The Roman Bridge at Nimreh

A single-arched Roman bridge crosses the Wadi al-Liwa below the village of Nimreh, 10 kilometres south-east of Shahba. What sets it apart from the other bridges of the Hauran is its vault. The arch is not a single shell. It is made of three parallel transverse arches set 120 centimetres apart, with the gaps between them closed by long basalt blocks. The German researchers who studied the bridge consider this technique unique among Roman bridges.

Getting there

Take the road south-east from Shahba to the village of Nimreh. The bridge lies below the village, close to the modern road, crossing the wadi almost at a right angle. It is not marked on online maps. Its coordinates could not be confirmed by two independent sources, so this page carries no map; ask the way in the village. Do not confuse it with the Namara Roman fort, whose name sounds similar: that site is 55 kilometres further east, on the edge of the Safa basalt field.

How long it takes

Forty minutes. Both faces of the bridge, the underside of the arch and the causeway at the west end are all close together.

What to see

The bridge is 25 metres long, 15 metres of it on the eastern side. It is 452 centimetres wide, exactly the width of the Kharaba bridge near Bosra. The single arch spans 673 centimetres and rises 310 centimetres, a flattened curve of about 160 degrees rather than a full semicircle. From the wadi bed to the crown it measures 360 centimetres. The transverse arches are built of cut blocks 60 centimetres long and 30 centimetres wide and high. The walls use no mortar: roughly dressed basalt blocks of different sizes laid dry on top of each other. The side walls have broken open on both faces, showing the fill of stone, sand and earth. Parts of the paving of large, smooth basalt slabs are still in place, especially on the ramps.

How old it is

There is no firm date. The same transverse-arch method appears in the Hauran in the roofs of late antique basilicas and of the early Christian church at Nimreh, which places the bridge in the 3rd or 4th century. The sources lean towards the 3rd century. The region prospered then, and Emperor Philip the Arab, born in Shahba, rebuilt his home town as Philippopolis during his reign from 244-249.

Do not miss

Step under the arch and look up. The three transverse arches and the stone beams laid between them can be counted one by one from below. The roofing method did not stay with bridges: houses in the region were still roofed this way into the first half of the 20th century. At the west end the bridge meets the edge of the wadi with a 120-degree bend, and a slightly raised causeway continues for about 100 metres before fading into the ground.

The village

Nimreh appears as Namara, an important village, in the Onomastikon of Eusebius, his gazetteer of biblical place names. Eli Smith, passing through in 1838, noted that Druze and Greek Christians lived there.

The site today

Suwayda province has been in armed conflict since July 2025. The present state of the bridge and access to the village could not be verified from independent sources. This page describes what the bridge is; it does not say that it can be visited today.