Pons Neronianus

The Pons Neronianus or Bridge of Nero was an ancient bridge in Rome built during the reign of the emperors Caligula or Nero[1] to connect the western part of the Campus Martius with the Ager Vaticanus ("Vatican Fields"), where the imperial family owned land along the Via Cornelia.

The historian Tacitus says it was in this circus, renamed the Circus of Nero, that the Emperor Nero executed the Christians who were accused of causing the Great Fire of Rome of 64 AD, in order to entertain the people of Rome after that fire.

Starting with Titus, the victorious Emperors celebrating their Triumphs entered Rome marching across the Pons Neronianus along the Via Triumphalis.

[2] The Pons Neronianus crossed the river immediately below the modern Ponte Vittorio Emanuele II, but at a slightly different angle; little of the ancient structure survives today.

When the Tiber is at low water level it is possible to see the foundation of one of the four piers that once supported the Pons Neronianus.

Pons Neronianus on a map of ancient Rome around 300 AD