Macestus Bridge

39.86527777777828.164722222222Koordinaten: 39 ° 51 ' 55 "N, 28 ° 9' 53 " O

F1

Road Hadrianutherai - Miletopolis

Makestos ( Susurluk Çayı )

The Makestosbrücke or bridge of Sultançayır was a Roman segmental arch bridge over the river Makestos ( Susurluk Çayı, also Simav Çayı ) in Balıkesir in today's north-western Turkey. The building documented with its flat arches, slender pillars and the hollow chamber system, the progress in the late antique bridge. The 234 m long structure was at the beginning of the 20th century the subject of preliminary investigations volatile, but since then fell into oblivion; from the bridge only a few pillars are obtained together with the breakwaters. The rest is in the last hundred years completely out of date ( as seen in June 2009).

Research

Located in the historic region of Mysia bridge leads at today Sultançayır over the Makestos, where she served in ancient times, the connection between the places Hadrianutherai ( Balıkesir ) and Miletopolis. The archaeologist Theodor Wiegand found the building prior to its explorations by Mysia 1902 still in excellent state of preservation; only the fourth from the eastern shore of pillars was 30 years previously fallen at an equally ill-considered as unsuccessful attempt to make the river passable for larger vessels, a blast victim. Another short description can be found in the English archaeologist Frederick William Hasluck, who also toured the region at that time.

Construction

The Makestosbrücke is 6.35 m wide and 234 m long without Anrampungen about. The Achsweite thirteen of preserved segmental arches, each of approx 17,80 m, the clear span of 14.20 m and the pillar width only 3.60 m. The upstream reinforced with triangular breakwater piers offer the flow relatively little surface (ratio of internal diameter to pillar strength of almost 4:1). The rise of the fighters line up to the capstone is only 4.30 m, the resulting strings resulting surge of 3.3 to 1, the Makestos Bridge in the round dozen well-known arch bridges of the Roman period a.

Inside the bridge body hollow chambers are recessed in the interest of saving material and weight relief; the cavities are 4.40 m wide, 2.05 m long and are all transverse to the longitudinal axis of the bridge. Similar hollow structures are also found in other late antique bridges in Asia Minor, such as the Aesepus Bridge, where the narrow, slit-like channels will show in direction of the road.

Are located on the outside of pairwise arc-shaped niches in the spandrels between them downstream in addition twice the niche finds its place in the center pillar. Bridge formwork and baffles were built with carefully hewn limestone blocks.

The outer voussoirs involve a change of dressing brick and wedge blocks of stone, while the inner vault area were substantiated, according to Hasluck entirely of bricks. As more materials mentioned Wiegand without any specification of use marble - probably as trim - and mortar, which must have served the brick construction, but also to a filling of the bridge body could indicate with Roman concrete. Ancient spolia were apparently not installed.

Dating

The use of flat brick arches and stone shall, after Wiegand suggests a late Roman and early Byzantine time position. Hasluck dated the construction on the basis of structural similarities with the bridges over the neighboring rivers Granicus ( White Bridge ) and Aisepos ( Aesepus Bridge ) concrete in the era of Constantine the Great († 337 AD). A 300 m away late Byzantine mounting height is the use of the bridge until at least the early 14th century. The current condition of the structure is unknown, in O'Connor's relatively recent compilation of Roman bridges it is not mentioned.