Pons Fabricius
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[[Image:Pons Fabricius.jpg|thumb|220px|The Pons Fabricius]]
The '''Pons Fabricius''' (Italian: '''Ponte Fabricio''' ("Fabricius' Bridge") or '''Ponte Quattro Capi''') is the oldest bridge in [[Rome]] that is still in use. Built in [[62 BC]], it spans half of the [[Tiber]] River, from the [[Campus Martius]] on the east side to [[Tiber Island]] in the middle. (The [[Pons Cestius]] is west of the island.) ''Quattro Capi'' ("four heads") refers to the two marble pillars of the two-faced [[Janus (mythology)|Janus]] [[herms]] on the parapet, which were moved here from the nearby Church of St. Gregory (Monte Savello) in the 14th century. <ref name="oxford">Claridge, Amanda (1998). ''Rome: An Oxford Archaeological Guide''. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.</ref>
[[Image:PonsFabricius.JPG|thumb|220px|The Pons Fabricius as it appears in a [[Piranesi]] engraving of 1756.]]
According to [[Dio Cassius]], the bridge was built in 62 BC, the year after [[Cicero]] was [[consul]], to replace an earlier wooden bridge destroyed by fire. It was commissioned by Lucius Fabricius, the curator of the roads and a member of the [[gens]] [[Fabricia (gens)|Fabricia]] of Rome. Completely intact from Roman antiquity, it has been in continuous use ever since.
The Pons Fabricius has a length of 62 m, and is 5.5 m wide. It is constructed from two wide arches, supported by a central pillar in the middle of the stream. Its nucleus is built of blocks operino]]. its outer facing today is made of bricks and [[travertine]].
An original inscription on the travertine commemorates its builder in elegant Roman capitals, ''L . FABRICIVS . C . F . CVR . VIAR | FACIVNDVM . COERAVIT | IDEMQVE | PROBAVIT''. It is repeated four times: on each arch, on both sides of the bridge.
A later inscription, in smaller lettering, records that the bridge was later restored under [[Pope Innocent XI]], probably in [[1679]].
== References ==
*{{cite book|first=Colin|last=O'Connor|title=Roman Bridges|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1994|id=ISBN 0-521-39326-4}}
{{reflist}}
== See also ==
* [[Roman bridge]]
* [[List of Roman bridges]]
== External links ==
{{commons|Ponti_di_Roma#Ponte_Fabricio|Ponte Fabricio}}
* [http://www.unc.edu/courses/rometech/public/content/transport/Josh_Hargraves/josh2.htm Description of the construction of the bridge]
* [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Roma/Rome/_Texts/PLATOP*/Pons_Fabricius.html LacusCurtius: Pons Fabricius]
* {{Structurae|id=s0001263|title=Pons Fabricius}}
* [http://www.iath.virginia.edu/rome/Journal2TaylorNew.pdf The Waters of Rome: Tiber River Bridges and the Development of the Ancient City of Rome]
* [http://www.isolatiberina.it/ Tiber Island information] {{it icon}}
{{coor title dms|41|53|28|N|12|28|42|E|region:IT-RO_type:landmark}}
{{Ancient Tiber Bridges}}
[[Category:Roman bridges]]
[[Category:Bridges in Rome|Fabricius]]
[[Category:Bridges completed in the 1st century BC]]
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