DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49928#0163
PLATE LI.
Fig. i.—The Porta dell’ Arco at Volterra (anc. Vola-
terrae).
Canina, Annali, 1835, p. 192.
Lubke, Geschichte der Architektur (16th ed.), 1, 229.
Daremberg et Saglio, Diet., 2800.
Seyffert, Diet., p. 53.
Dennis, Etruria (1878), p. 141.
Baedeker, Central Italy (1886), p. 10.
Guhl and Koner, ed. Engelmann, 1893, fig. 746 (from
a Photograph).
The later city walls into which the arch is built are omitted
(See Guhl and Koner, ed. Engelmann, loc. cit.) The archway,
which pierces the city wall obliquely, is some thirty feet long
and has a gate at each end.
The outer gate, twenty feet in height, is spanned by an arch
which is decorated with three heads, but these are so damaged
that it is quite impossible to say what they originally represented.
Volaterrae was one of the twelve cities of the Etruscan
Confederation, and was famous in antiquity for the strength of
its fortifications. It was besieged by Sulla during the civil
wars and held out for two years. It was a municipium in
Cicero’s time.
The walls are undoubtedly Etruscan and of early date, but
owing to the backwardness of our knowledge of Etruscan
architecture it is not possible to fix the exact period.
Fig. 2.—The “ Porta Borsari” at Verona.
Built in the reign of Gallienus, 265 a.d.
Menard, La Vie privee, i., p. 582, fig. 667.
Still standing in one of the main streets of Verona (fig. 2
makes it look too deserted and neglected). The arches of the
gateway and windows and the architecture are all decorated
with bands of floral ornaments in the manner of the later
Empire. This is not shown in the engraving. The wall now
remaining is of course only the frontage of a structure in the
same style as the Porta Aurea at Spalato and the Porta Nigra
at Treves (fig. 3), which belong to the same late period.
Fig. 3.—The “ Porta Nigra” at Treves (from a Photo-
graph).
LiiBKE, Geschichte der Architektur (6th ed.), fig. 287.
Smith, Diet. Ant. ii. 468.
Fergusson, Hist, of Architecture, fig. 219.
Built of huge reddish sandstone blocks, which are bonded
together by iron clamps without mortar.
The front is 180 feet long and fifty-three feet thick in the
centre. The two gateways are arches twenty-three feet high
and fourteen feet wide. The flanking tower on the right is
over ninety feet high (the left has lost its top story) and about
seventy feet deep.
The date of construction has not yet been discovered.
Fig. 4.—Porte Saint Andre at Autun (ancient Augusto-
dunum).
Menard, La Vieprivee, i. 598, fig. 695.
Fergusson, Hist, of Architecture, fig. 217.
Figs. 5-11.—The Fortifications of Pompeii.
OSCAN, BEFORE 200 B.C.
Overbeck, Pompeii, figs. 7, 8, 10, 11, 14, 20.
Mazois, Les Ruines de Pompei, i., Pl. 3, 1 ; Pl. 12, 1, 4, 5 ;
Pl. 13, 2.
Gell, Pompeiana, i., Pls. 17-18.
Dyer, Pompeii, pp. 59, 61.
Guhl and Koner, Life of Greeks and Romans, figs. 351, 353.
Smith, Diet. Ant. i., p. 384.
Pompeii was a small provincial town, and the circuit of its
walls is less than two miles, inclosing about 161 acres.
The line of the walls, though not completely excavated, has
been traced for the whole distance.
The original structure and plan is the same throughout, and
later repairs and additions (e.g., the towers) can be easily
distinguished.
The fortress wall (murus, fig. 11) is composed of two retain-
ing walls (parietes, a, c) about twenty-seven feet high, standing
about twenty feet apart, the space between being filled with
earth (agger, b).
The ramparts on the top are fourteen feet wide.
This is the system recommended by Vitruvius (1, 5, 1), who
further recommends transverse walls or buttresses arranged like
the teeth of a comb on the inside of the retaining walls to
counteract the outward thrust of the inclosed earth (fig. n,
di, d’, df
The walls are built throughout of well-trimmed blocks of
travertine in the lower courses and piperino in the upper.
Both the retaining walls have battlements at frequent
intervals. Each battlement is provided with a small buttress,
so arranged that a soldier standing near the embrasure was
protected against missiles entering obliquely (figs. 6, 7). At
each battlement is a culvert to carry off the water from the
ramparts.
The walls are further fortified by towers, which are of a
later date. They are placed at intervals of about eighty yards
on the western side, but on the east side stand two, three, or
four hundred yards apart.
They are four stories high (figs. 8, 10) the different floors
being connected by stairs (fig. 8, b b' b"\ The first floor has
a sally-port (fig. 8, f), the second, which is on a level with the
ramparts, is pierced with loopholes (fig. 8, c), and has a passage
(fig. 8, d) from the rampart on one side to that on the other.
The fourth story is open and fortified with battlements.
The walls are at present in ruins, the outer retaining wall
having almost invariably fallen outwards. It seems probable
that they were dismantled some time before the destruction of
the city, 79 a.d.
There are seven gates in the wall as it now stands. The
most important is that on the Herculaneum road at the north-
west corner (fig. 5). It was a long arch with three entrances,
a carriage road, fourteen feet wide, in the centre, with a foot-
path on each side.
On the outside, the gate was closed with a portcullis (cata-
racta = καταρράκτης), the grooves in which it worked being still
clearly visible. The gate proper was on the inner side which
was closed by two doors (?).
99
o 2
Fig. i.—The Porta dell’ Arco at Volterra (anc. Vola-
terrae).
Canina, Annali, 1835, p. 192.
Lubke, Geschichte der Architektur (16th ed.), 1, 229.
Daremberg et Saglio, Diet., 2800.
Seyffert, Diet., p. 53.
Dennis, Etruria (1878), p. 141.
Baedeker, Central Italy (1886), p. 10.
Guhl and Koner, ed. Engelmann, 1893, fig. 746 (from
a Photograph).
The later city walls into which the arch is built are omitted
(See Guhl and Koner, ed. Engelmann, loc. cit.) The archway,
which pierces the city wall obliquely, is some thirty feet long
and has a gate at each end.
The outer gate, twenty feet in height, is spanned by an arch
which is decorated with three heads, but these are so damaged
that it is quite impossible to say what they originally represented.
Volaterrae was one of the twelve cities of the Etruscan
Confederation, and was famous in antiquity for the strength of
its fortifications. It was besieged by Sulla during the civil
wars and held out for two years. It was a municipium in
Cicero’s time.
The walls are undoubtedly Etruscan and of early date, but
owing to the backwardness of our knowledge of Etruscan
architecture it is not possible to fix the exact period.
Fig. 2.—The “ Porta Borsari” at Verona.
Built in the reign of Gallienus, 265 a.d.
Menard, La Vie privee, i., p. 582, fig. 667.
Still standing in one of the main streets of Verona (fig. 2
makes it look too deserted and neglected). The arches of the
gateway and windows and the architecture are all decorated
with bands of floral ornaments in the manner of the later
Empire. This is not shown in the engraving. The wall now
remaining is of course only the frontage of a structure in the
same style as the Porta Aurea at Spalato and the Porta Nigra
at Treves (fig. 3), which belong to the same late period.
Fig. 3.—The “ Porta Nigra” at Treves (from a Photo-
graph).
LiiBKE, Geschichte der Architektur (6th ed.), fig. 287.
Smith, Diet. Ant. ii. 468.
Fergusson, Hist, of Architecture, fig. 219.
Built of huge reddish sandstone blocks, which are bonded
together by iron clamps without mortar.
The front is 180 feet long and fifty-three feet thick in the
centre. The two gateways are arches twenty-three feet high
and fourteen feet wide. The flanking tower on the right is
over ninety feet high (the left has lost its top story) and about
seventy feet deep.
The date of construction has not yet been discovered.
Fig. 4.—Porte Saint Andre at Autun (ancient Augusto-
dunum).
Menard, La Vieprivee, i. 598, fig. 695.
Fergusson, Hist, of Architecture, fig. 217.
Figs. 5-11.—The Fortifications of Pompeii.
OSCAN, BEFORE 200 B.C.
Overbeck, Pompeii, figs. 7, 8, 10, 11, 14, 20.
Mazois, Les Ruines de Pompei, i., Pl. 3, 1 ; Pl. 12, 1, 4, 5 ;
Pl. 13, 2.
Gell, Pompeiana, i., Pls. 17-18.
Dyer, Pompeii, pp. 59, 61.
Guhl and Koner, Life of Greeks and Romans, figs. 351, 353.
Smith, Diet. Ant. i., p. 384.
Pompeii was a small provincial town, and the circuit of its
walls is less than two miles, inclosing about 161 acres.
The line of the walls, though not completely excavated, has
been traced for the whole distance.
The original structure and plan is the same throughout, and
later repairs and additions (e.g., the towers) can be easily
distinguished.
The fortress wall (murus, fig. 11) is composed of two retain-
ing walls (parietes, a, c) about twenty-seven feet high, standing
about twenty feet apart, the space between being filled with
earth (agger, b).
The ramparts on the top are fourteen feet wide.
This is the system recommended by Vitruvius (1, 5, 1), who
further recommends transverse walls or buttresses arranged like
the teeth of a comb on the inside of the retaining walls to
counteract the outward thrust of the inclosed earth (fig. n,
di, d’, df
The walls are built throughout of well-trimmed blocks of
travertine in the lower courses and piperino in the upper.
Both the retaining walls have battlements at frequent
intervals. Each battlement is provided with a small buttress,
so arranged that a soldier standing near the embrasure was
protected against missiles entering obliquely (figs. 6, 7). At
each battlement is a culvert to carry off the water from the
ramparts.
The walls are further fortified by towers, which are of a
later date. They are placed at intervals of about eighty yards
on the western side, but on the east side stand two, three, or
four hundred yards apart.
They are four stories high (figs. 8, 10) the different floors
being connected by stairs (fig. 8, b b' b"\ The first floor has
a sally-port (fig. 8, f), the second, which is on a level with the
ramparts, is pierced with loopholes (fig. 8, c), and has a passage
(fig. 8, d) from the rampart on one side to that on the other.
The fourth story is open and fortified with battlements.
The walls are at present in ruins, the outer retaining wall
having almost invariably fallen outwards. It seems probable
that they were dismantled some time before the destruction of
the city, 79 a.d.
There are seven gates in the wall as it now stands. The
most important is that on the Herculaneum road at the north-
west corner (fig. 5). It was a long arch with three entrances,
a carriage road, fourteen feet wide, in the centre, with a foot-
path on each side.
On the outside, the gate was closed with a portcullis (cata-
racta = καταρράκτης), the grooves in which it worked being still
clearly visible. The gate proper was on the inner side which
was closed by two doors (?).
99
o 2