V
Very little is known about the Eastern bridges constructed by the Romans. In Jebb’s “By Desert Ways to Baghdad” an illustration is given of a Roman bridge over the Tigris at Diarbekr; and on the same river, at Hassan, between Diarbekr and Mosul, there are ruined piers of another Roman bridge. Again, at Shushter, in Persia, we find a dike and a bridge ascribed to the Roman Emperor Valerian, whom Shapur the First took prisoner at Edessa, A.D. 260. The dike is called the Band-i-Mizan, the bridge the Pul-i-Kaisar. But if Valerian helped to build these huge monuments, very little Roman work now remains; seventy yards of dike and bridge were swept away in 1885; and the Pul-i-Kaisar has been rebuilt several times. Indeed, as Brangwyn’s pen-drawing shows, the arches (there are forty in all) differ in style as well as in size and material.
THE PUL-I-KAISAR AT SHUSHTER IN PERSIA. ITS LENGTH IS 560 YARDS, AND ITS ROADWAY IS 7 YARDS WIDE
“Persian tradition has it that Ardashir (either Artaxerxes of the old Persian kings or Ardashir of the Sassanians) built the first dike across the river Karun in order to raise the water of the river to the level of the Darian canal. The dike became destroyed and was renewed under the Sassanian Shapur I, by Roman workmen sent for by Valerian, who had been captured by the Persian king in 260. That Valerian had a part in constructing these remarkable works does not rest upon any historical basis; we may, however, believe that the Sassanian Ardashir, or his son Shapur I, finding that the river, with its bed in friable soil, was daily getting lower and finally threatened to leave the town and the Mian-do-ab district dry by not filling the Darian canal, engaged Roman workmen. The Gerger canal was cut and the river diverted from west to east of the town. The old river then became emptied and its bed was raised and paved with huge flags, to prevent further erosion and washing away of the soil and a consequent fall of the river. Then the Band-i-Mizan and the great bridge were erected....”[81]
In every chapter of this monograph other references to Roman work will be found.
FOOTNOTES:
[63] If Rousseau walked along the three tiers of this bridge-aqueduct, then he had what climbers call “a good head,” for there is but little space between the piers and a most unpleasant fall into the river Gardon. Most of us have passed over the top, leaving Alpinists to explore the rest of this wonderful structure.
[64] “Charles Kingsley: His Letters and Memories of his Life.” Edited by his Wife. 1879. Vol. II, pp. 176-7.