The Arkadiko Bridge or Kazarma Bridge is a Mycenaean

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 someth ...

near the modern road from

Tiryns Tiryns or (Ancient Greek: Τίρυνς; Modern Greek: Τίρυνθα) is a Mycenaean archaeological site in Argolis in the Peloponnese, and the location from which the mythical hero Heracles performed his Twelve Labours. It lies south of M ...

Epidauros Epidaurus ( gr, Ἐπίδαυρος) was a small city (''polis'') in ancient Greece, on the Argolid Peninsula at the Saronic Gulf. Two modern towns bear the name Epidavros: '' Palaia Epidavros'' and '' Nea Epidavros''. Since 2010 they belong to ...

on the

Peloponnese The Peloponnese (), Peloponnesus (; el, Πελοπόννησος, Pelopónnēsos,(), or Morea is a peninsula and geographic region in southern Greece. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridge which ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

. Dating to the Greek Bronze Age, it is one of the oldest

arch bridge An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its loads partially into a horizontal thrust restrained by the abutments at either side. A viaduct ...

s still in existence and use today and the oldest preserved bridge in Europe. The

corbel arch A corbel arch (or corbeled / corbelled arch) is an arch-like construction method that uses the architectural technique of corbeling to span a space or void in a structure, such as an entranceway in a wall or as the span of a bridge. A corbel vaul ...

bridge belonged in Mycenaean times to a highway between the two cities, which formed part of a wider military road network. It has a culvert span of ca. 1 m and is made in the typical Mycenaean manner of

Cyclopean Cyclopean masonry is a type of stonework found in Mycenaean architecture, built with massive limestone boulders, roughly fitted together with minimal clearance between adjacent stones and with clay mortar or no use of mortar. The boulders typic ...

stones. The structure is long, wide at the base and high. The width of the roadway atop is about . The sophisticated layout of the bridge and the road indicate that they were specifically constructed for use by

chariot A chariot is a type of cart driven by a charioteer, usually using horses to provide rapid motive power. The oldest known chariots have been found in burials of the Sintashta culture in modern-day Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, dated to c. 2000&n ...

s.R. Hope Simpson (1998) Built in the late Late Helladic III (ca. 1300–1190 BC), the bridge is still used by the local populace.Hellenic Ministry of Culture: Mycenaean bridge at Kazarma
__NOTOC__

Further Mycenaean bridges in the Argolis

The Arkadiko Bridge is one of four known Mycenaean corbel arch bridges near Arkadiko, all belonging to the same Bronze Age highway between the two cities, and all of similar design and age. One of them is the Petrogephyri bridge, which crosses the same stream 1 km to the west of the Arkadiko bridge. Otherwise similar in size and appearance, the structure has a larger span and a little higher vault. It, too, is still used as a local track. A fifth, well-preserved Mycenaean bridge is located in the wider region at Lykotroupi in northern Argolis, where it was part of another Mycenaean main road. Its measurements are close to the Arkadiko Bridge: wide at the bottom, at the top and with a corbelled arch span of a little more than a metre. The road still features curbs for guiding fast-moving chariots.

References

Sources

*R. Hope Simpson, D. K. Hagel: "Mycenaean Fortifications, Highways, Dams and Canals", Paul Aströms Förlag, Sävedalen, in: ''Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology'', Vol. CXXXIII *R. Hope Simpson

''Classical Views'', XLII, n.s. 17 (1998), 239–260

External links

*
Mycenaean bridge at Kazarma
Hellenic Ministry of Culture {{coord, 37, 35, 37, N, 22, 56, 15, E, display=title Mycenaean sites in Argolis Bridges completed in the 2nd millennium BC Ancient bridges in Greece Corbel arch bridges Stone bridges in Greece 2nd-millennium BC establishments

Further Mycenaean bridges in the Argolis

References

Sources

Further reading

External links