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A Late Roman Pointed Arch Bridge (you read right) - Eleatic Guest - 05-08-2009
You wouldn't believe it, but sometimes it is really amazing what fascinating things one can 'discover' by going deep into real specialist literature, things which aren't even known in overview works in the field, not to mention the superficial treatment in general history works.
There exists, hold your breath, a Late Roman (or Early Byzantine, if you like) pointed arch bridge in Capadocia, Turkey! And, with 17 m, its clear span is not to be scoffed at. Unfortunately, the bridge is today submerged by the Keban Dam, but the evidence for its 5th or 6th century AD origin is pretty secure, resting on the paelographic analysis of a Greek bridge inscription which runs along much of the length of the arch rib. It is a quote from Psalm 121, verse 8, and here I need your help, that is for a transcription and translation of the verse how it appears on the arch rib (see attachment)
According to Galliazzo, the line runs: ["Il Signore Dio protegga la tua entrata e la tua uscita da ora e fino all'eternita, amen, amen, amen."
And what does Galliazzo say here exactly about how the concrete is used (the cursive part)?
"...questa era poi formata di piccoli cunei di pietra posti in opera a secco ed aveva i muri di testa di conci disposti in filari che presentavano
talora un' alternanza di proporzioni e non sempre stavano u piani paralleli ma inclinati, mentre iI nucleo era in opera a sacco."
Coming back to the question of the origin of the pointed arch, there exists now unassailable evidence that it was known and employed already in pre-Islamic time in the Near East, namely in Christian churches in Syria and Mesopotamia, as well as possibly in Sassanian military architecture in Jordan (during their brief stint in the early 7th century AD). And now, the Kamamagara Bridge which is to the best of my knowledge the first pointed arch bridge known!
Re: A Late Roman Pointed Arch Bridge (you read right) - Eleatic Guest - 05-08-2009
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karamagara_Bridge
Re: A Late Roman Pointed Arch Bridge (you read right) - Eleatic Guest - 05-11-2009
Not wanting to rush things, but who can do a transcription and translation of the Greek bridge inscription?
Re: A Late Roman Pointed Arch Bridge (you read right) - Jona Lendering - 05-11-2009
Congratulations, Stefan; I know how enthusiastic you are about Roman bridges.
Re: A Late Roman Pointed Arch Bridge (you read right) - D B Campbell - 05-12-2009
Quote:... who can do a transcription and translation of the Greek bridge inscription?Since you haven't had any takers, I'll have a go, Stefan. But I'm no Byzantine scholar, so it'll be rough.
It looks like:
KYRIOS O THEOS PHYL[AS]SEI TÊN EISOD[OS] SOU KE {= KAI} TÊN E[X]OD[O]S SOU APO TOU NUN KAI EÔS TOU AIÔN ??SLPÊ?? AM[E]N
"The Lord God watches over your entering and your exiting from now and forever [...] Amen."
Pretty apt for a bridge, really!
btw I cannot make out the penultimate word. Is there a better transcription to work from?
Re: A Late Roman Pointed Arch Bridge (you read right) - Eleatic Guest - 05-12-2009
Quote:btw I cannot make out the penultimate word. Is there a better transcription to work from?
Thanks.
Il Signore Dio protegga la tua entrata e la tua uscita da ora e fino all'eternita.
Re: A Late Roman Pointed Arch Bridge (you read right) - Sean Manning - 05-15-2009
That is an interesting fact, Stefen. And from Late Antiquity too! But then, so is Hagia Sophia ...
Re: A Late Roman Pointed Arch Bridge (you read right) - Eleatic Guest - 05-15-2009
Thanks. It's getting even more fascinating. The arch may not look overly pointed, but roughly calculating the ratio of the distance between its two centers and the span,the usual way to determine the acuteness of a pointed arch in an objective manner, the value is 4.6/17 or 1:3.7. More acute pointed arches appear in Near Eastern/Islamic architecture for the first time only as late as the Nilometer in Kairo in the middle of the 9th century.
That means, although the design of the Karamagara bridge still looks somewhat insecure, it was actually in terms of span and arch pointedness hundreds of years ahead of its times, as far as we can tell from the extant remains of pointed architecture.
Re: A Late Roman Pointed Arch Bridge (you read right) - Epictetus - 05-15-2009
Yes, this really is interesting. I've always loved Roman architechture, especially aquaducts. Thanks for posting this.
Looking at the drawing, is that a Christianity symbol on the keystone? I wonder if there was some sort of symbolism going on there.
Re: A Late Roman Pointed Arch Bridge (you read right) - D B Campbell - 05-15-2009
Quote:Looking at the drawing, is that a Christianity symbol on the keystone? I wonder if there was some sort of symbolism going on there.When I was transcribing the Greek, I assumed it was a Chi-Rho, but it may just be a Christian cross, like the one at the start. Perhaps the latter is a sign of reverence, to show the cross before mentioning the Lord's name? (As I said before, I am out of my depth in Byzantine studies.
)
Re: A Late Roman Pointed Arch Bridge (you read right) - Epictetus - 05-15-2009
To me it looks similar to a Maltese-style cross. Or Nestorian?
Is that "N" shape underneath it part of the full inscription or part of the symbol? I tried to follow along with what you wrote, but I can't make heads nor tails of it.
Re: A Late Roman Pointed Arch Bridge (you read right) - D B Campbell - 05-15-2009
Quote:I tried to follow along with what you wrote, but I can't make heads nor tails of it.Apologies, David. I transliterated to make it easier to follow -- or I thought it would be easier!
Quote:KYRIOS O THEOS PHYL[AS]SEI TÊN EISOD[ON] SOU KE {= KAI} TÊN E[X]ODON SOU APO TOU NUN KAI EÔS TOU AIÔN ??SLPÊ?? AM[E]NOK, how's this?
KYPIOC O ?EOC ?Y?..?EI THN EICO?.. COY KE THN E.O?ON Ø COY A?O TOY NYN KAI EWC TOY AIWN ?C??H AM.N
(The Ø marks the symbol at the midpoint. The N of EXODON is underneath.)
Re: A Late Roman Pointed Arch Bridge (you read right) - Epictetus - 05-16-2009
No need to apologise - I'm the one who doesn't know what he's doing. :wink:
Thanks, that helps. I am wondering if that is a Nestorian cross. It fits the right timeline, and images I have found look similar to the ones on the bridge. But I suppose that is a fairly common symbol.
Re: A Late Roman Pointed Arch Bridge (you read right) - Eleatic Guest - 06-18-2009
I need a bit of help. I have sparse information about another possible case of a Roman pointed arch bridge in southern Turkey. It is a stone bridge across the "Arapsu river" near its mouth, 5-6 km west of Antalya, at a site possibly identical with ancient Olbia. Now there is no such river that called, so what is the river name in Turkish? And which publication is best on Olbia?
Re: A Late Roman Pointed Arch Bridge (you read right) - D B Campbell - 06-18-2009
Quote:It is a stone bridge across the "Arapsu river" near its mouth, 5-6 km west of Antalya, at a site possibly identical with ancient Olbia.Arapsuyu seems to occur as a placename down the coast (west) from Antalya, Stefan: http://itouchmap.com/?c=tu&UF=-735347&UN=-1097560&DG=PPLA And you can see a river there on the satellite view.