The elaborate description of this work given by Herodotus proves it to have been no clumsy or unartist-like performance.

The ships do not appear so much to have formed the bridge, as to have served for piers to support its weight.

Rafters of wood, rough timber, and layers of earth were placed across extended cables, and the whole was completed by a fence on either side, that the horses and beasts of burden might not be frightened by the sight of the open sea.
VII.

And now the work was finished (B.C.

480), the winter was past, and at the dawn of returning spring, Xerxes led his armament from Sardis to Abydos.