Pontes fort was an

ancient Roman In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

fort A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from La ...

situated on the river

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

in the Roman province of

Moesia Moesia (; Latin: ''Moesia''; ) was an ancient region and later Roman province situated in the Balkans south of the Danube River. As a Roman domain Moesia was administered at first by the governor of Noricum as 'Civitates of Moesia and Triballi ...

and forming a key part of the

Limes Moesiae The Moesian Limes () is the modern term given to a linked series of Roman forts on the northern frontier of the Roman province of Moesia along the Danube between the Black Sea shore and Pannonia (present-day Hungary) and dating from the 1st cen ...

frontier system. It is near the modern town of

Kladovo Kladovo ( sr-Cyrl, Кладово, ; or ) is a town and municipality located in the Bor District of Southern and Eastern Serbia, eastern Serbia. It is situated on the right bank of the Danube river. Name In Serbian language, Serbian, the town i ...

, Serbia. It was built in about 103-105 AD and is one of the most important Roman sites along the Danube as it protected the southern end of the strategic

Trajan's Bridge Trajan's Bridge (; ), also called Bridge of Apollodorus over the Danube, was a Roman segmental arch bridge, the first bridge to be built over the lower Danube and considered one of the greatest achievements in Roman architecture. Though it was ...

over the river. It has been excavated and is now protected in an archaeological park. A bronze head of Emperor

Trajan Trajan ( ; born Marcus Ulpius Traianus, 18 September 53) was a Roman emperor from AD 98 to 117, remembered as the second of the Five Good Emperors of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. He was a philanthropic ruler and a successful soldier ...

's father, or Trajan himself. was found in the 19th century by fishermen in the river Danube near a pillar of the bridge, part of a statue at the bridge entrance and now in the museum of Belgrade. Bust of Marcus Ulpius Traianus the Elder at the National Museum of Serbia

Bust of Marcus Ulpius Traianus the Elder at the National Museum of Serbia

History

Trajan's bridge was built in only three years (103–105 AD) by the famous architect

Apollodorus of Damascus Apollodorus of Damascus () was an architect and engineer from Roman Syria, who flourished during the 2nd century AD. As an engineer he authored several technical treatises, and his massive architectural output gained him immense popularity dur ...

, at the same time as the fort. The bridge was considered the most daring work in the Roman world. Large canals, still visible in the marshy ground even today, were dug to lower Danube level and make construction of the piers easier. This may be the origin of the name Pontes (Bridges) as several temporary bridges had to be built across these canals and the Danube. Repairs to the fort were done in the time of

Marcus Aurelius Marcus Aurelius Antoninus ( ; ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 and a Stoicism, Stoic philosopher. He was a member of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty, the last of the rulers later known as the Five Good Emperors ...

and after being heavily damaged during the 2nd century a major reconstruction was done in the time of

Septimius Severus Lucius Septimius Severus (; ; 11 April 145 – 4 February 211) was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna (present-day Al-Khums, Libya) in the Roman province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through cursus honorum, the ...

at the beginning of the 3rd century. It suffered much destruction, like the Roman Empire and its frontiers in general, in conflicts with the Goths and the Huns in the 4th and the 5th centuries AD.Frontiers of the Roman Empire – The Danube Limes (Serbia) https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/6475/ The fort was restored during

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 ...

’s restoration of the Limes. When the bridge was destroyed the fort lost its significance and was mostly abandoned, but a settlement of ''

limitanei The ''limitanei'' (Latin, also called ''ripenses''), meaning respectively "the soldiers in frontier districts" (from the Latin word '' limes'' meaning frontier) or "the soldiers on the riverbank" (from the Rhine and Danube), were an important par ...

'' continued.

References

{{coord, 44, 36, 47, N, 22, 40, 09, E, type:landmark_region:RS, display=title Roman auxiliary forts in Serbia