Turnu Severin
Turnu Severin
Drobeta-Turnu Severin is a city in Romania, on the left bank of the Danube, below the Iron Gates. The city, which was originally called Drobetae by the Romans, took its later name of Turnu Severin, or the Northern Tower, from a tower on the north bank of the Danube built by the Byzantines, which stood on a small hill surrounded by a deep moat. This was built to commemorate a victory over the Gauls and Marcomanni by the Roman emperor Septimius Severus (222-235). Near Turnu Severin are the remains of the celebrated Trajan's bridge, the largest in the Empire, built in 103 by the architect Apollodorus of Damascus. The Danube is about 1,200 metres (4,000 feet) broad at this spot. The bridge was composed of twenty arches supported by stone pillars; only two are still visible at low water.
