What Marble Meant To Ancient Rome

A lot of people think of ancient rome as a pretty monochrome place.
What marble meant to ancient rome. In the 17th and 18th centuries the marble quarries were monitored by the cybo and malaspina families who ruled over massa and carrara. Back then an enormous map of ancient rome carved in marble and measuring 60 feet by 43 feet adorned this wall. Known as the forma urbis romae or severan marble plan of rome the map depicted rome s urban landmarks across five square miles in. As an ancient civilisation with so many memorable monuments and sculptures bequeathed to the world and use of marble providing a testimony of its glorious past it is but natural to ask the question what were the greek marbles used in antiquity.
The holes in the wall reveal where the individual marble slabs were attached with metal clamps. The roman taste for greek and hellenistic sculpture meant that once the supply of original pieces had been exhausted sculptors had to make copies and these could be of varying quality depending. The romans favoured bronze and marble above all else for their finest work. Marble s popularity began in ancient rome and greece where white and off white marble was used to construct a variety of structures from hand held sculptures to massive.
The city of massa in particular saw much of its plan. In addition there are now several important catalogues of ancient roman marbles. However as metal has always been in high demand for reuse most of the surviving examples of roman sculpture are in marble. In the popular imagination its temples and palaces gleam with polished white marble while a visit to the ruins of the roman forum or a viewing of russell crowe s gladiator is tinted with beige and ochre in reality however the ancient city was a riot of colour.
The forma urbis romae or severan marble plan is a massive marble map of ancient rome created under the emperor septimius severus between 203 and 211. It originally measured 18 m 60 ft wide by 13 m 45 ft high and was carved into 150 proconnesian marble slabs mounted on an interior wall of. Matteo cadario gives specific years of 205 208 noting that the map was based on property records. One famous marble statue from ancient rome is the laocoon showing the greek prophet laocoon and his sons being strangled by snakes.
If the marble was meant to be kept as part of a large slab for building purposes transport could be just as tricky as the original cut. Carrara marble has been used since the time of ancient rome and it was called the luni marble. The many marbles of ancient rome. The colour of empire.
It s a metamorphic stone that is a result of limestone being subjected to immense amount of pressure for long periods of time. Other marble statues are the statue of kleobis and biton from archaic greece the discobolos from classical greece and the apoxyomenos from hellenistic greece. Marble is one of the oldest and most beautiful stones available on the market for countertops. The proliferation of white and coloured marbles in rome and the provinces has received detailed attention from archaeologists and the symbolism underlying the use and distribution of these marbles has been discussed at length by art historians.