Trajan's Bridge and the Roman Empire

this episode of the history Guy brought to you by Magellan TV and their new documentary series the Danube the architectural accomplishments of ancient civilizations built without the benefit of our modern machines can be truly mind-boggling these massive constructions some of which have lasted for Millennia are truly Testaments to human ingenuity in the early part of the second century the Roman Emperor trajan needed to get his army across the Danube River in order to attack Rome's enemies the dacians and so he called upon his architect to Paula Doris of Damascus who would build what would be the longest Arch Bridge the world had ever seen or woodsy for another Thousand Years across Europe's second largest river trajan's Bridge was once so lost that some people thought that it was mere Legend and yet it deserves to be remembered trajan's bridge is just part of the history of Europe's second longest river the Danube nearly 1800 miles long the Danube was and still is one of the most important trade routes in Europe the four episode Magellan TV documentary the Danube tells the story of the most International river in the world from its Headwaters in the Black Forest to its mouth in the Black Sea great documentary series like the Danube are the reason that I love my subscription to Magellan TV and with thousands of documentaries already Magellan adds new documentaries every week it is a great reason to continue subscribing to Magellan TV to show their appreciation for history guy viewers Magellan TV is offering the Danube episode 1 for Freeview for the next seven days this means that if you don't currently have a Magellan TV membership you can still stream the Danube episode 1 from its source to lens from today October 7th through October 13th for free and if you have not already subscribed to Magellan TV which is a unique streaming service that's literally run by documentary filmmakers gosh why not you really should so take advantage of a one month free trial by using the link in the description and when you do make sure and check out the series the Danube following The Strife of the transition from the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire the Empire enjoyed a period of relative growth prosperity and peace between the years 96 and 180 under the rule of what Nicolo Machiavelli called the five good emperors trajan was the second of these five following the rule of nerva nirva however was not particularly popular especially with the Army and the praetorian guard older and without air he only ruled for 16 months his appointment of trajan a popular General has his air and successor in the summer of 97 was either intended to endear himself with or by some sources forced upon him by the military after neva's death in January 98 trajan's accession was both politic and brutal including the assassination of at least one rival yet his succession to Emperor was generally orderly trajan was an autocrat in an era where the senate had little authority but his rule has largely been characterized as just he was a philanthropic infer known for Public Works some of which for example trajan's column still exists today later Christian scholar Thomas Aquinas referred to trajan as an example of a virtuous pagan but while trajan ruled over an era of relative peace and prosperity not just for Rome but throughout the Mediterranean it certainly can't be said that his Reign was without war in fact his philanthropy was really facilitated by War prior to his accession trajan had been ligate toward governor of upper Germany their historian Walter Marx wrote in his 1974 book thus spake the Kings administrative not military ability was then wanted mayor Treyton nicely managed to consolidate the newly acquired Agri decomontes a more compact border region beyond the Rhine that is trajan who had shown military success in Germania putting down a rebellious General a success for which he was given the title germanicus and then administrative success there understood the importance of the frontier along the Rhine in Danube both for the security of the Empire and for the opportunity offered in their history of the early principate Peter garnsey and Richard seller explained it was always a possibility that a genuine Soldier Emperor as trajan was would Mount operations that were ambitious in conception if strategic necessity required or simply if opportunity offered and both the necessity and the opportunity that was the focus of trajan's early Reign was a kingdom across the Danube called Dacia Dacia north of Greece and Macedon and what is modern-day Romanian Moldova had a culture distinct from the Celts in the Romans in the fifth century Herodotus described them as a thracian tribe While others think their culture may have derived from Indo-European Nomads but Dacia was a distinct Kingdom at least by the first century BC while the kingdom varied its eyes at southern boundary and Border where the empire was the lower Danube Dacia had particularly risen to power under King decibalis a term meaning roughly as strong as ten men who ruled from approximately 87 A.D early in 86 during the rule of Emperor domitian the dacian king durus had sent an army across the Danube to attack the Roman province of Misha that Army was led by decibalis a difficult campaign that was not wholly recorded followed which among other things led to the Revolt of the Roman General in Germania trajan Rose to fame commanding the force that put down that Rebellion the end of the war seems to have been inconclusive the Romans pushed the dacians back across the Danube but a Roman army sent into Dacia was ambushed and destroyed by the end of the year durus retired and this abolish became king Dacia was made a client Kingdom of Rome but the arrangement actually served Dacia as Rome was obligated to pay Dacia a subsidy as well send Artisans to build Works to defend the kingdom they were mostly used to build fortifications to protect them from the Romans after consolidating power in Rome Trenton immediately set his sights on Dacia there may have been many reasons the peace after domissions dacian war was seen as unfavorable and he wanted better terms it was Roman policy to contain threats along its Frontier and Dacia was perceived as a particular threat the region was rich with iron and copper deposits and that allowed them to arm their military better than most other Roman rivals this abolish had Consolidated his power was growing in strength in the earlier Invasion by Dacia demonstrated their willingness to attack Rome and the mission had in response to his war with Taisha reinforced the Roman presence in Misha making it easier for trajan to consolidate his army but perhaps as important as the rest the issue was thought to be rich in gold an opportunity for the empire the accounts of trajan's first war with Dacia between 101 and 102 art sparse and only fragments Remain the campaign was certainly large involving 11 Legions the Romans seemed to have crossed the damn you from a military camp in Misha using boats the dacians were finally defeated in the second century historian Cassius Dio wrote that so many Romans were wounded in the battle that trajan tore his own clothes to be used as bandages for reasons that are unclear despite being defeated this abolis was allowed to remain in power again as a client King It was supposed to protect Rome's northern border in recognition of his victory the Senate gave trajan the title dacious but the peace wouldn't last long thousobalis again Consolidated power and broke the peace reading Roman provinces across the Danube trajan again went to war but this time there was a difference trajan's Bridge apollodorus of Damascus came from Roman Syria it's unclear when he became a military engineer but he met trajan in Damascus around the year 91 and was invited to Rome his designs included Architectural Traditions of Syria and Greece and he greatly impacted Roman architecture during the first dacian war he had helped to build a road through a Gorge along the Danube called the iron gates that was literally cantilevered along the rock face the Explorer site non-such Expedition explains almost 2 000 years ago Roman Engineers masterminded a road cut in the Cliffs of the right Bank of the Danube here it passes between the Carpathian and Balkan Mountains in a series of Gorges known as the chasen or sometimes collectively as the iron gates this road allowed trajan's Legions to manage to move quickly through hazardous Terrain writing in the Journal of nautical archeology in 2009 Marco serbin of The Institute of Art and Archeology of the University of Paris notes that this road had the highest strategic importance not only did it Aid in natural defensive line in the north of the Empire but also gave the Romans access to dacian territory however he also notes that the river itself presented a great obstacle for further expansion trajan knew that he was likely to have to go to war with the dacians again but what he really needed in order to succeed was a bridge across the Danube but building a bridge across Europe's second largest river in the First Century A.D was no small task and so he called upon his great architect apollodorius construction likely began in year 103 at the side of the bridge the Danube is approximately a kilometer across the website Romanian history and culture explains that apollodorius of Damascus chose a spot where the Danube had a consistent height of about eight yards that enabled him to construct the bridge with 20 pillars while primary resources from the era are largely lost the information that survived suggests that apollodorius both diverted the river and used Coffer dams to prepare the pillars the river diversion would have allowed most of the pillars to be built on dry land with only the ones in the deepest part of the river requiring Coffer dams servant also notes that Castilla fortifications were built on both sides of the bridge but historic facts considering the forts are scarce the library of Serbian culture on the internet argues that the river would have been diverted in Autumn when the river's lowest following summer dry spells and taking advantage of the low water level the Romans dug a canal through which the Danube was displaced from its old bed the library then describes the pillars in relation to construction of the bridge it was recorded that Foundation Works were carried out by driving quadrangular wooden pillars into the riverbed so that the bearing pillars coated with Clay were then placed their interior is filled with stone bound with mortar and outside their walled with the famous Roman brick examples of which can still be found near the village of coastal with the same physical properties as it possessed almost two Millennia ago Roman brick was killed and dried or fired process likely derived from the Greeks and made by the legions themselves who carried mobile Kilns the bricks were carried throughout the Empire and often cast with a stamp of the Legion that created them Contemporary Art suggests that the pillars were topped with a wooden structure luckily first constructed in pieces on land with arches of approximately 120 feet spanning between each of the pillars the remains of the pillars on either side of the river remain a suggestion of a bridge of some 3 700 feet long and nearly 50 feet wide tall enough to allow River traffic on the Danube in 2020 the Museum of cultural Independence described the bridge as constituting one of the most outstanding engineering works of antiquity the bridge allowed trajan to cross one of the largest Roman armies ever assembled to that point some 150 000 men to finally put an end to the dacian threat finally forced into Retreat this abalas committed suicide rather than be captured Dacia was conquered became a Roman province the trajan conquest of Dacia is significant Roman dacey endured for more than 160 years becoming over time heavily romanized in fact it is today called Romania and its language arguably closest to Roman Latin the conquest was so significant that Serbian culture on the internet writes that Roman Theater performances in honor of the victors lasted for 123 days ten thousand Gladiators fought in the Arenas an 11 000 wild animals were killed importantly the conquest resulted in the control of dacian gold mines in the transfer in the form of tribute of an enormous amount of wealth there's some disagreement but one contemporary description suggests that as much as 5 million levers of gold and 10 million levers of Silver Cross the river at today's gold and silver prices that would be more than 91 billion dollars trajan would go on to build significant Works Marx writes roads are restored bridges built the pontine marshes made passable the Viet treannia built foreign trade was assisted by the enlargement of osteous Harbor and a tibur canal in Rome trajan added to the Imperial fora built a market and brought another Aqueduct into Rome all still to be seen today Among The Works was trajan's pillar and Obelisk whose relief provides the most thoroughly existing Chronicle of trajan's dacian wars then Guernsey and seller note after fighting two dacian Wars and eventually annexing Dacia trajan launched an ambitious campaign east of the Euphrates which led to the establishment briefly of the provinces of Armenia Parthia and Assyria put simply the wealth derived from the conquest of Dacia allowed the resources that allowed trajan and apollodorius to both reshape Rome and reshape the empire the great Roman Empire reached its largest extent in history under trajan largely facilitated by the Marvel of antiquity trajan's Bridge so how could such a Marvel be lost to history the bridge was destroyed possibly the wooden structure was burned by trajan's successor Hadrian in order to prevent the dacians from again attacking Roman territory although serbin questions that conclusion and writes the date of the abandonment and destruction of the bridge still needs to be established what is clear is that the location and existence of the bridge was largely forgotten given the paucity of first-hand accounts from the era trajan's Great Bridge might have remained forever forgotten history were it not for a drought the international commission for the protection of the Danube River rights forgotten for centuries the remains of the bridge reappeared in 1858 when the level of the Danube hit a record low due to an extensive drought even then this history was still being lost in 1906 two of the remaining pillars were destroyed as a hazard to navigation on the river although serbin notes that Recollections by the engineer that did the demolition mentioned wooden beams surrounding the bottom of these pillars and was evidence of the cofferdams two indirect surveys were later conducted in 1932 16 of the pillars were still under water but by the time of the First underwater survey only 12 were mapped four presumably haven't been washed away finally the international commission for the protection of the Danube River notes in 2003 exactly 19 centuries after the beginning of its construction the Serbian Ministry of culture financed an underwater archaeological project to carry out comprehensive research on the remains of the bridge still many questions remain unanswered as serpent notes given the fact that the remains of the bridge are highly endangered by the river traffic and natural influences further research would raise the level of awareness of their importance and result in better protection and conservation as one of the most important monuments of the cultural heritage not only of Serbia and Romania but of Europe as well there are some remains of the bridge that can be seen on both sides of the river much of trajan's bridge today is submerged beneath an artificial Lake between two hydroelectric plants in fact Irongate one hydroelectric plant is the largest dam on the Danube River there was a Roman commemorative plaque that was carved directly into the stone that commemorated the completion of trajan's road that would have been submerged in the artificial Lake it had to be cut from the stone and raised in order to be preserved but Serbia is preserving the remains of the bridge it is listed as an archaeological site of exceptional importance and information on the bridge can be found in museums on both the Serbian and Romanian side of the Danube as a historian it is sad to think that such an important piece of History was nearly lost trajan's Bridge might have been Central to Roman history but its loss and subsequent rediscovery have made it a bridge between Humanity's past and present I hope you enjoyed this episode of the history guide check out our community on the historyguyguild.mocals.com our webpage at thehistoryguy.com and our merchandise at teespring.com or book a special message from the history guy on Cameo and if you'd like more episodes of Forgotten history all you have to do is subscribe foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

Views: 86,068

Keywords: history, history guy, the history guy, Rome, ancient rome, romania, Serbia

Id: 7POHJy8tpLY

Length: 16min 50sec (1010 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 07 2022