Giallo antico (antique yellow) is a precious yellow marble used first by the ancient Africans and later by the ancient Romans (which they called marmor numidicum (marble of Numidia) [1] It was one of the marbles most favoured by the Romans because of its beautiful yellow colour. [ citation needed ]
It was extracted in quarries which can be seen today near the ancient city of Simitthus, near the current village of Chemtou, Tunisia. [ citation needed ]
Its colour varies from intense yellow to lighter, almost white hues, with dark yellow, reddish or brown veins, and angular clasts of various sizes and colours (shades of yellow, rosy red, brown). [2] It is a crystalline limestone compacted by marked diagenesis. [ citation needed ]
From the second half of the 2nd century BC giallo antico was used by the Numidian kings. Once Carthage was conquered and the province of Roman Africa was established, the quarries soon became state property and then, under the Principate, imperial property as elsewhere in the empire. The marble was widely used for column shafts and wall and floor coverings in public buildings of cities closest to the coast of the Mediterranean. The Romans began to import it in increasing quantities across the empire where it was also used in prestigious rich private villas. [3]
Pliny [4] attributes its introduction in Rome to Lepidus in 78 BC who used blocks of it for the thresholds of his house. Suetonius [5] reports that the people had an honorific column of Numidian marble dedicated to Caesar erected in the Roman Forum. Augustus used the marble for the columns of the peristyle of his house on the Palatine together with portasanta and pavonazzetto marble, and he also made extensive use of it in his Forum. [6] It was also used for statues of particularly of barbarians or wild beasts. In the 3rd century the quarries gradually became exhausted and the giallo antico was progressively replaced by yellow breccias of other origins and of lesser value. [ citation needed ]
It is mentioned in Diocletian's Price Edict at the beginning of the 4th century, where a high price is established. [ citation needed ]
Ancient Roman architecture adopted the external language of classical ancient Greek architecture for the purposes of the ancient Romans, but was different from Greek buildings, becoming a new architectural style. The two styles are often considered one body of classical architecture. Roman architecture flourished in the Roman Republic and to an even greater extent under the Empire, when the great majority of surviving buildings were constructed. It used new materials, particularly Roman concrete, and newer technologies such as the arch and the dome to make buildings that were typically strong and well engineered. Large numbers remain in some form across the former empire, sometimes complete and still in use today.
The Domus Aurea was a vast landscaped complex built by the Emperor Nero largely on the Oppian Hill in the heart of ancient Rome after the great fire in 64 AD had destroyed a large part of the city.
Porphyry is any of various granites or igneous rocks with coarse-grained crystals such as feldspar or quartz dispersed in a fine-grained silicate-rich, generally aphanitic matrix or groundmass. In its non-geologic, traditional use, the term porphyry usually refers to the purple-red form of this stone, valued for its appearance, but other colours of decorative porphyry are also used such as "green", "black" and "grey".
The Basilica Julia was a structure that once stood in the Roman Forum. It was a large, ornate, public building used for meetings and other official business during the Roman Empire. Its ruins have been excavated. What is left from its classical period are mostly foundations, floors, a small back corner wall with a few arches that are part of both the original building and later imperial reconstructions and a single column from its first building phase.
The Temple of Caesar or Temple of Divus Iulius, also known as Temple of the Deified Julius Caesar, delubrum, heroon or Temple of the Comet Star, is an ancient structure in the Roman Forum of Rome, Italy, located near the Regia and the Temple of Vesta.
The Forum of Augustus is one of the Imperial fora of Rome, Italy, built by Augustus. It includes the Temple of Mars Ultor. The incomplete forum and its temple were inaugurated in 2 BC, 40 years after they were first vowed.
The Basilica Ulpia was an ancient Roman civic building located in the Forum of Trajan. The Basilica Ulpia separates the temple from the main courtyard in the Forum of Trajan with the Trajan's Column to the northwest. It was named after Roman emperor Trajan whose full name was Marcus Ulpius Traianus.
The Temple of Apollo Sosianus is a Roman temple dedicated to Apollo in the Campus Martius, next to the Theatre of Marcellus and the Porticus Octaviae, in Rome, Italy. Its present name derives from that of its final rebuilder, Gaius Sosius.
The Temple of Concord in the ancient city of Rome refers to a series of shrines or temples dedicated to the Roman goddess Concordia, and erected at the western end of the Roman Forum. The earliest temple is believed to have been vowed by Marcus Furius Camillus in 367 BC, but it may not have been built until 218 BC by L. Manlius. The temple was rebuilt in 121 BC, and again by the future emperor Tiberius between 7 BC and AD 10.
The Arch of Augustus was the triumphal arch of Augustus, located in the Roman Forum. It spanned the Via Sacra, between the Temple of Castor and Pollux and the Temple of Caesar, near the Temple of Vesta, closing off the eastern end of the Forum. It can be regarded as the first permanent three-bayed arch ever built in Rome.
The Villa of Livia is an ancient Roman villa at Prima Porta, 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) north of Rome, Italy, along the Via Flaminia. It may have been part of Livia Drusilla's dowry that she brought when she married Octavian, her second husband, in 39 BC. However, it may also have been a gift given to her by Octavian upon their betrothal. The ancient sources tell us that Livia returned to this villa following the marriage. It was her sumptuous country residence complementing her house on the Palatine Hill in Rome.
Luni is a comune (municipality) in the province of La Spezia, in the easternmost end of the Liguria region of northern Italy. It was founded by the Romans as Luna. It gives its name to Lunigiana, a region spanning eastern Liguria and northern Tuscany.
The Temple of Apollo Palatinus, sometimes called the Temple of Actian Apollo, was a temple of the god Apollo in Rome, constructed on the Palatine Hill on the initiative of Augustus between 36 and 28 BCE. It was the first temple to Apollo within the city's ceremonial boundaries, and the second of four temples constructed by Augustus. According to tradition, the site for the temple was chosen when it was struck by lightning, which was interpreted as a divine portent. Augustan writers situated the temple next to Augustus's personal residence, which has been controversially identified as the structure known as the domus Augusti.
The Temple of Hadrian is an ancient Roman structure on the Campus Martius in Rome, Italy, dedicated to the deified emperor Hadrian by his adoptive son and successor Antoninus Pius in 145 CE This temple was previously known as the Basilica of Neptune but has since been properly attributed as the Temple of Hadrian completed under Antoninus Pius. With one cella wall and eleven columns from the external colonnade surviving, the remains of the temple have been incorporated into a later building in the Piazza di Pietra, whereby its facade, alongside the architrave which was reconstructed later on, was incorporated into a 17th-century papal palace by Carlo Fontana, now occupied by Rome's Chamber of commerce. While only part of the structure remains, excavations and scholarship have provided us with information regarding its construction techniques and stylistic influences, helping us recreate the building dynamics and significance of the Temple of Hadrian in Imperial Rome.
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Verd antique, also called verde antique, marmor thessalicum, or Ophite, is a serpentinite breccia popular since ancient times as a decorative facing stone. It is a dark, dull green, white-mottled serpentine, mixed with calcite, dolomite, or magnesite, which takes a high polish. The term verd antique has been documented in English texts as early as 1745.
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