Pons Cestius
Pons Cestius Italian: Ponte Cestio | |
---|---|
Coordinates | 41°53′24.8″N 12°28′38″E / 41.890222°N 12.47722°E |
Carries | pedestrians, motor vehicles |
Crosses |
|
Locale | Rome, Italy |
Next upstream | Ponte Garibaldi |
Next downstream | Ponte Palatino |
Characteristics | |
Design | arch bridge |
Material | Stone (tuff, peperino, travertine) |
Total length |
|
Width |
|
Longest span | 23.65 metres (77.6 ft) (ancient) |
No. of spans | 3 |
Piers in water | 2 |
History | |
Built |
|
Rebuilt |
|
Location | |
Click on the map for a fullscreen view |
The Pons Cestius (
Ancient bridges
1st-century BC bridge
The original bridge was built around the 1st century BC (some time between 62 and 27 BC),[citation needed] after the Pons Fabricius, which connects the other side of island to the river's left bank. The identity of the Cestius referred to in the bridge's name is unknown. He may have been responsible for building the bridge or for later restoring an existing one, and may have been a member of the gens Cestia during the later Roman Republic.[1]
The Pons Cestius was the first bridge that reached the right bank of the Tiber from Tiber Island. Whereas the island was long connected with the left bank of the Tiber and the heart of
The Pons Cestius was restored during the reign of the emperor Antoninus Pius (r. 138–161); an inscription commemorating the rebuilding was installed on the structure.[1]
4th-century bridge
In the 4th century the Pons Cestius was replaced by a new structure. According to the 5th century Latin historian
Both the pontes Cestius and Fabricius were long-lived bridges. Although the Fabricius remains wholly intact, the Ponte Cestio was restored several times from the 12th century and wholly dismantled and rebuilt in the 19th century, with only some of the ancient structure preserved.[1]
Present bridge
19th-century rebuilding
During the embankment of the Tiber's channel in 1888–1892, the building of the walls and boulevards (the
Two thirds of the present structure dates to this period, with the only around a third of the structure built from pre-modern material.
See also
- Pons Fabricius – Ancient Roman bridge, a landmark of Rome, Italy
- List of Roman bridges
- Roman architecture
- Roman engineering
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8018-4300-6.
- ^ Samuel Ball Platner. "Pons Cestius (from A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome)".
- ^ Claridge, Amanda (1998). Rome: An Oxford Archaeological Guide. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
Sources
- O’Connor, Colin (1993). Roman Bridges. Cambridge University Press. pp. 66f. ISBN 0-521-39326-4.
External links
- LacusCurtius: Pons Cestius
- Pons Cestius at Structurae
- The Waters of Rome: Tiber River Bridges and the Development of the Ancient City of Rome
- Tiber Island information (in Italian)
- Lucentini, M. (31 December 2012). The Rome Guide: Step by Step through History's Greatest City. ISBN 9781623710088.
Media related to Ponte Cestio (Rome) at Wikimedia Commons
Preceded by Vigna Randanini |
Landmarks of Rome Pons Cestius |
Succeeded by Pons Fabricius |