Ponte Sublicio, also known as Ponte Aventino or Ponte Marmoreo, is a

bridge 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 ...

linking Piazza dell'Emporio to Piazza di Porta Portese in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

(

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

), in the

Rioni The Rioni ( ka, რიონი, ; , ) is the main river of western Georgia. It originates in the Caucasus Mountains, in the region of Racha and flows west to the Black Sea, entering it north of the city of Poti (near ancient Phasis). The city ...

Ripa, Trastevere and

Testaccio Testaccio is the 20th ''rione'' of Rome, identified by the initials R. XX, deriving its name from Monte Testaccio. It is located within the Municipio I. Its coat of arms depicts an '' amphora'', referencing to the broken vessels that Monte Te ...

and in the ''Quartiere''

Portuense Portuense is the 11th ''quartiere'' of Rome (Italy), identified by the initials Q.XI. The toponym is also used to indicate the urbanistic area 15b, in the Municipio XV. The population of the urbanistic area amounts to 30.362 inhabitants. There ...

. The most ancient bridge in Rome crossed river

Tiber The Tiber ( ; it, Tevere ; la, Tiberis) is the third-longest List of rivers of Italy, river in Italy and the longest in Central Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, where ...

just downstream of the

Tiber Island The Tiber Island ( it, Isola Tiberina, Latin: ''Insula Tiberina'') is the only river island in the part of the Tiber which runs through Rome. Tiber Island is located in the southern bend of the Tiber. The island is boat-shaped, approximately ...

, in correspondence with the former ford that, during the protohistoric age, was a required stop along the north-south way, at the feet of the Aventine Hill. Its building has been ascribed to King Ancus Marcius (642 - 617 BC) by

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding in ...

and Dionysius of Halicarnassus.

Origin of the name

The name comes from the

Volsci The Volsci (, , ) were an Italic tribe, well known in the history of the first century of the Roman Republic. At the time they inhabited the partly hilly, partly marshy district of the south of Latium, bounded by the Aurunci and Samnites on the ...

an word ''sublica'', meaning "wood planks". In effect the bridge had been entirely built with wood and it is famous for the mythical episode of

Horatius Cocles Publius Horatius Cocles was an officer in the army of the early Roman Republic who famously defended the Pons Sublicius from the invading army of Etruscan King Lars Porsena of Clusium in the late 6th century BC, during the war between Rome and ...

, during the first years of the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Ki ...

Present bridge

The present bridge, bearing the same name of the ancient one, was built in 1918 after a design by

Marcello Piacentini Marcello Piacentini (8 December 1881 – 19 May 1960) was an Italian urban theorist and one of the main proponents of Italian Fascist architecture. Biography Born in Rome, he was the son of architect Pio Piacentini. When he was only 26, he was ...

; it links the two banks of the Tiber in correspondence to Piazza di Porta Portese and Piazza dell'Emporio.

Ancient bridge

No remains have left of the ancient bridge, but it rose in correspondence to the present Via del Porto (probably close to the present Via di Ripa, as suggested by the text "Roma, Il primo giorno" by A. Carandini - Laterza, 2012), at the north end of the monumental complex of San Michele a Ripa Grande. The religious tradition (originated by the necessity to easily disassemble the bridge for defense purposes) prescribed that no other material than wood could be used. The bridge was held sacred (the designation "pontiff" or ''pontifex'' derives from the term ''pons'') and archaic ceremonies were played on it, among which the throwing into the river of the '' Argei'', or straw puppets (maybe a recollection of more ancient human sacrifices) during the ceremony called ''

Lemuria Lemuria (), or Limuria, was a continent proposed in 1864 by zoologist Philip Sclater, theorized to have sunk beneath the Indian Ocean, later appropriated by occultists in supposed accounts of human origins. The theory was discredited with the di ...

''. The bridge withstood several restorations and reconstructions (60 BC, 32 BC, 23 BC, 5 AD, 69 AD, under

Antoninus Pius Antoninus Pius ( Latin: ''Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Pius''; 19 September 86 – 7 March 161) was Roman emperor from 138 to 161. He was the fourth of the Five Good Emperors from the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. Born into a senatori ...

and maybe under Emperors

Trajan Trajan ( ; la, Caesar Nerva Traianus; 18 September 539/11 August 117) was Roman emperor from 98 to 117. Officially declared ''optimus princeps'' ("best ruler") by the senate, Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presi ...

Marcus Aurelius Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (Latin: áːɾkus̠ auɾέːli.us̠ antɔ́ːni.us̠ English: ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD and a Stoic philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known as the Five Good ...

and

Septimius Severus Lucius Septimius Severus (; 11 April 145 – 4 February 211) was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna (present-day Al-Khums, Libya) in the Roman province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through the customary suc ...

). On the imperial-age monetary depictions, the far ends of the bridge show arches with statues. Remarkable remains of the bridge had been visible in the bed of Tiber until 1890 or so, when they were completely demolished during the works for the adaptation of the urban stretch of the river, as a preventive measure against floods.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sublicio, Ponte Bridges in Rome Stone bridges in Italy Road bridges in Italy Rome R. XIII Trastevere Rome R. XII Ripa Rome R. XX Testaccio