Stone arch bridge
Puente de piedra de arcos semicirculares (Pons Aemilius)
- Date
- 142 BCE · confidence medium
- Place
- Rome, Italy
- Credited to
- Roman censors; Republican engineering
- Field
- Tools
What it is
A permanent bridge of stone piers with cutwaters and voussoir or concrete-faced arches, able to withstand floods and carry heavy traffic. It replaced perishable wooden bridges.
The oldest surviving stone arch bridge is the corbelled Arkadiko bridge at Mycenae (c. 1300 BCE).
What it led to
- Continuity of the road network across major rivers (Alcántara, Mérida)
- Cities as permanent river-crossing nodes
- Cofferdam and pile foundation techniques
- Aqueduct bridges such as those of Segovia and the Pont du Gard
Built on
Made possible
- Anji Bridge (open-spandrel segmental arch)c. 595-605
- Trajan's Bridge over the Danube
- Pont du Gard
- Cofferdam