A 1,181 ft. long well-preserved Roman Bridge in Southern Turkey

Ever since my undergraduate days when I majored in Physics and Mathematics I have had an interest in technology—and now, ancient technology.  Thus, on a recent trip to Turkey I couldn’t pass up visiting the “largest civil engineering structure of antiquity” in the area of the ancient city of Limyra (map below).  This Roman Bridge is 1,181 ft. long and is almost completely preserved.

View looking east along the 1,181 ft. long road that rests upon 26 ancient arches — the paving on the road is original — note the encroachment of the orchards and the greenhouses — Carl Rasmussen

For an image of this road without the “happy explorer” Click Here.

Two of the 26 ancient arches of the Roman Bridge near Limyra — Click on Image to Enlarge/Download

View looking south at two of the 26 arches of the Late Roman Bridge.

Since the paved surface of the bridge is original, this would imply that all of the supporting materials are original.  Notice the relatively flat double arches made up of bricks and mortar.  The supporting piers of the arches are buried in silt and debris.

Western most arch over the Alakir Çayi river — Click on image to Enlarge and/or download (without obligation)

View looking north at the western most arch of Late Roman Bridge over the present course of the Alakir Çavi river.  Notice the relatively flat double arch made up of bricks and mortar.  The supporting piers of the arch are buried in silt and debris.

To view additional images of the bridge (without obligation) Click Here.

For a hard-to-c0me-by description of the bridge see the Wikipedia article Bridge near Limyra.

HT: Dr. Mark Wilson of the Asia Minor Research Center — and author of Biblical Turkey — who drew my attention to the existence of the bridge.