__NOTOC__ The Rhodes Footbridge is an

ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

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 ...

in the city of

Rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the S ...

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 ...

. Dating to the 4th century BC or early

Hellenistic period In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...

, the modest structure represents the oldest known Greek bridge with a

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 ...

arch.

Construction and location

The Rhodes Footbridge was unearthed in 1966−67 close to the eastern harbour of the city of Rhodes, the Akandia Bay. There, an artificial channel of 2.15 m depth ran parallel to the ancient city walls, separated by an 11 m wide street running in between. The sidewalls of the conduit were made of at least four layers of ''poros''

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 ...

blocks, the same material also employed for the arch. Nearly at its midpoint, the canal is crossed by an 8 m broad arch of wedge-shaped stones which served as a footbridge. The curved opening has a single span of 2.8 m, identical to the width of the canal. Its surprisingly low rise, in the order of 1 to 3−4, gives it the appearance of a segmental or even multi-centered arch, of which it is the only known example in Greek architecture. While it has been argued that the footbridge remained the only

vault Vault may refer to: * Jumping, the act of propelling oneself upwards Architecture * Vault (architecture), an arched form above an enclosed space * Bank vault, a reinforced room or compartment where valuables are stored * Burial vault (enclosure ...

bridge in the Greek world, there is—debatable—evidence of at least three more Greek true arch bridges of pre-Roman date., contested by

References

Sources

* * * {{Citation , last = Galliazzo , first = Vittorio , title = I ponti romani , volume = 1 , year = 1995 , publisher = Edizioni Canova , location = Treviso , isbn = 88-85066-66-6 , pages = 36, 39f

External links

Photo of bridge
Ancient bridges in Greece Deck arch bridges Stone bridges in Greece Bridges completed in the 4th century BC

Footbridge A footbridge (also a pedestrian bridge, pedestrian overpass, or pedestrian overcrossing) is a bridge designed solely for pedestrians.''Oxford English Dictionary'' While the primary meaning for a bridge is a structure which links "two points at a ...

Archaeological sites on Rhodes 4th-century BC establishments in Greece 1960s archaeological discoveries

Construction and location

See also

References

Sources

Further reading

External links