PONS SUBLICIUS
the oldest and most famous of the bridges across the
Tiber, built, according to tradition, by Ancus Martius (
Liv. i. 33; Plut.
Numa 9). Its name was derived from sublica, a pile (Fest. 293),
1 and it
was constructed of wood without metal of any sort whatsoever (Plut.
loc. cit.;
Dionys. iii. 45;
ix. 68; Plin.
NH xxxvi. 100; Serv. ad
Aen.
viii. 646). It was under the direct care of the college of pontiffs, its
preservation was a matter of religion, and any injury caused by floods
was regarded as a prodigium. Such injuries seem to have been not
infrequent (Cass.
Dio xxxvii. 58; 1. 8;
liii. 33; Iv. 22), but the bridge
was always repaired and was standing as late as the fifth century (Hist.
Aug. Ant. Pii 8; Not. app.; Mythol.
Vat. i. 74). It is represented on
a coin of Antoninus (Cohen, Ant. Pius No. 127) with the contest of
Romans and Etruscans, and Horatius swimming in the river. There is
no doubt about the antiquity of the bridge, and its method of construction
is generally regarded as evidence that it dated from the period before the
inhabitants of Latium had developed the working of iron far enough for
use in bridge building, a period that may perhaps correspond to the
second stage in the growth of the city when it spread out beyond the
limits of the Palatine (
Mitt. 1895, 160-162). It is possible that iron was
not used simply that it might be easier to pull down the structure when
danger threatened from the Etruscan side (cf. the story of Horatius,
Liv. ii. 19;
Dionys. v. 22; Stuart Jones, Companion 76).
The position of the pons Sublicius has been the subject of much
dispute, for the passages in ancient literature, describing its defence by
Horatius and the flight of Gaius Gracchus (
Liv. ii. 10. 7;
v. 40; Val.
Max. i. I. 10;
iii. 2;
iv. 7. 2; de vir. ill. 65; Plut. Gracch. 17; App.
BC i. 2. 6 and 58), merely represent it as the ordinary and shortest way
from the left bank to the Janiculum. The strongest evidence indicates
that it crossed from the forum Boarium just below the later pons
Aemilius, the only point where its approach would have been protected
by the city wall: and in this case it would have been built in the slack
water just below the island, where the original ford was probably situated
(see
VICUS IUGARIUS).
(For discussions of the position of the pons Sublicius, see Jord.
i. I. 402-407; HJ 632;
Gilb. ii. 171-183; Richter, Befestigung 14-15;
Mommsen, Sichs.
Ber. 1850, 320-326; Urlichs, Bayr.
Sitzungsb. 1870,
459-499; Wecklein,
Hermes 1872, 178-184; Besnier 123-132; Kummer,
de urbis Romae pontibus antiquis, Progr. 1889; Mayerh6fer, Gesch.-
topographische Studien i.d. alte Rom,
Mfinchen 1887, 6-32 pass.;
Mitt.
1891, 134-5; cf. DAP 2. vi. pl. iv.; KH iv.)
