Opus signinum

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Opus signinum -Brocken from the Roman Villa Haselburg near Höchst i. Odw.
Reconstruction of a Roman opus signinum in the European cultural park Bliesbruck-Reinheim
The aqueduct of Itálica near Seville was lined with Opus signinum .

Opus signinum (Latin for “work from Signia”, place in the Lazio region , today Segni ) describes a screed mortar for the production of floors and waterproof surfaces, which has been used since the 1st century BC. It was used in Roman architecture until the 2nd century AD . Today the corresponding technique is called cocciopesto in Italy .

Opus caementicium is a similarly composed Roman building material made of coarser aggregates that wasprocessedlike modern concrete .

description

Depending on regional availability, Opus signinum consists of a mixture of coarse and fine gravel and sand, burnt lime , brick flour , terracotta or ceramic fragments and natural pozzolans .

The aggregates were broken down to a suitable size, mixed with the binder and compacted with a hand ram.

Pliny the Elder describes the production process in Naturalis Historia : “Even broken pottery was used; it was found that these, crushed into powder and mixed with lime, made a harder and more durable mass than other substances of a similar nature; it forms the cement known as Signine , which is so popular that even the paved surfaces on buildings are made from it. "

The hardened screed was covered with a layer of linseed oil , lime slaked in red wine, wax or tar and worked on until the surface became as smooth as marble. The linseed oil and the calcium hydroxide that has not yet set form largely water-insoluble lime soaps , which make the surface relatively waterproof, an effect that is also used in Moroccan Tadelakt plastering.

Opus signinum achieved widespread use as the simplest and most original form of floor design in Roman houses in the manner of terrazzo . Sometimes white or black (rarely colored) stone cubes, pebbles or shards were placed in the screed to create unstructured surfaces or ornamental mosaics .

In addition, due to its impermeability to water , Opus signinum was used in the expansion of aqueducts , water basins and fountains .

history

The technique developed before 256 BC. In North Africa and spread to Sicily and finally to the Italian peninsula. Signinum floors were widespread in the Punic cities of North Africa, as well as in many Hellenistic buildings in Sicily.

Although surfaces paved with Opus signinum were also found in Rome , the technique was not widely used there. In the first century BC Chr. Was signinum increasingly popular both in private homes and in public buildings, but was replaced in the second century AD. Chr. Of more ornamental surface coverings.

Vitruvius described the process of making floors from mosaic tiles and Signinum.

literature

See also

Web links

Commons : Opus signinum  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ signinum Opus. In: Harry Thurston Peck (Ed.): Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. 1898.
  2. ↑ Pliny the Elder : Naturalis historia . Book 35, chapter 46.
  3. ↑ Barbara Tsakirgis: The Decorated Pavements of Morgantina II: The Opus Signinum. In: American Journal of Archeology . Volume 94, No. 3 (July 1990), pp. 425-443 ( JSTOR 505795 ).
  4. ↑ ”The houses at Kerkouane on Cap Bon in Tunisia have opus signinum floors. The floors must date before 256 BC, since the town was destroyed in that year by Regulus. Kerkouane I 79. “ Quoted from H. Joyce: Form, Function and Technique in the Pavements of Delos and Pompeii. In: American Journal of Archeology. Volume 83 (1979), p. 259.
  5. ↑ Examples in North Africa: D. Harden: The Phoenicians. London 1962, pp. 133-34; T. Carter: Western Phoenicians at Lepcis Magna. In: American Journal of Archeology. Volume 69 (1965), p. 128, Fig. 33; M. Fantar: Pavimenta Punica et signe dit de Tanit dans les habitations de Kerkouane. In: Studi Magrebini. Volume 1 (1966), pp. 57-65; S. Lancel: Les Pavimenta Punica du quartier punique tardif de la colline de Byrsa. In: Cahiers des etudes anciennes. 17, 157-77 (1985).
  6. ↑ Examples in Sicily. Agrigento : RP Jones and EA Gardner, in: JHS. 26, pp. 207-12 (1906); E. Gabrici, in: NSc. 1925, pp. 425-37; Avola : MT Currò, in: BdA. 51, 94 (1966); Gela : D. Adames-teanu, in: NSc. 1956, p. 346; Heraclea Minoa : E. De Miro, in: Kokalos. Vol. 12 (1966), p. 227; Monte Iato : HP Isler, in: AntK. Volume 26 (1983) p. 39; Solunto : M. deVos, in: BABESCH. Volume 50 (1975) pp. 195-224; Syracuse : G. Gentili, in: NSc. 1951, pp. 156-57 and NSc. 1957, pp. 282, 292; Tindari : L. Bernabò Brea, in: BdA. Volume 50 (1965), p. 207.
  7. ↑ ML Morricone Matini: Mosaici antichi in Italia: Pavimenti di signino repubblicani di Roma e dintorni. Rome 1971.
  8. ^ F. Sear: Roman Wall and Vault Mosaics. Heidelberg 1977.
  9. ^ Vitruvius : De Architectura. Book VII .