The Eurymedon Bridge ( tr, Oluk Köprü) is a
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 ...
over the river
Eurymedon (modern
Köprüçay River
Köprüçay, ancient Eurymedon (Ancient Greek: Εὐρυμέδων) is a river that is situated in Antalya Province, Turkey, and empties into the Mediterranean.
At its mouth, in the 460s BC (the actual date is highly disputed), the Athenian gene ...
) near
Selge
Selge ( el, Σέλγη) was an important city in ancient Pisidia and later in Pamphylia, on the southern slope of Mount Taurus, modern Antalya Province, Turkey, at the part where the river Eurymedon River ( tr, Köprüçay) forces its way through ...
in
Pisidia
Pisidia (; grc-gre, Πισιδία, ; tr, Pisidya) was a region of ancient Asia Minor located north of Pamphylia, northeast of Lycia, west of Isauria and Cilicia, and south of Phrygia, corresponding roughly to the modern-day province of Ant ...
in southern
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
.
It is part of the road winding up from the coastal region
Pamphylia
Pamphylia (; grc, Παμφυλία, ''Pamphylía'') was a region in the south of Asia Minor, between Lycia and Cilicia, extending from the Mediterranean to Mount Taurus (all in modern-day Antalya province, Turkey). It was bounded on the north b ...
to the Pisidian hinterland.
Located 5 km north of the village Beşkonak in a sparsely settled area, the bridge crosses the Eurymedon high above the valley bottom.
The excellently preserved structure is 14 m long and 3.5 m wide (with a roadway of 2.5 m).
The clear span of its single
arch is c. 7 m, the thickness of its
voussoir
A voussoir () is a wedge-shaped element, typically a stone, which is used in building an arch or vault.
Although each unit in an arch or vault is a voussoir, two units are of distinct functional importance: the keystone and the springer. The ...
s, which were set without the use of
mortar, 60 cm.
The building technique and the sturdy stonework point to a construction date in the 2nd century AD, a time when Selge was flourishing.
Forty-two km downstream at
Aspendos
Aspendos or Aspendus ( Pamphylian: ΕΣΤϜΕΔΥΣ; Attic: Ἄσπενδος) was an ancient Greco-Roman city in Antalya province of Turkey. The site is located 40 km east of the modern city of Antalya.
It was situated on the Eurymedon ...
, the Eurymedon is crossed by
another extant old bridge.
Gallery
File:Eurymedon Bridge 5066.jpg,
File:Eurymedon Bridge 5058.jpg,
File:Eurymedon Bridge 5051.jpg,
File:Köprülü Kanyon 06 04 2016 Oluk Köprü.jpg,
File:Eurymedon Bridge, Selge, Turkey. Pic 19.jpg,
See also
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List of Roman bridges
This is a list of Roman bridges. The Romans were the world's first major bridge builders. The following list constitutes an attempt to list all known surviving remains of Roman bridges.
A Roman bridge in the sense of this article includes an ...
*
Roman architecture
Ancient Roman architecture adopted the external language of classical Greek architecture for the purposes of the ancient Romans
In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome ...
*
Roman engineering
References
Sources
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External links
{{Bridges in Turkey
Roman bridges in Turkey
Deck arch bridges
Stone bridges in Turkey
Pamphylia
Pisidia
Buildings and structures in Antalya Province
Arch bridges in Turkey