Rhodes Footbridge

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Ditch with no name

The web of Rhodes is a small ancient Greek arch bridge in Rhodes ( Greece). That in the early period of Hellenism, may already be built in the 4th century BC building is the oldest Greek wedge stone bridge.

Construction and location

The pedestrian bridge was archaeologically excavated in the years 1966-67 in the vicinity of the Akandia Bay, the eastern harbor of the city. She crossed an artificial channel depth of 2.15 m, which ran parallel to the old city wall and was separated from it by a 11 m wide road. The side walls of the ditch consisted of at least four layers of limestone blocks of poros - variety, from which also the arch was bricked up.

The channel was approximately spans in the midst of an 8 m wide arch voussoirs, who acted as pedestrian crossing; the inside diameter of the arc-shaped opening corresponds to the width of the groove (2.8 m). The surprisingly high rise ratio of 3-4 to 1 gives the sheet the outer appearance of a segmental arch or even a polycentric basket arc in Greek architecture is detectable only in this one case.

Though not uncontroversial - - ​​examples from pre-Roman times, although identifying the land was referred to Rhodes as the only real arch bridge in the Greek world, at least three others were.