Trajan’s Bridge – Analysis of Apolodorus’ Design Concept

Abstract

For Trajan’s bridge it could be said, and with good reason, that when it was built it represented one of the architectural wonders of Europe at that time. Trajan’s bridge is one of the few architectural creations about whose appearance we can judge with a level of reliability. According to written sources and its preserved remains and, primarily, on the basis of the renowned representation on Trajan’s column, we know that the support elements of the bridge, both on the river bank and in the riverbed, were masonry structures. Above the masonry pillars in the riverbed there was the wooden latticed structure of the bridge, many details of which were represented on the aforementioned column in Rome. One of the most interesting issues regarding the bridge itself is the method of its construction in Roman times. Considering the twenty pillars placed in the Danube riverbed using caissons and the 55 meter span between each pillar, the construction of the bridge was, in itself, a great architectural achievement. The significance of the bridge’s structure is still great in contemporary analyses of Roman bridge construction and wooden scaffolding.