Karamagara Bridge

38.92496111111138.658486111111Koordinaten: 38 ° 55 ' 29.9 "N, 38 ° 39' 30.6 " E

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Roman road at Melitene

Arapgir Çayı

The Karamagara Bridge (Turkish: Karamağara Köprüsü, "Bridge of the black cave ") is a late Roman bridge in the ancient region of Cappadocia in eastern Turkey, and possibly the earliest known pointed arch bridge.

Location and state

The single-arch bridge spanning the rocky gorge of the Arapgir Çayı, a tributary of the Euphrates, with a clear width of 17 m. It sank along with large parts of the river valley of the Arapgir Çayı in the waters of the Euphrates since the completion of the Keban Dam in 1975.

Over the bridge resulted in the ancient Roman road at Melitene, whose route was beaten near the crossing point on both sides of the river in the rock. The term Karamağara ("black cave " ) probably derives from the partially artificially enlarged crevices on the south bank from which were carved in 75 m height above the bridge in the blackish rock and served to protect them. In the travel accounts of early European travelers, this bridge was quite frequently mentioned.

Prior to the flooding, the Karamagara Bridge among other endangered ancient monuments was measured from the Technical University in Ankara, the Middle East and published the findings. The remains of another Roman bridge at the village of Bahadın suggest the existence of an earlier transition towards downstream.

Lancet arch

The pointy -shaped arch is built of stones without mortar wedge connection. On the east, downstream side of a largely intact Christian inscription almost the entire length of the arch rib along the Psalm 121, verse 8 of the Bible runs on Greek quotes: It reads:

A palaeographical study of the Greek letter suggests a construction period in the 5th or 6th century AD close. Since the majority of Roman masonry bridges rested either on a half circle or a lesser degree miter bends, presents the Karamagara Bridge an equally early as rare example of the use of the pointed arch not only in the late antique bridge, but in the history of architecture at all dar. Among other late Roman and Sasanian examples mainly from the early Christian church in Syria and Mesopotamia occupied the bridge the pre-Islamic origin of the pointed arch in Middle Eastern architecture, the Muslim conquerors took over and subsequently further developed.