142 ANTl Q UE MARBLES. 



in the church of San Prassede, Eome. Napoleon I. at one time intended tO' 

 carry these to Paris to ornament his thron'e. There are several statues of 

 rosso antico, including the "Antinous" in Paris, and the "Marcus Agrippa" 

 in the Grrimani Palace, Yenice, and many medallion portraits. It is now 

 ascertained that this beautiful marble was not Egyptian, but G-reek. It 

 was quarried on the coast of the gulf of Laeonia, near what is now the bay 

 of Scutari. The quarry lies near the sea, and large blocks cut by the an- 

 cients are still to be seen there. In 1851 the Greek government sent speci- 

 mens from it to the London Exposition, and it was fully recognized as the 

 rosso antico. 



There are many varieties of the marble called red and white antique^ 

 but they are so near alike that it is impossible to distinguish them by de- 

 scription alone. They are variously called by the Italians rosso annulatOy 

 serpentelo, vendurino, fiorito, eotonello, etc. They are found only in the Eo- 

 man ruins, and their quarries are unknown. The marble called cervelas is 

 of a deep red, with numerous gray and white veins. It is supposed to have 

 been brought from Africa. 



The ancients were acquainted with many kinds of green marble, one of 

 the most noted of which was the marmor Atracium, called by Julius Pollux 

 Thessalian, and identical with the verde antico of the Italians. The quarries 

 were on Mount Ossa, near the entrance of the vale of Tempo, and not far 

 from Atrax in Thessaly, whence it derived its name. It is a species of 

 breccia, whose paste is a mixture of tale and limestone, interspersed with 

 fragments of white marble. But the verde antique marbles differ from the 

 modern breccias in that the colors are so blended that the line of demarka- 

 tion is not perceptible. The Erechtheum in Athens was adorned with col- 

 umns of verde antique, and it was one of the marbles selected by Justinian 

 for the decoration of St, Sophia. The eight splendid columns of it still to 

 be seen in the mosque are said to have been taken from the temple of Diana 

 at Ephesus. 



The celebrated Carystian marble, the cipolino verde of the Italian, de- 

 rived its name from Carystus, a town at the foot of Mount 0(;he, in the 

 island of Eubsea, where it was quarried. The temple of Apollo Marmarinus 

 of Carystus was named from this quarry. It is a true steatitic limestone or 

 cipolin, and is of a beautiful grayish green, with white zones and spots, and 

 sometimes sprinkled with different colors. It was easily obtained in very 

 large blocks, suitable for columns, and was largely used in the temples and 

 other public buildings in Athens and Eome. An English traveler, who 

 visited the quarry lately, found seven entire columns on the site, about three 

 miles from the sea, just as they were left by the ancient workmen, 



The marmor Xiacedosmonium, Jjaconicum, or Spjartum^ of the Romans has 

 always been regarded as a species of verde-antique marble. Clarke says 

 that it differed from the Atracian only in being variegated with black or 

 dark-green serpentine instead of with white. Bat M. Boblaye, the miner- 

 alogist of the French commission to the Morea, has proved pretty conclu- 



