The Severan Bridge (also known as Chabinas Bridge or Cendere Bridge or Septimius Severus Bridge; ) is a late Roman bridge located near the ancient city of Arsameia (today ''Eskikale''), north east of Adıyaman in southeastern
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 ...
Adıyaman Province
Adıyaman Province (, ) is a Provinces of Turkey, province in the Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey. The capital is Adıyaman. Its area is 7,337 km2, and its population is 635,169 (2022). The province is considered part of Turkish Kurdi ...
. This bridge was described and pictured in 1883 by archeologists
Osman Hamdi Bey
Osman Hamdi Bey (30 December 1842 – 24 February 1910) was an Ottoman Turkish administrator, intellectual, art expert and also a prominent and pioneering painter. He was the Ottoman Empire's first modern archaeologist, and is regarded as the ...
The bridge is constructed as a simple, unadorned, single
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 ...
on two rocks at the narrowest point of the creek. At clear span, the structure is quite possibly the second largest extant Roman arch bridge. It is long and wide.Description of the Severan Bridge Retrieved 22 July 2023.
The bridge was rebuilt by the Legio XVI ''Gallica'',
garrison
A garrison is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a military base or fortified military headquarters.
A garrison is usually in a city ...
ed in the ancient city of
Samosata
Samsat (, Ottoman Turkish صمصاد ''Semisat''), formerly Samosata () is a small town in the Adıyaman Province of Turkey, situated on the upper Euphrates river. It is the seat of Samsat District.Samsat) to begin a war with
Parthia
Parthia ( ''Parθava''; ''Parθaw''; ''Pahlaw'') is a historical region located in northeastern Greater Iran. It was conquered and subjugated by the empire of the Medes during the 7th century BC, was incorporated into the subsequent Achaemeni ...
.
Commagene
Commagene () was an ancient Greco-Iranian kingdom ruled by a Hellenized branch of the Orontid dynasty, Orontids, a dynasty of Iranian peoples, Iranian origin, that had ruled over the Satrapy of Armenia. The kingdom was located in and around the ...
Julia Domna
Julia Domna (; – 217 AD) was Roman empress from 193 to 211 as the wife of Emperor Septimius Severus. She was the first empress of the Severan dynasty. Domna was born in Emesa (present-day Homs) in Roman Syria to an Arab family of priests ...
, and their sons
Caracalla
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (born Lucius Septimius Bassianus, 4 April 188 – 8 April 217), better known by his nickname Caracalla (; ), was Roman emperor from 198 to 217 AD, first serving as nominal co-emperor under his father and then r ...
and
Publius Septimius Geta
Publius Septimius Geta ( ; 7 March 189 – 26 December 211) was Roman emperor with his father Septimius Severus and older brother Caracalla from 209 to 211. Severus died in February 211 and intended for his sons to rule together, but they prove ...
as stated on the
inscription
Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...
in
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
on the bridge.Inscriptions et Two columns on the Kâhta side are dedicated to Septimius Severus himself and his wife, and two more on the Sincik side are dedicated to Caracalla and Geta, all in 9–10 m in height. Geta's column, however, was removed after his assassination by his brother Caracalla, who damned Geta's memory and ordered his name to be removed from all inscriptions.
The Severan Bridge is situated within one of the most important
national park
A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...
s in Turkey, which contains
Nemrut Dağı
Mount Nemrut or Nemrud (; ; ; Greek language, Greek: Όρος Νεμρούτ) is a mountain in southeastern Turkey, notable for the summit where a number of large statues are erected around what is assumed to be a royal tomb from the 1st century ...
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
. In 1997, the bridge was restored. Vehicular traffic was restricted to 5 tons or less. The bridge is now closed to vehicles, and a new road bridge has been built east of the old bridge.
Roman architecture
Ancient Roman architecture adopted the external language of classical ancient Greek architecture for the purposes of the ancient Romans, but was different from Greek buildings, becoming a new architectural style. The two styles are often con ...
*
Roman engineering
The ancient Romans were famous for their advanced engineering accomplishments. Technology for bringing running water into cities was developed in the east, but transformed by the Romans into a technology inconceivable in Greece. The architecture ...