Editing Pontoon bridge (section)

===Greco-Roman era===
{{multiple image| align = right | direction = vertical | header = Roman depictions of pontoon bridges, 2nd century AD| header_align = left/right/center | footer = | footer_align = left | image1 = 007 Conrad Cichorius, Die Reliefs der Traianssäule, Tafel VII.jpg | width1 = 220 | caption1  = [[Roman legion]]aries marching across a pontoon bridge, a [[Roman sculpture|relief scene]] from [[Trajan's Column|the column]] of Emperor [[Trajan]] (r. 98–117 AD) in Rome, Italy ([[monochrome]], from the photographs by [[Conrad Cichorius]])| image2 = Roman Pontoon Bridge, Column of Marcus Aurelius, Rome, Italy.jpg| width2 = 220 | caption2 = [[Roman Legion]]aries crossing the [[Danube River]] by pontoon bridge, as depicted in [[relief]] on [[Column of Marcus Aurelius|the column]] of Emperor [[Marcus Aurelius]] (r. 161–180 AD) in Rome, Italy}}
The [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] writer [[Herodotus]] in his ''[[Histories (Herodotus)|Histories]]'', records several pontoon bridges. Emperor Caligula built a {{convert|2|mi|adj=on}} bridge at [[Baiae]] in 37 AD. For Emperor [[Darius I The Great]] of [[Persia]] (522–485 BC), the Greek [[Mandrocles of Samos]] once engineered a {{convert|2|km|adj=on}} pontoon bridge that stretched across the [[Bosporus]], linking Asia to Europe, so that Darius could pursue the fleeing [[Scythians]] as well as move his army into position in the [[Balkans]] to overwhelm [[Macedon]]. Other spectacular pontoon bridges were [[Xerxes' Pontoon Bridges]] across the [[Hellespont]] by [[Xerxes I]] in 480 BC to transport his huge army into Europe:

{{Blockquote|and meanwhile other chief-constructors proceeded to make the bridges; and thus they made them: They put together fifty-oared galleys and triremes, three hundred and sixty to be under the bridge towards the Euxine Sea, and three hundred and fourteen to be under the other, the vessels lying in the direction of the stream of the Hellespont (though crosswise in respect to the Pontus), to support the tension of the ropes. They placed them together thus, and let down very large anchors, those on the one side towards the Pontus because of the winds which blow from within outwards, and on the other side, towards the West and the Egean, because of the South-East and South Winds. They left also an opening for a passage through, so that any who wished might be able to sail into the Pontus with small vessels, and also from the Pontus outwards. Having thus done, they proceeded to stretch tight the ropes, straining them with wooden windlasses, not now appointing the two kinds of rope to be used apart from one another, but assigning to each bridge two ropes of white flax and four of the papyrus ropes. The thickness and beauty of make was the same for both, but the flaxen ropes were heavier in proportion, and of this rope a cubit weighed one talent. When the passage was bridged over, they sawed up logs of wood, and making them equal in length to the breadth of the bridge they laid them above the stretched ropes, and having set them thus in order they again fastened them above. When this was done, they carried on brushwood, and having set the brushwood also in place, they carried on to it earth; and when they had stamped down the earth firmly, they built a barrier along on each side, so that the baggage-animals and horses might not be frightened by looking out over the sea.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2456 |title=The history of Herodotus — Volume 2 by Herodotus - Project Gutenberg |publisher=Gutenberg.org |date=2001-01-01 |access-date=2010-09-02 |archive-date=2011-08-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805073517/http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2456 |url-status=live }}</ref>}}According to John Hale's ''Lords of the Sea'', to celebrate the onset of the [[Sicilian Expedition]] (415 - 413 B.C.), the Athenian general, [[Nicias]], paid builders to engineer an extraordinary pontoon bridge composed of gilded and tapestried ships for a festival that drew [[Athenian]]s and [[Ionians]] across the sea to the sanctuary of [[Apollo]] on [[Delos]]. On the occasion when Nicias was a sponsor, young Athenians paraded across the boats, singing as they walked, to give the armada a spectacular farewell.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Lords of the sea : the epic story of the Athenian navy and the birth of democracy|last=Hale|first=John R.|publisher=Viking Penguin|year=2010|isbn=9780143117681|location=New York|pages=188|oclc=276819722}}</ref> [[File:035 Conrad Cichorius, Die Reliefs der Traianssäule, Tafel XXXV (Ausschnitt 01).jpg|thumb|A [[relief]] of a [[Roman Empire|Roman]] bridge of boats by Cichorius]]
The late [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] writer [[Vegetius]], in his work ''[[De Re Militari]]'', wrote:

{{Blockquote|But the most commodious invention is that of the small boats hollowed out of one piece of timber and very light both by their make and the quality of the wood. The army always has a number of these boats upon carriages, together with a sufficient quantity of planks and iron nails. Thus with the help of cables to lash the boats together, a bridge is instantly constructed, which for the time has the solidity of a bridge of stone.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pvv.ntnu.no/~madsb/home/war/vegetius/dere07.php#05 |title=Digital &#124; Attic - Warfare : De Re Militari Book III: Dispositions for Action |publisher=Pvv.ntnu.no |access-date=2010-09-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051224005323/http://www.pvv.ntnu.no/~madsb/home/war/vegetius/dere07.php#05 |archive-date=2005-12-24 }}</ref>}}

The emperor [[Caligula]] is said to have ridden a horse across a pontoon bridge stretching two miles between [[Baiae]] and [[Puteoli]] while wearing the armour of [[Alexander the Great]] to mock a [[Fortune-teller|soothsayer]] who had claimed he had "no more chance of becoming emperor than of riding a horse across the Bay of Baiae". Caligula's construction of the bridge cost a massive sum of money and added to discontent with his rule.{{citation needed|date=August 2015}}