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Cendere
One of the columns of the bridge at Cendere. Photo Marco Prins. Cendere: name of a little river and a place, site of a Roman bridge, built by the Sixteenth legion Flavia Firma.

The Roman bridge at Cendere was built in the last years of the second century, when the emperor Septimius Severus had conquered Mesopotamia. The old line of defense works along the Upper Euphrates was reorganized and the river Chabinas (the modern Cendere Suyu) was bridged by soldiers of the Sixteenth legion Flavia Firma. 

The construction was 118 meters long and is part of the road to Nemrud Daği. On each of the two bridgeheads were two pillars with a statue, dedicated to the emperor, to his wife Julia Domna, and to their sons Caracalla and Geta. (When the latter was murdered, his statue was removed and his name erased from the inscriptions.)
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The Roman bridge at Cendere. Photo Marco Prins. Detail of the building inscription of the bridge at Cendere, mentioning the Sixteenth legion Flavia Firma. Photo Marco Prins. The bridge at Cendere. Photo Marco Prins.
 The bridge at Cendere. Photo Marco Prins.
The valley of the Cendere. Photo Marco Prins. The bridge at Cendere. Photo Marco Prins. The bridge at Cendere. Photo Marco Prins. A column at the bridge at Cendere. Photo Marco Prins.
One of the inscriptions at the bridge at Cendere. Photo Marco Prins. One of the inscriptions at the bridge at Cendere. Photo Marco Prins. One of the inscriptions at the bridge at Cendere. Photo Marco Prins. One of the inscriptions at the bridge at Cendere. Photo Marco Prins.

The statues of Septimius Severus (R) and Julia Domna (L) shown below are from a nymphaeum in Perge in southern Turkey, and can now be seen in the Archaeological Museum of Antalya. Similar statues were standing on top of the pillars at the Cendere bridge.

A satellite photo of the bridge can be found here.

Perge, nymphaeum. Statue of Julia Domna. Archaeological Museum of Antalya (Turkey). Photo Jona Lendering. Perge, nymphaeum. Statue of Septimius Severus. Archaeological Museum of Antalya (Turkey). Photo Jona Lendering.
© Jona Lendering for
Livius.Org, 2004
Revision: 25 May 2010
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