Pons Aemilius was Rome’s first stone bridge over the Tiber.
The bridge, also called the Ponte Emilio, began as a wooden structure associated with the construction of a road and river crossing in the second century BCE. Its stone piers were built in the second century BCE, and the bridge was completed in 142 BCE by the censors Publius Scipio Africanus and Lucius Mummius.
Pons Aemilius connected the Forum Boarium on the eastern bank with the Transtiberine area. Its durable masonry made it an important improvement over earlier wooden crossings, particularly the ancient Pons Sublicius, which tradition associated with Rome’s earliest bridge.
Later bridges can cause confusion. Pons Fabricius, completed in 62 BCE, is the oldest Roman bridge still standing in its original form, but it was not Rome’s first stone bridge. Pons Aemilius survived in ruined form, and its remaining arches are now commonly known as the Ponte Rotto, or Broken Bridge.