The Bridge near Seydikemer was a

Roman segmental arch bridge The ancient Romans were the first civilization to build large, permanent bridges. Early Roman bridges used techniques introduced by Etruscan immigrants, but the Romans improved those skills, developing and enhancing methods such as arches and k ...

near the

ancient Ancient history is a time period from the History of writing, beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian language, Sumerian c ...

city of

Xanthos Xanthos ( Lycian: 𐊀𐊕𐊑𐊏𐊀 ''Arñna'', el, Ξάνθος, Latin: ''Xanthus'', Turkish: ''Ksantos'') was an ancient major city near present-day Kınık, Antalya Province, Turkey. The remains of Xanthos lie on a hill on the left ba ...

Lycia Lycia (Lycian language, Lycian: 𐊗𐊕𐊐𐊎𐊆𐊖 ''Trm̃mis''; el, Λυκία, ; tr, Likya) was a state or nationality that flourished in Anatolia from 15–14th centuries BC (as Lukka) to 546 BC. It bordered the Mediterranean ...

, in modern-day southwestern

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. Its remains are located on the upper reaches of the Xanthos river (''Koca Çayı''), 4 km upstream from the town of

Seydikemer Seydikemer is a planned district and second level municipality in Muğla Province, Turkey. According to the 2012 Metropolitan Municipalities Law (law no. 6360), all Turkish provinces with a population of more than 750,000 will become metropolitan m ...

, at a site where the gravel river bed reaches a width of 500 m. Only a 29 m long and 4.5 m wide section on the right river bank, outside the inundation zone, is left today, having once served as approach to the bridge proper. Despite its near-complete destruction, the bridge represents a noteworthy example of the early use of segmental

arch An arch is a vertical curved structure that spans an elevated space and may or may not support the weight above it, or in case of a horizontal arch like an arch dam, the hydrostatic pressure against it. Arches may be synonymous with vaul ...

es and hollow chambers in

bridge building A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

Structure

The visible remains still allow the identification of some, for their time, unusual construction techniques. The extant ramp features three arches of 4 to 4.45 m clear span, two of which, with an apex height of only 1 m, show a particularly flat profile. Segmental arches are known only from a limited number of

Roman bridge The ancient Romans were the first civilization to build large, permanent bridges. Early Roman bridges used techniques introduced by Etruscan immigrants, but the Romans improved those skills, developing and enhancing methods such as arches and ke ...

s, and came into widespread use not until the

late medieval period The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Europe, the Renai ...

(see e.g.

Ponte Vecchio The Ponte Vecchio ("Old Bridge", ) is a medieval stone closed-spandrel segmental arch bridge over the Arno River, in Florence, Italy. The only bridge in Florence spared from destruction during the Second World War, it is noted for the shops bui ...

). The third arch, in contrast, possesses the typically Roman semi-circular shape, with a span-to-rise ratio of 2 to 1. The arch vaults were constructed from locally hewn

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

ashlar which was bound by mortar; the interior of the bridge body was built of a rock-hard mixture of rubble and fluid mortar, which today lays bare at many places, shining through the crumbled facing. The mortar consists of hard building

lime Lime commonly refers to: * Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit * Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide * Lime (color), a color between yellow and green Lime may also refer to: Botany ...

with an admixture of fine gravel. The pavement of the roadway has completely disappeared, but the constant gradient of the ramp indicates that the ancient paving stones lay directly on the present-day surface. Bridge near Kemer, Lycia, Turkey

Another remarkable feature of the Seydikemer Bridge is the hollow chamber above the third arch vault, where the 2 m large gap between the arch crest and the roadway is not filled with the mortar mixture, but features in its interior a cut-out chamber measuring 3.5 m in length, 3.2 m in width and 1.5 m in height; its purpose was to reduce the load resting on the arches, and to save building material. A second, smaller inner chamber was found in the upper part of the second pier. Similar hollow chamber systems are known from at least three other Roman bridges in

Asia Minor Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

, such as the

Makestos Bridge The Macestus Bridge or Bridge of Sultançayır was a Roman bridge across the Macestus River ( tr, Simav or ''Susurluk Çayı'') at Balıkesir, in the northwestern part of modern-day Turkey. Its flattened arches, slender piers and the hollow cham ...

, the

Aesepus Bridge The Aesepus Bridge ( tr, Güvercin Köprüsü, "Dove Bridge") was a late antique Roman bridge over the Aesepus River (today ''Gönen Çayı'') in the ancient region of Mysia in modern-day Turkey. It is notable for its advanced hollow chamber syste ...

and the

White Bridge White Bridge ( ) or Bridge of love ( ), is a bridge in Vranje, over the Vranje river, in southeastern Serbia. It is in the old quarters of the city, in the Devet Jugovića Street. It was constructed with white stone and dates from 1844, during ...

. Circular ducts with a diameter of approximately 26 cm, which run through the length and width of the bridge, are interpreted as hollow forms of round construction timber of the Roman scaffolding and

falsework Falsework consists of temporary structures used in construction to support a permanent structure until its construction is sufficiently advanced to support itself. For arches, this is specifically called centering. Falsework includes temporary su ...

. In the third pier, which stands closest to the river bed, a small, arched floodway is integrated to let water pass. Although the surviving ramp does not allow to determine the number and type of the arches of the bridge proper, the ancient structure must have been a rather impressive engineering feat, judging from its current height of 8 m above the sediments and the 500 m wide river bed which needed to be spanned. A well-preserved example of an ancient segmental arch bridge in Lycia is the twenty-eight arch

Limyra Bridge The Bridge near Limyra (in tr, Kırkgöz Kemeri, "Bridge of the Forty Arches") is a late Roman bridge in Lycia, in modern south-west Turkey, and one of the oldest Circular segment, segmented arch bridges in the world. Located near the ancient c ...

, which was also investigated by the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

archaeologists Wolfgang W. Wurster und

Joachim Ganzert Joachim (; ''Yəhōyāqīm'', "he whom Yahweh has set up"; ; ) was, according to Christian tradition, the husband of Saint Anne and the father of Mary, the mother of Jesus. The story of Joachim and Anne first appears in the Biblical apocrypha ...

Dating

A possible starting point for the dating of the Seydikemer bridge provides a

Roman road Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...

in the area which is known to have existed at the beginning of the 3rd century AD. According to this interpretation, the bridge may have been part of a westward route from

Kadyanda ) , image = Kadyanda Theatre 7563.jpg , alt = , caption = Cadianda theatre , map_type = Turkey , map_alt = , map_size = 270 , coordinates = , location = Fethiye, Muğla Province, Turkey , region = Lycia , type = Settlement ...

(Üzümlü), which descended further upstream into the Xanthos valley. Possibly, the bridge can be also linked with the pass trail to

Oinoanda Oenoanda or Oinoanda ( Hittite: 𒃾𒅀𒉌𒌓𒉿𒀭𒁕 ''Wiyanawanda'', el, τὰ Οἰνόανδα) was a Lycian city, in the upper valley of the River Xanthus. It is noted for the philosophical inscription by the Epicurean, Diogenes ...

Gallery

File:Bridge near Kemer, Lycia, Turkey. Pic 11.jpg, View from the western ramp File:Bridge near Kemer, Lycia, Turkey. Pic 20.jpg, File:Bridge near Kemer, Lycia, Turkey. Pic 03.jpg, File:Bridge near Kemer, Lycia, Turkey. Pic 12.jpg, File:Bridge near Kemer, Lycia, Turkey. Pic 14.jpg,

References

Sources

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External links