Bridge at Nimreh

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Coordinates: 32 ° 50 ′ 0 ″  N , 36 ° 41 ′ 30 ″  E

Bridge at Nimreh
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Crossing of Wadi al-Liwa
place Nimreh im Hauran ( Syria )
construction Arch bridge with vaulted vaults
overall length 25 m
width 4.52 m
Number of openings 1
Clear width 6.73 m
Arrow height 3.10 m
height 3.60 m (to the top of the curve)
construction time 3rd or 4th century AD
location
Bridge at Nimreh (Syria)
Bridge at Nimreh

The bridge at Nimreh is a Roman arch bridge in Syria from the 3rd or 4th century AD near Shahba , the ancient Philippopolis. Its vault construction of three parallel belt arches is based on local building traditions of the old cultural landscape of the Hauran and is - as far as known - unique in Roman bridge construction.

Traffic situation of the Hauran

The Bridge at Nimreh is (ancient name: Auranitis) in Hauran, an approximately 80 km southeast of Damascus nearby volcanic mountain in the transition zone between agricultural land and desert. Thanks to fertile soils and sufficient rainfall, the region generated particularly high agricultural yields in Roman times, the transport of which was made possible by an extensive road network . The region also played a special role as the hub of several long-distance trade routes : the inland connection between the transshipment points Petra , Damascus and Aleppo led straight through the main town of Bostra , while the Trans-Arab caravan route and the route to Palmyra , the later Strata Diocletiana , the Hauran in the north and At least affected the south. The key infrastructure expansion was carried out after the establishment of the Province of Arabia by Kaiser Trajan in 106 n. Chr., The border province when the Romans through the system of castles and military roads against raids nomadic secured desert strains and Bostra the location of the Legio III Cyrenaica certain . The mountain landscape , which was divided up by wadis , also made it necessary to build solid bridges, of which not only those at Nimreh, but also two others in Djemerrin and Kharaba have survived.

Bridge construction

The bridge is located 10 km southeast of Shahba at the foot of the mountain village of Nimreh , which is already attested as an important place in the Onomasticon of Eusebius under the name Namara ( vicus grandis ). Located near the modern driveway, it crosses Wadi al-Liwa at an almost right angle. At the western end, the otherwise straight bridge meets the edge of the Wadi with a slight bend of 120 °, an adjoining road embankment disappears into the terrain after about 100 m. The total length is 25 m, with the eastern section of 15 m to the apex of the arch being 5 m longer than the western section. Interestingly, the bridge width of 4.52 m corresponds exactly to that in Kharaba. With a span of 6.73 m and a stitch height of 3.10 m, the single arch describes a slightly flatter curve (approx. 160 °) than the normal Roman round arch (180 °); the height of the top of the arch above the wadi bed is 3.60 m.

The bridge vault consists of three parallel belt arches with a distance of 1.20 m, the spaces between which are covered with elongated basalt blocks up to the surface of the road ; the belt arches themselves are made of 60 cm long, 30 cm wide and equally high blocks. This construction principle of the transverse arches with capstones is - as far as is known - a unique feature in Roman bridges. It can also be found in the Hauran in the ceiling constructions of late antique hall and central buildings as well as in the early Christian church in Nimreh and suggests that it was built in late antiquity in the 3rd or 3rd centuries 4th century AD close. Possibly the construction of the bridge falls more specifically in the heyday of the region in the 3rd century, which reached its climax with the expansion of Shahba, the birthplace of the emperor Philip Arabs , to Philippopolis. The use of belt arches for room vaulting was continued in Hauran as a local construction technique until the first half of the 20th century.

Presumably, the bridge was built directly on the existing subsoil without any foundations. The almost unadorned masonry consists of rectangular, roughly smoothed basalt stones of various sizes that lie dry on top of one another without a mortar bond ( opus quasi-quadratum ). Basalt was only rarely used in Roman bridge construction and - as with other ancient bridges in Hauran - it must be attributed to the abundant availability of this type of rock on site. The cladding has been broken open on both sides in the area of ​​the arched gussets and reveals the backfill of field stones, coarse sand and earth. The road surface, particularly well preserved in the ramp area, consists of large, smooth basalt stones.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Kissel, Theodor & Stoll, Oliver (2000), p. 109
  2. ^ Kissel, Theodor & Stoll, Oliver (2000), p. 111
  3. ^ A b c Kissel, Theodor & Stoll, Oliver (2000), p. 112
  4. ^ Kissel, Theodor & Stoll, Oliver (2000), pp. 116f.
  5. All information: Kissel, Theodor & Stoll, Oliver (2000), p. 115
  6. All information: Kissel, Theodor & Stoll, Oliver (2000), p. 116
  7. ^ Kissel, Theodor & Stoll, Oliver (2000), p. 117
  8. ^ Kissel, Theodor & Stoll, Oliver (2000), pp. 117f.
  9. ^ A b Kissel, Theodor & Stoll, Oliver (2000), p. 119
  10. ^ Kissel, Theodor & Stoll, Oliver (2000), pp. 119f.
  11. All information: Kissel, Theodor & Stoll, Oliver (2000), p. 115f.

literature

  • Theodor Kissel , Oliver Stoll: The bridge at Nimreh. A testimony to Roman transport policy in Hauran, Syria , in: Antike Welt , Vol. 31, No. 2 (2000), pp. 109–125

See also