Roman Bridge (Mainz)

Roman Bridge ; (Pons Ingeniosa)
	Modern bridge board of the Roman bridge. A wooden structure made of flat-spanned segment arches rested on a total of 21 stone pillars.
Convicted	Connection Mogontiacum - Castellum Mattiacorum
Crossing of	Rhine
place	Mainz ( Germany )
construction	Wooden segment arch bridge with stone pillars
overall length	600 m
width	12 m
Number of openings	22nd
construction time	At 70 (possibly earlier)
Status	Destroyed
	location
	Plan of the ancient Mogontiacum
	The Roman Bridge (No. 10) connected the bridgehead on the right bank of the Rhine with Mainz.

50.006236 8.277576Coordinates: 50 ° 0 ′ 22 ″ N , 8 ° 16 ′ 39 ″ E

The Mainz Römerbrücke , also Pons Ingeniosa , was a Roman stone pillar bridge over the Rhine in Mogontiacum ( Mainz ). Shortly after the year 70 it replaced a wooden bridge, probably a Pfahljoch bridge, which had been in operation from the year 27. According to recent finds and dendrochronological dating, a solid stone pier bridge could have been built around the year 30. The Roman bridge of Mogontiacum existed at least until the Germanic tribes crossed the Rhine in the early 5th century.

Predecessor bridges

With the establishment of the legionary camp of Mogontiacum by Drusus and the further expansion efforts of the Roman Empire in the direction of free Germania on the right bank of the Rhine , there was an urgent need for a permanent Rhine crossing. At the latest for the Drusus campaign, which began in Mogontiacum in 10 BC. A ship bridge (pons navalis) to the right bank of the Rhine may have existed. The bridgehead on the right bank of the Rhine was fortified with a fort ( Castellum Mattiacorum ) from which the Mainz-Kastel settlement later emerged.

According to the current state of research, this ship bridge was replaced by a solid wooden structure under Emperor Tiberius . The construction of the bridge can be dated to the year 27 through wood finds and their dendrochronological examination.

Dating of the stone pier bridge

The construction of a permanent bridge over the Rhine in the Mainz Legion site has been put in the literature so far in the first half of the reign of Emperor Vespasian (69–74 AD). According to new archaeological findings, the bridge, which rests on 21 stone pillars, could have been built as early as the Late Liberian period. New archaeological excavations carried out in 2004 in downtown Mainz allow one possible conclusion:

The find is a more than 30 m long wooden bank edge reinforcement made of reused sheet piles , largely watertight wooden boards joined together with tenons. From such planks, water-repellent caissons were built by Roman military engineers , which ensured a dry working area in the river when the pillar foundations of so-called pile grate bridges were used. The stone bridge piers were then built up on the pile groups rammed into the river bed. The connection between the dendrochronologically dated sheet piles and the construction method of pile grate bridges can therefore suggest that the bridge was built around the year 30. This would make the Mainz Römerbrücke the oldest known pile grate bridge on the Rhine and its tributaries. It remained in use until the beginning of the 5th century and was possibly used by the invading Teutons when the Rhine was crossed in 406 .

Lyons lead medallion depicting the bridge from Moguntiacum to Castellum

The stone pillar bridge is depicted on the lead medallion found in the Saône near Lyon in 1862 , which dates from around 300 AD and represents the oldest view of the city of Mogontiacum. Sheet piles were also discovered in the past, albeit in situ , at the Roman bridge in Trier - also a wooden structure on stone pillars . In contrast to the Mainz Bridge, the Roman stone pillars have been preserved in the Moselle and still support the bridge deck today.

Road link

Reconstructed Roman arch of honor in Mainz-Kastel in alignment with the road coming from the bridge

The road leading over the bridge led to the most northerly known arch of honor of the Roman Empire. After the death of Germanicus in 19 AD , it was probably built in his honor in the later district of Mainz-Kastel between 18 and 43 AD. The Römerstraße, which ran almost dead straight in the further course, connected Mainz-Kastel with the town of Nida (today Frankfurt-Heddernheim ); it has been called Elisabethenstrasse since the Middle Ages . In its course it is also known as Steinerne Straße, Hohe Straße or Heerstraße. Most of the route has been preserved.

Charlemagne's Rhine bridge

Both Einhard in his Vita Caroli Magni and the Poeta Saxo describe that Emperor Charlemagne at the beginning of the 9th century. built a bridge over the Rhine, which, however, burned down due to arson during his lifetime in May 813. A planned new building was no longer carried out. It is believed that the Roman stone pillars were reused for Karl's bridge construction. Their foundations were preserved for a long time and were used as anchor points for the Mainz ship mills until they were removed in the 19th century .

Only in 1862 was a permanent bridge built over the Rhine near Mainz, the Mainz Südbrücke , a railway bridge.

Individual evidence

↑ For the dating see also: Sybille Bauer: The Mainzer Römerbrücke - the oldest stone bridge on the Rhine? - Website of the Roman Mainz initiative.
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d Bauer, Sibylle (2004), p. 84
↑ All information: Bauer, Sibylle (2004), p. 83
^ Maria R.-Alföldi : To the Lyon lead medallion. In: Schweizer Münzblätter 8, 1958, pp. 63–68 ( full text ); Illustration .
↑ Einhard : Vita Caroli Magni : “Inter quae praecipua fere non inmerito videri possunt basilica sanctae Dei genitricis Aquisgrani opere mirabili constructa et pons apud Mogontiacum in Rheno quingentorum passuum longitudinis - nam tanta est ibi fluminis latitudo; qui tamen uno, antequam decederet, anno incendio conflagravit, nec refici potuit propter festinatum illius decessum, quamquam in ea meditatione esset, ut pro ligneo lapideum restitueret. "; Einhardi vita Karoli Magni ( Latin ) Bibliotheca Augustana. Retrieved December 29, 2011.
^ Poeta Saxo : Annales de gestis Caroli Magni imperatoris; Liber V, 443ff. : “Preterea Rheni constravit ponte fluenta Commoda dans urbi tanta Mogontiace. [...] ". limited preview in Google Book search
↑ Cf. Regesta Imperii RI I n. 477a: “The Rhine bridge built by Karl near Mainz is destroyed by fire; the plan to build a stone bridge instead of the wooden one is no longer implemented. Ann. r. Franc. (Unit), V. Karoli c. 17, 32 cf. Poeta Saxo V, 457, Mon. Sangall. I, 30, Simson Karl d. Size 2,510. "; Regest 477a . Regesta Imperii. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
^ Franz Dumont (ed.), Ferdinand Scherf , Friedrich Schütz : Mainz - The history of the city. 2nd Edition. Philipp von Zabern Verlag, Mainz 1999, ISBN 3-8053-2000-0 , p. 82
↑ Harald Strube: "Right of the Rhine is also Mainz" - Mainz on the right bank of the Rhine . Regionalgeschichte.net. Retrieved on December 29, 2011: “On the foundations of the Roman bridge from 10 BC. In 803-813, Charlemagne had a wooden bridge built, but - just finished - it burned down "
↑ Rhine bridges from Mainz to Kastel . Retrieved on December 29, 2011: "It took again until the year 803 for Emperor Charlemagne to have a bridge built between Mainz and Kastel again, but shortly before its completion in 813 the bridge burned down within three hours."

literature

Sibylle Bauer: The oldest stone bridge on the Rhine - was it in Mainz? New wood find as an indication of early Roman bridging , in: Antike Welt , vol. 35, no. 3 (2004), pp. 83–84
Hubertus Mikler: "News" from the wood of the Roman Rhine bridge between Mainz and Kastel. Mainzer Archäologische Zeitschrift 5/6, 1998/1999, pages 325–335