PONS FABRICIUS
the stone bridge between the left bank of the river and
the island, named from its builder, L. Fabricius, curator viarum in
62 B.C. (Hor.
Sat. ii. 3.35-36; and Porphyr. ad loc.; Cass.
Dio xxxvii. 45).
The erection of this bridge is recorded in duplicate inscriptions, over the
arches on each side, and a restoration in 21 B.C. after the flood of 23 B.C.
(Cass.
Dio liii. 33) by the consuls, Q. Lepidus and M. Lollius, in another
inscription over the arch nearest the city (CIL ia. 751=vi. 1305=31594).
It is probable that this stone bridge replaced an earlier one of wood.
In the Middle Ages it was known both by its official name (Not. app.;
Pol. Silv. 545; Mirab. II) and as the pons Iudaeorum (Graphia 10)
because it was close to the Ghetto.
This is the best preserved bridge in Rome, being practically the
original structure. It is built of tufa and peperino faced with travertine,
part of which has been replaced with brick, and has two semi-circular
arches with a smaller one between. The bridge is 62 metres long, and
the arches are 24.25 and 24.50 metres wide. The present parapet was
constructed in 1679 by Innocent XI, but the original was divided into
panels by pilasters supporting four-faced hermae and connected by a
bronze balustrade. The two pilasters and hermae at the east end are
original, and from them the modern name of the bridge, Ponte dei Quattro
Capi, is derived (Jord. i. I. 418-419; HJ 632;
Mitt. 1891, 135 ; Besnier
93-105; TF 142; for an erroneous identification with the pons Aemilius,
CIL 2. p. 325; Mayerh6fer, Gesch.-topograph. Studien ii. d. alte Rom,
ch. I pass.).
See ill. 32, 37.
