Publius Horatius Cocles was an officer in the army of the early Roman Republic who famously defended the Pons Sublicius from the invading army of Etruscan King Lars Porsena of Clusium in the late 6th century BC, during the war between Rome and Clusium. By defending the narrow end of the bridge, he and his companions were able to hold off the attacking army long enough to allow other Romans to destroy the bridge behind him, blocking the Etruscans' advance and saving the city.
Horatius Cocles, a fanciful 1586 engraving by Hendrick Goltzius.
Horatius at the Bridge, Charles Le Brun, 1642-43]]
Horatius at the bridge, Renaissance plaquette, Wallace Collection
Detail from the Ghisi Shield in the Waddesdon Bequest; a grotesque head in the larger scale above Horatius at the bridge in the smaller
The Pons Sublicius is the earliest known bridge of ancient Rome, spanning the Tiber River near the Forum Boarium downstream from the Tiber Island, near the foot of the Aventine Hill. According to tradition, its construction was ordered by Ancus Marcius around 642 BC, but this date is approximate because there is no ancient record of its construction. Marcius wished to connect the newly fortified Janiculum Hill on the Etruscan side to the rest of Rome, augmenting the ferry that was there. The bridge was part of public works projects that included building a port at Ostia, at the time the location of worked salt deposits.
Drawing of the site of the Pons Sublicius (falsely shown as a pier),[citation needed] Illustration of Rome during the time of the Republic, from Friedrich Polack (1896)