Kharaba Roman Bridge

A Roman bridge crosses the Wadi Zeidi, a tributary of the Yarmouk, beside the village of Kharaba north-west of Bosra. It has three semicircular arches. The arches and the facing are cut basalt, nearly black with a greenish tinge in places. The bridge still stands, sources describe it as in fairly good condition, and of the three Roman bridges left on this wadi it is the most complete.

Getting there

Take the road north-west from Bosra towards Kharaba. The bridge is about 6 kilometres outside the town. The modern road crosses the wadi at the same point, and the bridge drawn on online maps is most likely the modern road bridge; the Roman structure coincides with it or sits right beside it. To see the arches you have to stop at the roadside and walk down to the wadi bed.

How long it takes

Forty minutes is enough. Most of that goes on crossing to both banks to look at each face of the arches and at the flood channel on the east side.

What to see

The three arches each span 380 centimetres and rest on piers 240 centimetres thick. The piers rise 250 centimetres to the springing of the arches, and the bridge is 452 centimetres wide. Vaults and facing are basalt throughout. Roman builders rarely bridged in basalt, but in the Hauran it was the stone to hand.

Its place on the Hauran roads

In 106 Rome absorbed the region into the new province of Arabia. Bosra, ancient Bostra, became its main city and the base of the Legio III Cyrenaica. In country cut up by wadis, army and caravan roads needed permanent bridges. At least two more Roman bridges survive on the Wadi Zeidi, at Gemarrin and at Tayyibeh.

Do not miss

The small opening at the east end. Beside the arches there is a square channel for floodwater, its top carried on a column with a capital. From the road you cannot see it. Note the width too: 452 centimetres is exactly the width of the bridge at Nimreh, south-east of Shahba. The sources record the match but do not explain it.

The site today

The accounts of the bridge in good condition predate the conflict. The area around Bosra is in Daraa province, where there were security incidents in 2025 as well. The present state of the bridge and of road access could not be verified; ask locally in Bosra before setting out.