SUBLICIUS BRIDGE

PONTE SUBLICIO

Piazza dell'Emporio/Piazza di Porta Portese

1914/19 project by Marcello Piacentini (1881/1960) executed by the Allegri firm

It is also known as NEW SUBLICIUS BRIDGE

It is 105.55 m (346 feet) long

The original bridge, OLD SUBLICIUS BRIDGE, which used to stand further north, in correspondence with today's Via del Porto was, according to tradition, the first bridge in Rome

Some sacred and archaic ceremonies used to take place there, including the launch in the river of straw dolls, images of the Argei, princes who, according to Varro had come to Rome in the wake of Hercules and had settled on the Capitoline Hill

This ritual was done perhaps to replace some ancient human sacrifices and used to take place in May during the festival of Lemuria, which were celebrated for exorcising the spirits of the dead, the Lemuri

It was called Sublicius Bridge for the sublicae, wooden planks, of which it was made, stabilized by nails of bronze. Horatius Cocles, according to legend, in 507 BC stopped here the Etruscans and the Romans cut the bridge behind him