Sangarius Bridge

40.73742830.372853Koordinaten: 40 ° 44 ' 14.7 "N, 30 ° 22' 22.3 " E

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Strait of Constantinople Opel eastwards in the Byzantine period

Çark Deresi ( Antiquity: Sakarya )

The Sangariusbrücke or Justiniansbrücke (Turkish: Justiniano Köprüsü or Beşköprü ) is a late Roman bridge over the river Sangarius (modern Sakarya ) in Turkey today. The building was built by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian ( 527-565 ) to improve communications between the capital Constantinople and the eastern provinces of his empire Opel. The considerable size of almost 430 m long bridge found its literary expression in several works of contemporary authors and poets. The attribution of the bridge to an alleged plot by Justinian sewer construction project for large-scale circumnavigation of the Bosphorus by the Anatolian hinterland is controversial among experts.

Location and History

The Sangariusbrücke is located in the north- western Anatolia, in the ancient region of Bithynia, five kilometers from the city of Adapazari in the district Serdivan. According to the testimony of the late antique historian Procopius in his De Aedificiis they replaced a pontoon bridge from zusammengezurrten barges, which was always carried away by the strong current, whereby the Sangarius was often impassable. The construction of a fixed bridge on the orders of the emperor Justinian is probably related to the particular strategic importance of the river crossing, since one of the ancient highways of Constantinople Opel to the Persian frontier was where there were repeated violent hostilities with the Sassanid Empire under Justinian.

The construction of Sangariusbrücke can be determined from various literary sources quite accurate. She began by autumn 559, when Justinian was returning from an inspection tour of Thrace, and ended 562 after the conclusion of peace with Persia. From the later chronicler Theophanes the Construction is listed under the annus mundi 6052, which corresponds to the year 559/60 AD. Speak two poems by Paulos Silentiarios and Agathias, which were written as panegyrics on the Emperor Justinian and his deeds for the completion of the building in the year 562. Conversely provide the bridge work may also be a clue to the dating of ancient literature: Since Prokop in his important publication for late Roman architecture, said De Aedificiis, the bridge still describes as under construction, seems to be working, whose dating has long been controversial, according to Michael Whitby to have been written around 560-561, adopted five or six years later than in general. Researchers who hold to the early dating of the De Aedificiis, but doubt the dating in Theophanes, why Whitby's position has not generally enforced. The fact that the bridge was completed in 562, seems certain, but possible is also a slightly earlier start of construction.

Today, the building spans only the insignificant Çark Deresi ( antiquity: Melas ), an outflow from the nearby Sapancasee ( antiquity: Sophon ), while the much larger Sakarya has moved his bed three kilometers to the east.

Construction

The entire Sangariusbrücke is built of limestone. The building has well-preserved including both abutment a considerable length of 429 m, with a width of 9.85 m and a height of about 10 m. The impressive total size is highlighted by five main arches, the clear width be 23 to 24.5 m. The width of the corresponding bridge piers is approximately 6 m. The arc Quintet in the middle of the river is flanked by two smaller arches at 19.5 m and 20 m internal diameter; flows through one of western arches today the Bach Çark Deresi. Outside of the flow region, in the flood zone, the bridge is also pierced by five arches 3-9 m span for the purpose of flood relief, two of them on the west, and three on the east bank. The latter were destroyed by the construction of a single-track railway line along the river in whole or in part. The thickness of the two bridge piers at the transition from the riparian zone to the seven arches in the river bed is measured at around 9.5 m, respectively. The keystones of the seven largest arches adorned probably small Christian crosses, however, were destroyed except for two.

Specifically, the bright arc lengths from West to East be in m ( pillar strengths in parentheses):

The river piers are provided throughout with breakwaters, the downstream have on the current side a rounded and acutely tapering shape. An exception is the widest at 9.5 m pillar on the western rise, run its breakwater on both sides of a wedge. [A. 1] Thus, the construction differs significantly from that of the majority of Roman bridges in which both upstream as well as the breakwater - if any - downriver reject at an acute angle from the bridge.

At the western entrance sticking to the 19th century - as with Roman bridges not uncommon - a now vanished triumphal arch, while has received a conch on the eastern side up to the present, but their function is unclear. It is possible that at the pointing east Halbkuppelbau a religious shrine. Its height is 11 m, the width of 9 m. Arc de Triomphe and conch were held in 1838 by Léon de Laborde in a drawing. It shows a constructed entirely of blocks of stone round arch directly at the entrance to the bridge. Another sketch delivers some dimensions of this arc: Accordingly, the door opening was 10.37 m high and 6.19 m; wide, while the pillar strengths were 4.35 m; in one of the two pillars also ran up a spiral staircase.

The bridge no longer preserved inscription was an epigram of the poet Agathias, the emperor of Constantinople Porphyrogenetos ( 905-959 ) is quoted:

Ancient channel projects

The construction of the Sangariusbrücke is considered by some experts as an indication of - considered large canal project under Justinian, who had long-range circumnavigation of the Bosphorus by the Anatolian inland goal - ultimately did not materialize Come. Initial reports of a planned sewer construction can be found in the correspondence between the Emperor Trajan and the Roman governor of Bithynia, Pliny, who suggested a puncture from the situated near to Sangarius Sapancasee the Propontis. However, the plan seems to have been last but not least never realized due to the early death of Pliny.

According to Moore intended Justinian westward redirect the course of Sangarius the Black Sea in the Sapancasee to implement in this way the plan of Pliny. Evidence for this are firstly the grotesque disproportion between the enormous dimensions of the bridge and the modest Melas, and secondly, the fact that the sharp bridge piers - contrary to Roman customs - would show nowadays downstream. Whitby, however, rejects the hypothesis with the indication from that of Sangarius in the race in question was not navigable and that can be wedge-shaped breakwater found at the underwater site is also available in other Roman bridges. A middle position represents Froriep that shows that a reversal of the flow direction would have been possible, given the very low gradient of the local topography well.