Cendere Bridge

A Roman bridge over a tributary of the Euphrates, put up around AD 200 by soldiers of the Sixteenth Legion in honour of the emperor Septimius Severus. A single arch spans almost thirty-four metres — for its time this was one of the largest single-span bridges in the empire, and it is still among the largest to have survived. At the ends stood four columns: two in honour of the emperor and his wife Julia Domna, two in honour of their sons. Three remain in place; the fourth, dedicated to Geta, was pulled down after Caracalla killed his brother and ordered his name erased from everywhere. The bridge is built of large limestone blocks laid dry, without mortar, and holds by thrust; the roadway arches steeply towards the middle. Traffic across it was closed only in the 1990s, when a new bridge was built alongside. It stands in a narrow rocky gorge on the road from Kahta to Mount Nemrut, so almost everyone driving up stops here.

Address

02-09, Kâhta

On the map