Constantine's Bridge (Danube)

Constantine's Bridge
Crosses	Danube
Locale	Celeiu, Romania and Oescus, Bulgaria
Total length	2,437 m (7,995 ft)
Width	5.7 m (19 ft)
Height	10 m (33 ft)
Construction end	328 AD
Coordinates	43°45′49″N 24°27′25″E / 43.76361°N 24.45694°E / 43.76361; 24.45694
Constantine's Bridge on the map

Constantine's Bridge (Romanian: Podul lui Constantin cel Mare; Bulgarian: Мост на Константин Велики, Most na Konstantin Veliki) was a Roman bridge over the Danube. It was completed or rebuilt^[1] in 328 and remained in use for no more than four decades.^[2] With an overall length of 2437 m, 1137 m of which spanned the Danube's riverbed,^[3] Constantine's Bridge is considered the longest ancient river bridge and one of the longest of all time.^[4]

Construction

It was a construction with masonry piers and wooden arch bridge and with wooden superstructure. It was constructed between the present-day Romanian town Corabia, Olt County - then the city of Sucidava and the Bulgarian Gigen Village, Pleven Province (ancient Oescus),^[5][6] by Constantine the Great.^[7] The bridge was apparently used until the mid 4th century,^[8] the main reason for this assumption being the fact that Valens had to cross the Danube using a bridge of boats at Constantiana Daphne during his campaign against the Goths in 367.^[9]

Technical Data

The length of the Bridge was 2434 m with a wooden deck with a width of 5.70m at 10 meters above the water.^[10] The bridge had two abutment piers at each end, serving as gates for the bridge.

Researches

While Marsigli attempted to locate the bridge in the 17th century and Alexandru Popovici and Cezar Bolliac worked in the nineteenth, the first real scientific discoveries were performed by Grigore Tocilescu and Pamfil Polonic in 1902. In 1934 Dumitru Tudor published the first complete work regarding the bridge, and the last systematic approach on the north bank of the Danube was performed in 1968 by Octavian Toropu.

See also

• List of Roman bridges
• Roman architecture
• Roman engineering
• List of crossings of the Danube

References

1. ^ Biblioteca „V.A. Urechia“ site http://www.bvau.ro/docs/doc_eng.htm
2. ^ Pontica nr.40 page 360
3. ^ Both figures from: Tudor 1974, p. 139; Galliazzo 1994, p. 319
4. ^ Galliazzo 1994, p. 319
5. ^ Pamfil Polonic aflate în arhiva Muzeului Naţional de Antichităţi — Institutul de Arheologie „Vasile Pârvan” http://www.cimec.ro/Arheologie/ArhivaDigitala/4Pamfil20Polonic/PolonicP_Varia_71planse/Planse_sumar.htm
6. ^ Pamfil Polonic aflate în arhiva Muzeului Naţional de Antichităţi — Institutul de Arheologie „Vasile Pârvan” http://www.cimec.ro/Arheologie/Digitalarchives/4Pamfil%20Polonic/Polonic.htm
7. ^ International Database Of Structures http://en.structurae.de/structures/data/index.cfm?ID=s0003933
8. ^ CIMEC Archeologica report http://www.cimec.ro/scripts/arh/cronica/detail.asp?k=2210
9. ^ Kulikowski, Michael (2007). Rome's Gothic Wars. Cambridge University Press. pp. 116–117. ISBN 0521846331.  at Google Book Search
10. ^ Pontica 2007 page 360

Further reading

• Galliazzo, Vittorio (1994), I ponti romani. Catalogo generale, Vol. 2, Treviso: Edizioni Canova, pp. 319f. (No. 645), ISBN 88-85066-66-6 
• Tudor, D. (1974), "Le pont de Constantin le Grand à Celei", Les ponts romains du Bas-Danube, Bibliotheca Historica Romaniae Études, 51, Bucharest: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, pp. 135–166