PONS AELIUS
the modern Ponte S. Angelo, built by Hadrian in connection with his mausoleum (cf. Ill. 34) and finished in 134 A.D. (Cass. Dio
lxix. 23;
CIL vi. 973; Not. app.; Pol. Silv. 545). It is represented on
a bronze medallion of Hadrian which is accepted as genuine by
Gnecchi (
Med. ii. 42. 4). Besides this official name the bridge was
called pons Hadriani (Hist. Aug. Hadr. 19; Prud.
Peristeph. xii. 6 ;
Mirab. Il; Pol. Silv. 545; Ordo Bened. pass.), and in the Middle
Ages Pons S. Petri (Anon. Magi. 158; Eins. pass.; Jord. i. I. 416).
It had three main arches 18.39 metres in diameter, with three smaller
arches on the left, 3, 3.5 and 7.59 metres in diameter respectively, and
two on the right, 7.59 and 3.75 in diameter. From the central part,
over the main arches, the bridge sloped down at an angle of 15 degrees, and
the approach on the left side was by a long ramp. The total width was
10.95 metres, and the material travertine with peperino between the
arches. The inscription (
CIL vi. 973) was seen, probably on the parapet,
1
in 1375 (
Mitt. 1893, 321-323), so that apparently this bridge suffered no
great injury until December 1450, when the parapet was broken by the
throngs of pilgrims, and restored by Nicholas V. In 1527 the statues
of S. Peter and S. Paul were erected by Clement VII, and in 1669-71
Clement IX placed on the parapet the famous statues representing
angels (Mem. A.P. i. I. 224). Two of the arches on the left side had
become covered up, but the structure remained intact until the building
of the present embankment in 1892 necessitated the reconstruction of
the ends of the bridge, so that only the three central arches are now
standing.
(For description and plans of the original bridge and an account of
the changes and discoveries in 1892, see
NS 1892, 231-233; 412-428;
BC 1888, 129-130;
1893, 14-26;
Mitt. 1893, 321-323; LR 22-24;
JRS 1925, 75-98.)
