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Penkalas Bridge

bridge in Kütahya, western Turkey

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionDec 9, 2023
Entity authorityQ942877
Source-derived summary

The Penkalas Bridge is a Roman bridge over the Penkalas (today Kocaçay), a small tributary of the Rhyndakos (Adırnas Çayı), in Aezani, Asia Minor (Çavdarhisar in present-day Turkey).

The 2nd-century AD structure was once one of four ancient bridges in Aezani and is assumed to have been the most important crossing-point due to its central location in the vicinity of the Zeus temple and the direct access it provided to the Roman road to Cotyaeum (Kütahya). According to reports by European travellers, the ancient parapet remained in use as late as 1829, having been replaced today by an iron railing.

Around 290 m upstream, another well-preserved, almost identical five-arched Roman bridge leads across the Penkalas.

See also

List of Roman bridges

Roman architecture

Roman engineering

References

Sources

Galliazzo, Vittorio (1994), I ponti romani. Catalogo generale, vol. 2, Treviso: Edizioni Canova, p. 403 (No. 839), ISBN 88-85066-66-6

O’Connor, Colin (1993), Roman Bridges, Cambridge University Press, p. 124 (No.

Editorial summary

“Penkalas Bridge” enters the record as bridge in Kütahya, western Turkey. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Penkalas, Bridge and bridge can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA strong orientation record where physical form, institutional use and historical geography need to be read together. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1829, 1994, 1993—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Penkalas, Bridge and bridge.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Penkalas Bridge” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Penkalas, Bridge and bridge provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 9, 2023. The linked authority identifier is Q942877. Authority coordinates are 39.201, 29.612. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1829, 1994 and 1993.

Critical limits

A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Penkalas Bridge”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Penkalas Bridge primary sources, Penkalas Bridge archive and Penkalas research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Penkalas Bridge”?
  2. What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
  3. Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Penkalas Bridge” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.