DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22272#0139
THE ANT0N1NE WALL REPORT.
121
The description1 of the wall (in its structural aspect), by the
late Dr. Collingwood Bruce—so long the doyen of Roman Wall
archaeologists in Britain—when placed side by side with two
passages from Vitruvius2 and Pliny,3 leaves little or no doubt of
its essentially :< Emplecton " type.
With such a parallel demonstration before us we approach
with considerable encouragement the question, whether it is not
now possible to determine the true technical character of our
vallum also.
When the Roman authors are consulted as to the modes of
making a vallum, their evidence (as we have seen on an early
page 4 of this Report) is explicit enough. Although the earthen
camp walls of an army in quarters when on the march might be
expected to be of a much less substantial character than the
1 Bruoe's Handbook to the Roman W;
of the wall consists, on both sides, of
interior of rubble of any description firm
2 Vitruvius de Architectura, lib. ii.,
cap. 8.
Altera est quam eixirXeKTov appellant
qua etiam nostrirusticiutuntur: quorum
frontes poliuntur, reliqua ita uti sunt
nata cum materia collocata alternis
alligant coagmentis. Sed noatri celeri-
tati studentes erectos choros locantes
frontibus serviunt et in medio farciunt
fractis separating cum materia cae-
mentis: ita tres suscitantur in ea
structura erustae, duae frontium et
una media farturae. Graeci vero non
ita : sed plana collocantes et longitudi-
nes chororum alternis coagmentis in
crassitudinem instruentes non media
farciunt sed e suis frontatis perpetuum
et in unam crassitudinem parietem
consolidant. Praeterea interponunt
singulos perpetua crassitudine utraque
parte frontatos quos Biarovovs appellant
qui maxime religando confirmant parie-
tum soliditatem.
3Pliny, Nat. Hist., lib. xxxvi., cap.
51.
Tertium est emplecton tantummodo
frontibus politis: reliqua fortuito collo-
cant.
4 See pp. 28-34, supra.
11 (1885), p. 33. The exterior masonry
larefully squared freestone blocks; the
y embedded in mortar.
There is another structure called
Emplecton which even our rustics use.
Of this, the facing stones are squared ;
the rest, in their .natural state, laid
together with mortar, are compacted
with alternate joints [i.e., one stone
upon two(?)]. But our masons, desirous
of despatch, building the two outer
courses up for some height, utilise them
as facing stones and fill in between
them, separately, broken rubble with
mortar. There are thus in the structure
three series erected, two of facing stones
and one in the middle. The Greeks,
however, do not do this : laying the
stones level and building the whole
length of the outer courses, with
alternate joints, into one piece, they
do not fill in the middle at random,
but by bonding-stones consolidate the
wall thoroughly into one piece. Besides,
they put single bonding-stones, which
they call Diatoni, through the entire
thickness from side to side, which,
by very greatly binding it together,
strengthen the solidity of the walls.
The third kind is Emplecton, having
only the facing stones squared : the rest
are promiscuously heaped together.
121
The description1 of the wall (in its structural aspect), by the
late Dr. Collingwood Bruce—so long the doyen of Roman Wall
archaeologists in Britain—when placed side by side with two
passages from Vitruvius2 and Pliny,3 leaves little or no doubt of
its essentially :< Emplecton " type.
With such a parallel demonstration before us we approach
with considerable encouragement the question, whether it is not
now possible to determine the true technical character of our
vallum also.
When the Roman authors are consulted as to the modes of
making a vallum, their evidence (as we have seen on an early
page 4 of this Report) is explicit enough. Although the earthen
camp walls of an army in quarters when on the march might be
expected to be of a much less substantial character than the
1 Bruoe's Handbook to the Roman W;
of the wall consists, on both sides, of
interior of rubble of any description firm
2 Vitruvius de Architectura, lib. ii.,
cap. 8.
Altera est quam eixirXeKTov appellant
qua etiam nostrirusticiutuntur: quorum
frontes poliuntur, reliqua ita uti sunt
nata cum materia collocata alternis
alligant coagmentis. Sed noatri celeri-
tati studentes erectos choros locantes
frontibus serviunt et in medio farciunt
fractis separating cum materia cae-
mentis: ita tres suscitantur in ea
structura erustae, duae frontium et
una media farturae. Graeci vero non
ita : sed plana collocantes et longitudi-
nes chororum alternis coagmentis in
crassitudinem instruentes non media
farciunt sed e suis frontatis perpetuum
et in unam crassitudinem parietem
consolidant. Praeterea interponunt
singulos perpetua crassitudine utraque
parte frontatos quos Biarovovs appellant
qui maxime religando confirmant parie-
tum soliditatem.
3Pliny, Nat. Hist., lib. xxxvi., cap.
51.
Tertium est emplecton tantummodo
frontibus politis: reliqua fortuito collo-
cant.
4 See pp. 28-34, supra.
11 (1885), p. 33. The exterior masonry
larefully squared freestone blocks; the
y embedded in mortar.
There is another structure called
Emplecton which even our rustics use.
Of this, the facing stones are squared ;
the rest, in their .natural state, laid
together with mortar, are compacted
with alternate joints [i.e., one stone
upon two(?)]. But our masons, desirous
of despatch, building the two outer
courses up for some height, utilise them
as facing stones and fill in between
them, separately, broken rubble with
mortar. There are thus in the structure
three series erected, two of facing stones
and one in the middle. The Greeks,
however, do not do this : laying the
stones level and building the whole
length of the outer courses, with
alternate joints, into one piece, they
do not fill in the middle at random,
but by bonding-stones consolidate the
wall thoroughly into one piece. Besides,
they put single bonding-stones, which
they call Diatoni, through the entire
thickness from side to side, which,
by very greatly binding it together,
strengthen the solidity of the walls.
The third kind is Emplecton, having
only the facing stones squared : the rest
are promiscuously heaped together.