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 keystones. There were three major types of Roman bridge: wooden, pontoon, and stone. Early Roman bridges were wooden, but by the 2nd century BC stone was being used. Stone bridges used the arch as their basic structure, and most used concrete, the first use of this material in bridge-building.
Bosra, formerly Bostra and officially called Busra al-Sham, is a town in southern Syria, administratively belonging to the Daraa District of the Daraa Governorate and geographically part of the Hauran region.
The Hauran is a region that spans parts of southern Syria and northern Jordan. It is bound in the north by the Ghouta oasis, eastwards by the al-Safa field, to the south by Jordan's desert steppe and to the west by the Golan Heights. Traditionally, the Hauran consists of three subregions: the Nuqrah and Jaydur plains, the Jabal al-Druze massif, and the Lajat volcanic field. The population of the Hauran is largely Arab, but religiously heterogeneous; most inhabitants of the plains are Sunni Muslims belonging to large agrarian clans, while Druze form the majority in the eponymous Jabal al-Druze and a significant Greek Orthodox and Greek Catholic minority inhabit the western foothills of Jabal al-Druze. The region's largest towns are Daraa, al-Ramtha and al-Suwayda.
The Alconétar Bridge, also known as Puente de Mantible, was a Roman segmental arch bridge in the Extremadura region, Spain. The ancient structure, which featured flattened arches with a span-to-rise ratio of 4–5:1, is one of the earliest of its kind. Due to its design, it is assumed that the bridge was erected in the early 2nd century AD by the emperors Trajan or Hadrian, possibly under the guidance of Apollodorus of Damascus, the most famous architect of the time.
The Pont sur la Laye or Pont roman de Mane is an old stone arch bridge across the stream Laye in the French Provence close to the town Mane.
The Bridge of Gemarrin is a Roman bridge in the village of Jemarrin near the ancient city of Bosra in southern Syria. The bridge belonged to the Roman road to Soada Dionysias (As-Suwayda), crossing the Wadi Zeidi some kilometers north of Bostra.
The Bridge at Nimreh is a Roman bridge in the vicinity of Shahba, Syria, dating to the 3rd or 4th century AD. Its transversal arch construction derives from old building traditions of the Hauran region and is arguably unique in Roman bridge building.
The Ponte San Lorenzo is a Roman bridge over the river Bacchiglione in Padua, Italy. Constructed between 47 and 30 BC, it is one of the very earliest segmental arched bridges in the world. It is also notable for the slenderness of its piers, unsurpassed in antiquity.
The Bridge near Limyra is a late Roman bridge in Lycia, in modern south-west Turkey, and one of the oldest segmented arch bridges in the world. Located near the ancient city of Limyra, it is the largest civil engineering structure of antiquity in the region, spanning the Alakır Çayı river over a length of 360 m (1,181.1 ft) on 26 segmental arches. These arches, with a span-to-rise ratio of 5.3:1, give the bridge an unusually flat profile, and were unsurpassed as an architectural achievement until the late Middle Ages. Today, the structure is largely buried by river sediments and surrounded by greenhouses. Despite its unique features, the bridge remains relatively unknown, and only in the 1970s did researchers from the Istanbul branch of the German Archaeological Institute carry out field examinations on the site.
The Bridge near Seydikemer was a Roman segmental arch bridge near the ancient city of Xanthos in Lycia, in modern-day southwestern Turkey. Its remains are located on the upper reaches of the Xanthos river, 4 km upstream from the town of Seydikemer, 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 arches and hollow chambers in bridge building.
The Karamagara Bridge is a Byzantine or late Roman bridge in the ancient region of Cappadocia in eastern Turkey, and possibly the earliest known pointed arch bridge.
The Arapsu Bridge is a Roman bridge in Antalya, Turkey. The well-preserved footbridge lies in the Arapsuyu district, 5–6 km west to the city center, at the foot of an ancient mound which is associated with the Greek colony of Olbia.
The Shushtar Historical Hydraulic System is a complex irrigation system of the island city Shushtar from the Sassanid era. It consists of 13 dams, bridges, canals and structures which work together as a hydraulic system.
The Band-e Kaisar, Pol-e Kaisar, Bridge of Valerian or Shadirwan was an ancient arch bridge in the city of Shushtar, Khuzestan province, Iran, and the first in the country to combine it with a dam. Built by the Sassanids during the 3rd century CE, using Roman prisoners of war as the workforce, it is the easternmost example of Roman bridge design and Roman dam. Its dual-purpose design exerted a profound influence on Iranian civil engineering and was instrumental in developing Sassanid water management techniques.
Wadi Sirhan is a wide depression in the northwestern Arabian Peninsula. It runs from the Aljouf Oasis in Saudi Arabia northwestward into Jordan. It historically served as a major trade and transportation route between Syria and Arabia. From antiquity until the early 20th century, control of Wadi Sirhan was often contested by various Arab tribes. The valley is named after the Sirhan tribe which migrated there in the mid-17th century.
Transjordan, also known as the East Bank or the Transjordanian Highlands, is the part of the Southern Levant east of the Jordan River, mostly contained in present-day Jordan.
Al-Sahwah ; also known as Sahwat al-Qamh or Sehwet el-Kamh is a village in southern Syria, administratively part of the Daraa Governorate, located east of Daraa. Nearby localities include al-Jiza to the southwest, Ghasm to the south, Maaraba, Daraa to the southeast, Umm Walad to the northeast, al-Musayfirah to the north and Kahil to the west. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, al-Sahwah had a population of 3,950 in the 2004 census, making it the least populous locality in the al-Musayfirah nahiyah ("subdistrict").
Jamrin is a village in southern Syria, administratively part of the Daraa Governorate, located east of Daraa and immediately north of Bosra. Other nearby localities include Maaraba to the west, Kharaba to the northwest, al-Mujaymer to the north and al-Qurayya to the east. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Jamrin had a population of 1,000 in the 2004 census.
