Thread by @abby_fecit

#EpigraphyTuesday It's my birthday, so here is one of my favourite inscriptions, still in situ, leading onto Tiber Island: the Pons Fabricius (62 BCE). The oldest bridge in Rome is 62m x 5.5m with 2 arches 24m wide in lovely travertine; built to last! #Roman #Archaeology 1/5
📷Me

The bridge, beautifully drawn by Piranesi (1756) was reworked by consuls after a flood (21 BCE) (Dio 53.33.5). A central chamber with a stone prow let high waters to pass: illustrating the innovative technology behind Rome's majestic architecture 2/5
📷metmuseum.org/art/collection…

Texts on both sides (CIL 6. 1305) read: L(ucius) Fabricius, son of Gaius, curator of roads, oversaw & approved it." Smaller texts, carved in situ = repairs: Marcus Lepidus, son of Marcus & Marcus Lollius, son of Quintus, consuls (21 BCE), approved by decree of the Senate." 3/5

Piranesi also captures something modern viewers rarely see: Tiber Island, which housed a sanctuary of Aesculapius, was decorated so that it looked like a giant stone ship, floating in the Tiber; Fabricius' bridge was like a gangplank... 4/5

There is so much to love about this monument: the majesty of the building, the structural innovation, the way spelling & arrangement of writing varies. The fact that we still trek over it today. Did it inspire others? For example, this #Roman bridge in Pollença (Mallorca)? 5/5

Want to know more about the bridge, the carving of the letters, etc. + more images? Check out the EDR entry:
edr-edr.it/edr_programmi/…
and the Lacus Curtius entry
penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazet…