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Bridge of Nero
Unless otherwise indicated, pictures on this page © Marco Prins and Jona Lendering. Photos can be downloaded and used for non-commercial purposes, but you have to acknowledge Livius.
Bust of Nero. Glyptothek München (Germany). Photo Marco Prins. The Pons Neronianus or Bridge of Nero (54-68; here shown on a bust from the Glyptothek in München) was built to connect the westernmost part of the Field of Mars with the Campus Vaticanus ("Vatican Field"), where the imperial family owned land along the Via Cornelia. Caligula had built a circus on the right bank of the Tiber and Nero used this park to entertain the Romans after the great fire of 64. The gardens were also the place where Nero tortured the Christians to death (text), and we can imagine that the Romans who went out to see the executions of the arsonists, crossed this bridge.
It stood more or less on the site of the modern Ponte Vittorio Emanuele, but hardly anything of the ancient monument survives. Only when the water of the Tiber is low, one can see the foundation of one of the four piers that once supported the Pons Neronianus. It is likely that its capacity was insufficient; within a century, the emperor Hadrian built the Bridge of Aelius only 300 meters upstream. A satellite photo can be found here.
Jona Lendering © 2005
Latest revision: 24 March 2008
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