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ante diem xii kalendas junias
ante diem xiii kalendas junias
ante diem xv kalendas junias
Many folks have already mentioned this item at Discovery.com about the concrete used in Trajan’s Market … here’s the incipit:
Sandy ash produced by a volcano that erupted 456,000 years ago might have helped a huge ancient Roman complex survive intact for nearly 2,000 years despite three earthquakes, according to research presented last week in Rome.
X-ray analysis of a wall sample from the Trajan’s Market ruins in Rome showed that the mortars used by ancient Romans contained stratlingite, a mineral known to strengthen modern cements.
“It is the first time that stratlingite is recognized in ancient mortars,” Lucrezia Ungaro, the Trajan Forum archaeological chief, told Discovery News. “This is amazing, and shows the technical expertise of Roman builders.”
Including a semicircular set of halls arranged on three levels, the “Market” complex is traditionally attributed to Apollodorus of Damascus, a Syrian architect who worked primarily for the Emperor Trajan. A gifted and innovative designer, Apollodorus is credited with most of the Imperial buildings, including the Forum of Trajan and Trajan’s column.
Dating to 113 A.D., the enormous complex is no longer believed to be the world’s first shopping mall, but rather a sort of “multi-functional center” with administrative buildings for Trajan, who ruled from 98 to 117 A.D.
Amazingly, the huge complex survived three devastating earthquakes — in 443 A.D., 1349 and 1703.
“Although the presence of the high-quality stratlinglite cements does not ensure protection from concrete cracking and failure from earthquake ground shaking, it shows the very well bonded nature of the wall concrete,” Marie Jackson, of Northern Arizona University’s department of history, told Discovery News.
Jackson co-authored the research with Barry Scheetz, professor of materials, civil and nuclear engineering at Pennsylvania State University, and volcanologist Fabrizio Marra of Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology.
For those of you collecting such things, in the past we’ve noted items on Roman ‘hydraulic’ concrete and how Roman concrete was ‘greener’ than that which is generally in use today. We should also mention romanconcrete.com, which has a pile of articles on the subject.
Today’s Zaman has an interesting item:
One of the biggest ancient cities of the Mediterranean, Efes (Ephesus), is now undergoing important restoration. The marble hall of the palace-like house in which the city’s Roman consul lived in A.D. 275 has begun to be restored, putting back together 350-square-meter walls that are now broken into 120,000 pieces.
The deputy supervisor of the ongoing excavations in Efes, Sabine Ladstatter, said this method was used in Italy once before, but with such a large-scale assembly will be the first in history. Excavations have been ongoing in this city for 138 years. The hillside houses where the richest people lived are seen as the most exciting sites for excavation and restoration.
Considered to be the most important of the hillside houses, the palatial house of Gaius Flavius Furius Aptus, the city consul, is drawing attention as a focus of excavation and restoration projects. Its magnificent 178-square-meter salon, whose walls were clothed with marble, is witnessing a major restoration. The plan is to begin with the restoration of the salon’s walls.
The walls had sunk deep into the soil over time due to numerous earthquakes. The pieces of the walls have been found through the extensive excavations, which have been going on for years. Presently the there are about 120,000 pieces that are going to be used for the restoration, funded by Borusan Holding. Ladstatter said they believe those pieces constitute 90 percent of the walls. She added that they are going to use laser screening to find the proper piece to put into the proper place in the wall. “What we are going to do here now is an effort to complete a puzzle composed of 120,000 pieces,” Ladstatter summarized. The restoration is expected to cost $300,000.
I’ve been trying to figure out whether this is the so-called ‘Hillside House’ which was opened to the public some five years ago (I think it is). It was identified as belonging to a Furius Aptus, but he was apparently identified as a priest of Dionysus (not that he couldn’t also be consul, of course).
rogueclassicism 