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Book VII marbles, gems in rings and other applications

Book VII marbles, gems in rings and other applications Page of 251 Book VII marbles, gems in rings and other applications Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
150
DE NATURA FOSSILIUM
is built of this stone and has square pillars. But this is enough concerning gray and black marbles and basaltes.
Marbles from Crocea, Lacedaemon, and Mt. Taygetus are green. The Pulpit of the cathedral of St. Lawrence in Rome outside the Esquiline Gate and the temple in Florence dedicated to St. John the Baptist are built, in part, from this or some similar stone. The latter temple is built of white, black and green marbles.
Porphyrites is a red marble found in Egypt. When there are white spots in the stone it is called leucostictos. This stone has been used in many places, e.g., in Constantinople in the large columns of the very famous Temple of Wisdom called Σοφία* by the Greeks because it was built by Justinian; in many columns near St. Mark's, Venice; in the beautiful columns near the Temple of Apollo in Ravenna; in the columns of the shrine of St. John the Baptist in Florence as well as in those outside the largest bronze, gold-covered gate. Three columns were made from it by the Pisans and sent to Florence in gratitude for a victory over the Tyrians. While the people of Pisa had been carrying on a campaign against the Lucans their city had been defended by the people of Florence. Some of the large urns in Rome are made from porphyrites, one in the Temple of St. Bartholomew on an island is used as a receptacle for the remains of saints. The very large and beautiful top of the latter is made of white marble. There is another urn in the Temple of the Sacred Cross in Jerusa­lem which also has a cover but is not as large as the one mentioned above. There is a second urn in Jerusalem in the Shrine of Saints John and Paul with the cover surrounded by a protection that is so highly polished it reflects an image like a mirror. There is an enormous sepulcher made from this stone in the Temple of St. Constance on the Numentana Way, a temple formerly dedicated to Bacchus. Three boys are shown on the side of this sepulcher crushing grapes with their feet. The boys are winged and nude and the oldest has an amulet about his neck. The two others hold staffs in their hands. There are other boys beside these three, some carrying grapes, others carrying them accompanied by butterflies and a shaggy ram. The rostrum of the very holy temple of St. Mark in Venice and a part of the rostrum of the shrine of St. Lawrence in Rome outside the Esquiline Gate are made from this marble. A portion of the latter, as I have mentioned above, is made of green marble with hiero­glyphics cut in the base.5
Some marble is reddish such as that found on the left of the entrance to the cave in Hildesheim named for dwarfs. So much concerning marbles of a single color.
I shall now take up those marbles that are spotted or that have more
6 The Egyptian porphyrites is a syenite porphyry and not a marble. The name is derived from the Greek word meaning purple. The use of the term broadened until it became meaningless. Currently the name has been redefined to describe an igneous rock texture characteristic of the original Egyptian rock.
Book VII marbles, gems in rings and other applications Page of 251 Book VII marbles, gems in rings and other applications
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