On the Building Materials used hy the Romans. ^49 



Travertino, a name corrupted from Lapis Tiburtinus, was 

 brought from the neighbourhood of Tibur^ Tivoli ; and even 

 now you see the ancient excavations between the Aquce AlhulcB 

 and Pons Lucanus, to the right of the road. It is a calcareous 

 concretion, formed by sulphureous waters, and those of the 

 Anio ; it is extremely porous, resists the action of the atmo- 

 phere, and hardens in proportion as it is exposed ; fire, however, 

 decomposes and calcines it. The amphitheatre of Flavins, the 

 sepulchre of Melella, and many other monuments on the Appian 

 Way, are of this stone. Its colour is originally white, but, from 

 long exposure, it acquires a yellowish hue, which adds much to 

 the beauty of the buildings. The Romans cut it in large qua- 

 drilateral masses, and employed it without cement for their edi- 

 fices. The temples and walls of Paestum are of the same mate- 

 rial, and the quarries where the cyclopic masses were excavated, 

 are seen without the walls of the city. Some of the stones are 

 twenty-four feet in length. There is a bridge at Benavento, 

 which is observed to be of the same structure and same mate- 

 rial. Silex is a different stone from the one which is known to 

 mineralogists under that name ; it is a basaltic lava, of an iron 

 colour, which, from its peculiar hardness, was employed in walls 

 and the pavement of streets. The quarries are found on the 

 Appian Way, beyond the sepulchre of Cecilia Metella, and in 

 many other places in the vicinity of Rome. Pumice-stone *, 

 from its extreme lightness, was reserved for the erection of 

 vaults ; and you find it employed in those of the Coloseum, and 

 the magnificent cupola of the Pantheon. It was brought from 

 the neighbourhood of Vesuvius. 



These are all the common materials which the Romans em- 

 ployed ; and before we proceed to notice those ornamental stones, 

 which added so much beauty to their edifices, we shall attempt 

 to mark the different epochs in Roman history, when these ma- 

 terials were used. 



The most ancient Roman buildings are constructed of the 

 lapis albanus, because Alba was the first important conquest 

 which the Romans made ; and it is natural to suppose that they 

 would prefer the stone which could be most easily procured. 



* The pumice mentioned above is, we presume, vesicular lava, not the pu- 

 mice of geologists.— Edit. 



