The Trophy on the Bridge and the Roman Triumph over Nature

摘要

The use of trophies on Roman bridges is examined in the light of contemporary literary celebrations of bridge- and road-building in the heroic terms of military victory, with the Roman emperor as the conqueror and Nature herself as the defeated foe. The focus of the discussion is Trajan's bridge over the Danube and Domitian's bridge over the Volturnus River, but other examples of triumphal imagery on bridges are cited from Augustus to Septimius Severus.