237. He expanded the borders of the sultanate at the expense of his neighbors, particula ...

(1219–1237) built a new bridge over the remains of the

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 ...

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: 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 of all kno ...

and

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

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