DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4266#0100
22 EXPLANATORY DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES.
the opinion of one so distinguished for his critical judgment in every department of classic antiquity,
as the author here quoted, but the indications of the pier still perceptible, the given dimensions of
the large block, and the traces of only one pair of wheel ruts, seem to leave no other arrangement
reconcileable with these data ; and it does not appear improbable, that in a city where carriages
of every sort were of less frequent use than in modern times, and the concourse of people propor-
tionably greater, additional facilities should be afforded to the latter, and a more confined space given
to the former.
Immediately on quitting the gates, the road descends on a rapidly inclined plane towards the
city, and is composed of oblong blocks of stone, in which respect it differs from the paved roads of the
Romans", which were formed of polygonal blocks of immense thickness, having the interstices at the
angles filled with flints, and in some instances as at Pompei "with wedges of iron and granite, and
having on an horizontal plane the same appearance as the vertical face of a Cyclopean wall. It would
appear, that the Greek paved roads were, on the contrary, in general constructed of oblong blocks of
stone, as two examples of similar paving are to be found in ,A.sia Minor ; the one at Smyrna just out
of the town on the east side, and the other at the Turkish village of Carpuseli, on the south side of
the Meander. No specimens occur to me of the polygonal paving in Greece.
The walls are the most perfect examples of the kind, for although the edifices within the city
named by Pausanias, are mostly destroyed, and two or three alone shew some slight traces of their
sites, yet a great part of the city walls still remain little injured by the ravages of so many ages.
They were built in the style of construction called by Vitruviusc, 'ipirXexrov, which he describes as
" having only the faces worked, but the intermediate spaces filled up with rough stones held to-
gether by mortar. Our people", says he, " who seek despatch, work the two faces and in the middle
throw in stones and mortar ; thus three distinct masses are made, that is, the two faces and the filling-in
in the middle. The Greeks, however, do not execute their work in this manner, but build also the
interior with worked blocks, and tie the walls together here and there with blocks that run quite
through ; wherefore they do not fill-in with rough material, but with those headers strengthen the wall
the whole width, as though it were a compact body, taking the whole depth from one part to the other,
and these they call lutrovoh which by tying the walls together considerably add to their strength."
The walls of Messene combine the Roman and the Grecian construction ; the faces are worked
with regular blocks of stone, and, at distances of from seven to ten feet, have transverse walls, which
act as htctTovoi, and tie in the two walls; the great depth of the wall rendered it difficult to procure
blocks of stone to run the whole depth, but the intermediate bays are filled with rubble work in the
Roman manner.
A. Niche with the inscription.
Fig. 2. Section through the circular court.
Fig. 3. and 4. Elevation and section of niche to a larger scale.
Fig. 5. Mouldings of the sill of the niche to one half of the original size.
Fig. 6. Mouldings of the entablature of the niche to the same scale.
Fig. 7- Plan of a tower.
Fig. 8. Restored elevation of the inner gate.
3 Piranesi, Antichita di Albano e di Castel Gandolfo. ce vide est rempli par des coins de fer, des cailloux, ou des mor-
b J'ai eu occasion de faire dernierement a Pompei une obser- ceaux de granite introduits a coups de masse et qui servent
vation nouvelle sur le pave des chaussees; je m'empresse de la commes des clefs. Voyez la vignette qui precede l'explication
consigner ici. Les quartiers du lave dont la voie est pavee ayant des planches annexees a " L'essai sur les habitations des anciens
chacun la forme d'un polygene irregulier dont les angles sont un Romains."—Mazois Ruines de Pompei, 2™ partie, p. 36.
pen arrondis, il reste par consequent un vide entre chacun d'eux c Lib. II. c. vm
aux points ou leurs angles se rencontrent. Dans quelques endroits
the opinion of one so distinguished for his critical judgment in every department of classic antiquity,
as the author here quoted, but the indications of the pier still perceptible, the given dimensions of
the large block, and the traces of only one pair of wheel ruts, seem to leave no other arrangement
reconcileable with these data ; and it does not appear improbable, that in a city where carriages
of every sort were of less frequent use than in modern times, and the concourse of people propor-
tionably greater, additional facilities should be afforded to the latter, and a more confined space given
to the former.
Immediately on quitting the gates, the road descends on a rapidly inclined plane towards the
city, and is composed of oblong blocks of stone, in which respect it differs from the paved roads of the
Romans", which were formed of polygonal blocks of immense thickness, having the interstices at the
angles filled with flints, and in some instances as at Pompei "with wedges of iron and granite, and
having on an horizontal plane the same appearance as the vertical face of a Cyclopean wall. It would
appear, that the Greek paved roads were, on the contrary, in general constructed of oblong blocks of
stone, as two examples of similar paving are to be found in ,A.sia Minor ; the one at Smyrna just out
of the town on the east side, and the other at the Turkish village of Carpuseli, on the south side of
the Meander. No specimens occur to me of the polygonal paving in Greece.
The walls are the most perfect examples of the kind, for although the edifices within the city
named by Pausanias, are mostly destroyed, and two or three alone shew some slight traces of their
sites, yet a great part of the city walls still remain little injured by the ravages of so many ages.
They were built in the style of construction called by Vitruviusc, 'ipirXexrov, which he describes as
" having only the faces worked, but the intermediate spaces filled up with rough stones held to-
gether by mortar. Our people", says he, " who seek despatch, work the two faces and in the middle
throw in stones and mortar ; thus three distinct masses are made, that is, the two faces and the filling-in
in the middle. The Greeks, however, do not execute their work in this manner, but build also the
interior with worked blocks, and tie the walls together here and there with blocks that run quite
through ; wherefore they do not fill-in with rough material, but with those headers strengthen the wall
the whole width, as though it were a compact body, taking the whole depth from one part to the other,
and these they call lutrovoh which by tying the walls together considerably add to their strength."
The walls of Messene combine the Roman and the Grecian construction ; the faces are worked
with regular blocks of stone, and, at distances of from seven to ten feet, have transverse walls, which
act as htctTovoi, and tie in the two walls; the great depth of the wall rendered it difficult to procure
blocks of stone to run the whole depth, but the intermediate bays are filled with rubble work in the
Roman manner.
A. Niche with the inscription.
Fig. 2. Section through the circular court.
Fig. 3. and 4. Elevation and section of niche to a larger scale.
Fig. 5. Mouldings of the sill of the niche to one half of the original size.
Fig. 6. Mouldings of the entablature of the niche to the same scale.
Fig. 7- Plan of a tower.
Fig. 8. Restored elevation of the inner gate.
3 Piranesi, Antichita di Albano e di Castel Gandolfo. ce vide est rempli par des coins de fer, des cailloux, ou des mor-
b J'ai eu occasion de faire dernierement a Pompei une obser- ceaux de granite introduits a coups de masse et qui servent
vation nouvelle sur le pave des chaussees; je m'empresse de la commes des clefs. Voyez la vignette qui precede l'explication
consigner ici. Les quartiers du lave dont la voie est pavee ayant des planches annexees a " L'essai sur les habitations des anciens
chacun la forme d'un polygene irregulier dont les angles sont un Romains."—Mazois Ruines de Pompei, 2™ partie, p. 36.
pen arrondis, il reste par consequent un vide entre chacun d'eux c Lib. II. c. vm
aux points ou leurs angles se rencontrent. Dans quelques endroits