Rome's Bridges

               

A Map of Rome Showing 10/11 Ancient Bridges
(http://www3.iath.virginia.edu/waters/bridges1.jpg)

 Even though Rome was situated primarily the right bank of the Tiber River during antiquity, they still required access the left bank for commercial purposes, and as time progressed for living purposes. By the fourth century CE Rome possessed eleven bridges to cross the Tiber, nine full spanning and two that connected to Tiber Island. Practically, these eleven bridges fell into four categories – local-public, private (or quasi-private depending on how you define them, but we’ll come back to that), foreign-public, and aqueduct.

The Pons Fabricius in Rome Today
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pons_Fabricius)

                Local-public bridges are by far the most popular bridges in ancient Rome. Making up six of the eleven bridges, they comprise more than half of all the bridges in Rome. These local-public bridges served the local urban population that needed the cross the river, serving mostly the daily labourers, those who were commuting for worship of the Gods, mostly on Tiber Island, and for distributing the grain supply. These bridges are the Pons Aelius, Pons Aurelius, Pons Cestius, Pons Fabricius, Pons Neronianus, and Pons Probi.

                The second type of bridge is a private or quasi-private bridge. Built and owned by a wealthy individual or family in the city, these bridges were used for their private endeavors. An example of this would be the Pons Agrippae, which was built to provide the family with access to their Transtiber tomb during the funeral. The interesting thing about these bridges is that the public used them when the family was not demanding use, hence the quasi-private categorization.

                The next category housed three different bridges in the city, the Pons Aemilius, Pons Mulvius, and Pons Sublicius. These foreign-public bridges served the people who were coming and going from the city from the major highways coming into the city. These were mostly used by traders and merchants who travelled to the city to peddle their wares.

                The fourth type of bridge was very rare, the aqueduct bridge, which served to bring the aqueducts channel over the river. The only instance of this is the Pons Traiani, which carried the Aqua Tranai to its outlet on the opposite bank.

Bibliography

 Taylor, Rabun. "Tiber River Bridges and the Development of the Ancient City of Rome." The         Waters of Rome, Occasional Papers, no. 2 (June 2002). Accessed June 29, 2016.        

        http://www3.iath.virginia.edu/waters/taylor_bridges.html.