DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61617#0070
36
POMPEII
at Pompeii. Three varieties may be distinguished, differing in
density according as they were taken from the lower or the
upper strata: solid lava, or basalt, which, being heavy and
extremely hard, was extensively used for pavements and thresh-
olds ; slag, like the scoriae found on the sides of Vesuvius
to-day; and cruma, the foam of the lava stream, which is light
and porous, but on account of its hardness has good resisting
qualities.
The so-called travertine has a fine texture, without impres-
sions of leaves, and is of a whitish color; it was to some extent
employed as a substitute for marble. It was not quarried at
Pompeii, and was not extensively used; the most important
example of its use is in the later colonnade about the Forum.
The white Carrara marble {marmor lunense) was preferred for
columns, pilasters, and architraves; but colored marbles of
many varieties, cut into thin slabs and blocks, were used as a
veneering for walls and in the mosaic floors.
Bricks were used only for the corners of buildings, for door-
posts, and in a few instances, as in the Basilica and the house
of the Labyrinth, for columns ; brick walls are not found in
Pompeii. The bricks seen in corners and doorposts (Figs. 11, 90)
are simply a facing for rubble work. They are ordinarily less
than an inch thick; they have the shape of a right-angled
triangle, and are so laid that the side representing the hypothe-
nuse —■ about six inches long — appears in the surface of the
wall. Sometimes fragments of roof tiles, more or less irregular
in shape, were used instead. The bricks of the earlier time
contain sea sand and have a granular surface, with a less
uniform color; the later bricks are smooth and even in
appearance.
The flat oblong roof tiles {tegulae), measuring ordinarily 24 by
19 or 20 inches, had flanges at the sides; over the joints where
the flanges came together, joint tiles in the form of a half-
cylinder {imbrices} were laid, like those in use at the present
day (Figs. 109, 112).
The styles of masonry are characteristic and interesting.
We may distinguish them as masonry with limestone frame-
work, rubble work, reticulate work, quasi-reticulate work, ashlar
POMPEII
at Pompeii. Three varieties may be distinguished, differing in
density according as they were taken from the lower or the
upper strata: solid lava, or basalt, which, being heavy and
extremely hard, was extensively used for pavements and thresh-
olds ; slag, like the scoriae found on the sides of Vesuvius
to-day; and cruma, the foam of the lava stream, which is light
and porous, but on account of its hardness has good resisting
qualities.
The so-called travertine has a fine texture, without impres-
sions of leaves, and is of a whitish color; it was to some extent
employed as a substitute for marble. It was not quarried at
Pompeii, and was not extensively used; the most important
example of its use is in the later colonnade about the Forum.
The white Carrara marble {marmor lunense) was preferred for
columns, pilasters, and architraves; but colored marbles of
many varieties, cut into thin slabs and blocks, were used as a
veneering for walls and in the mosaic floors.
Bricks were used only for the corners of buildings, for door-
posts, and in a few instances, as in the Basilica and the house
of the Labyrinth, for columns ; brick walls are not found in
Pompeii. The bricks seen in corners and doorposts (Figs. 11, 90)
are simply a facing for rubble work. They are ordinarily less
than an inch thick; they have the shape of a right-angled
triangle, and are so laid that the side representing the hypothe-
nuse —■ about six inches long — appears in the surface of the
wall. Sometimes fragments of roof tiles, more or less irregular
in shape, were used instead. The bricks of the earlier time
contain sea sand and have a granular surface, with a less
uniform color; the later bricks are smooth and even in
appearance.
The flat oblong roof tiles {tegulae), measuring ordinarily 24 by
19 or 20 inches, had flanges at the sides; over the joints where
the flanges came together, joint tiles in the form of a half-
cylinder {imbrices} were laid, like those in use at the present
day (Figs. 109, 112).
The styles of masonry are characteristic and interesting.
We may distinguish them as masonry with limestone frame-
work, rubble work, reticulate work, quasi-reticulate work, ashlar