Good News In History, October 30

Good News In History, October 30

Good News In History, October 30 52 years ago today, the Bosporus Bridge was completed, linking mainland Europe with Anatolia over the Bosporus Straits for the first time. It’s a gravity-anchored suspension bridge with steel towers and inclined hangers, and upon its completion was the 4th longest suspension bridge in the world. READ more famous historical figures who had proposed such a bridge… (1973) The idea of a bridge crossing the Bosporus dates back to antiquity. The Greek writer Herodotus says in his Histories that, on the orders of Emperor Darius the Great of the Achaemenid Empire (522 BC–485 BC), Mandrocles of Samos once engineered a pontoon bridge across the Bosporus, linking Asia to Europe; this bridge enabled Darius to pursue the fleeing Scythians as well as position his army in the Balkans to overwhelm Macedon. When a storm destroyed the bridge, Darius ordered his soldiers to give the Bosporus 100 lashes, calling it “wicked water”. Leonardo da Vinci also proposed a suspension…