Cipollino marble ("onion-stone") was a variety of

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...

used by the ancient Greeks and Romans, whose Latin term for it was ''marmor carystium'' (meaning "marble from

Karystos Karystos ( el, Κάρυστος) or Carystus is a small coastal town on the Greek island of Euboea. It has about 5,000 inhabitants (12,000 in the municipality). It lies 129 km south of Chalkis. From Athens it is accessible by ferry via Mar ...

"). It was quarried in several locations on the south-west coast of the Greek island of

Euboea Evia (, ; el, Εύβοια ; grc, Εὔβοια ) or Euboia (, ) is the second-largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete. It is separated from Boeotia in mainland Greece by the narrow Euripus Strait (only at its narrowest poin ...

, between the modern-day cities of Styra and

. Some of these ancient quarries survive with a mine-face of over 100 metres. It has a white-green base, with thick wavy green ribs, held onto the path by strata of

mica Micas ( ) are a group of silicate minerals whose outstanding physical characteristic is that individual mica crystals can easily be split into extremely thin elastic plates. This characteristic is described as perfect basal cleavage. Mica is ...

. The colour of its base and grain grows darker the further north the location of the quarry. It is a

metamorphic rock Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock to new types of rock in a process called metamorphism. The original rock (protolith) is subjected to temperatures greater than and, often, elevated pressure of or more, causin ...

, a crystalline marble with crystals between 0.2 and 0.6 mm, with coloured veins of

epidote Epidote is a calcium aluminium iron sorosilicate mineral. Description Well developed crystals of epidote, Ca2Al2(Fe3+;Al)(SiO4)(Si2O7)O(OH), crystallizing in the monoclinic system, are of frequent occurrence: they are commonly prismatic in habi ...

and

chlorite The chlorite ion, or chlorine dioxide anion, is the halite with the chemical formula of . A chlorite (compound) is a compound that contains this group, with chlorine in the oxidation state of +3. Chlorites are also known as salts of chlorous ac ...

. A marble similar in appearance to cipollino marble was mined in the Iberian peninsula at the Anasol mines, and on the

Alpi Apuane The Apuan Alps ( it, Alpi Apuane) are a mountain range in northern Tuscany, Italy. They are included between the valleys of the Serchio and Magra rivers, and, to the northwest, the Garfagnana and Lunigiana, with a total length of approximately . ...

, in north-west Greece and Serbia. First used in ancient Greece, it was exported to Rome from the 1st century BC onwards; in his '' Natural History'',Plin., ''Nat.Hist.'', XXXVI, 48 Pliny the Elder tells how columns of this marble were used in the home of the ''eques''

Claudius Mamurra Mamurra () was a Roman military officer who served under Julius Caesar. Biography Early life Possibly named Marcus Vitruvius Mamurra (if we follow Thielscher's 1969 suggestion based on an inscription in Thibilis), he was an equestrian who origina ...

, who had been an engineer for

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and ...

in his

Gallic Wars The Gallic Wars were waged between 58 and 50 BC by the Roman general Julius Caesar against the peoples of Gaul (present-day France, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland). Gallic, Germanic, and British tribes fought to defend their homela ...

. The quarries yielding it became imperial property, and cipollino marble became common throughout Rome during the imperial period. It was principally used for column shafts, including large and mainly smooth ones, such as the columns of the

pronaos A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...

of the

temple of Antoninus and Faustina The Temple of Antoninus and Faustina is an ancient Roman temple in Rome, which was later converted into a Roman Catholic church, the Chiesa di San Lorenzo in Miranda or simply "San Lorenzo in Miranda". It is located in the Forum Romanum, on the V ...

in the Forum in Rome. It was also used for sculpture, such as that of a crocodile in the Canopus at the

Villa Adriana Hadrian's Villa ( it, Villa Adriana) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site comprising the ruins and archaeological remains of a large villa complex built c. AD 120 by Roman Emperor Hadrian at Tivoli outside Rome. The site is owned by the Republic of I ...

at Tivoli, where its colour was used to imitate the colour of crocodile skin. It continued to be mined and used by the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

well into the 5th century AD.

References

External links

Article on cipollino marble at the Museo di Storia Naturale dell'Accademia dei Fisiocritici di Siena

Images of shipwrecked cipollino marble
near

Porto Cesareo Porto Cesareo (; Salentino: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Italy, Italian province of Lecce in the Apulia region of south-east Italy. The area around the sea of Porto Cesareo is a beautiful example of "Maquis Shrubland". Beyond the importance ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Cipollino Marble Marble

See also

References

External links