Arkadiko Bridge

The Arkadiko Bridge or Kazarma Bridge is a Mycenaean bridge near the modern road from Tiryns to Epidauros, Peloponnese, Greece. It is one of the oldest arch bridges still in existence and use.

The corbel arch bridge belonged in Mycenaean times to a highway between the two cities, which in turn formed part of a wider military road network. The structure has a culvert span of ca. 1 m and is made in the typical Mycenaean manner of Cyclopean stones. The bridge is 22 m long, 5.60 wide at the base and 4 m high. The width of the roadway atop is about 2.50 m. The sophisticated lay-out of the bridge and the road indicate that they were specifically constructed for the use by chariots.R. Hope Simpson (1998)] The bridge was built in the late Greek Bronze Age (Late Helladic period LHIII, ca. 1300-1190 BC) and is still used by the local populace. [ [http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/2/eh251.jsp?obj_id=1710 Hellenic Ministry of Culture: Mycenaean bridge at Kazarma] ]

The "Arkadiko Bridge" is only one of four known Mycenaean corbel arch bridges nearby Arkadiko, all belonging to the same Bronze age highway between the two cities, and all of similar design and age. Among them is the "Petrogephyri bridge", which crosses the same stream 1 km to the west of the Arkadiko bridge. Otherwise similar in size and appearance, the structure has a larger span and a little higher vault. It, too, is still used as a local track.

A fifth, well-preserved Mycenaean bridge is located in the wider region at Lykotroupi, where it was part of another Mycenaean main road. Its measurements are close to the "Arkadiko Bridge": 5.20 m wide at the bottom, 2.40 m at the top and a corbeled arch span of a little more than a meter. The road still features kerbs, obviously meant for guiding reasonably fast moving chariots.

References

See also

* Mycenaean Greece
* Mycenae
* Arch bridge
* Corbel arch

Sources

*R. Hope Simpson, D. K. Hagel: "Mycenaean Fortifications, Highways, Dams and Canals", Paul Aströms Förlag, Sävedalen, in: "Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology", Vol. CXXXIII ISBN 91-7081-212-8
*R. Hope Simpson, [http://www.arts.mun.ca/mouseion/1998/simpson/index.html#01 "The Mycenaean Highways"] , "Classical Views", XLII, n.s. 17 (1998), 239-260

External links

*
* [http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/2/eh251.jsp?obj_id=1710 Mycenaean bridge at Kazarma] , Hellenic Ministry of Culture