One of the greatest engineering feats of ancient times, Xerxes' bridge over the Hellespont was actually two bridges. See The Persian Wars and this LaunchPad for more background. Here is an image of the Hellespont today, and a satellite image as well. This is a view of how the Hellespont might have looked in 480 B.C.

You will now rebuild that famous set of bridges.

Xerxes's Phoenician and Egyptian engineers built two bridges across the Hellespont, the waterway between Asia Minor (modern Turkey) and Greece. This waterway also connects the Black Sea to the Aegean part of the Mediterranean Sea.

Pertinent links:

• Herodotus bridge reference http://classics.mit.edu/Herodotus/history.7.vii.html#629
• Contemporary photograph of Athos canal http://www.livius.org/a/greece/xerxes_canal/xerxes_canal_2.JPG
  • Second, aerial canal picture
  • Third, Satellite picture
• Hellespont pictures:
  • First http://www.livius.org/a/turkey/abydus/abydus_and_sestus.JPG (this is in the caption above).
  • Second http://edsitement.neh.gov/PersiaGreeceWars01.asp#Hellespont
  • Satellite photo of where the bridge would have been built.