Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
the Pyramid age onwards, and they were paralleled in Greece two thousand years
later. h e practice of sepulchral stone vaulting as evolved in Egypt spread beyond
Egypt into the Levant where Egypt maintained at various periods some politi-
cal standing. An interesting record of stone vaulted tomb chambers occured in
Cyprus. h is extends from the Late Bronze Age down through Graeco-Roman
times. During the earlier period (Late Bronze Age—Archaic) the chambers were
triangular vaulted or corbel vaulted. Here Egyptian inl uence is evident, either
direct or through Phoenecia. During the later Hellenistic-Roman period ashlar
radial vaulted chambers are found. (For a concise account,
Ancient Building in
Cyprus I
, pp. 343-349, II Figs 195-211.)
However in the Graeco-Roman world from ca 300 BC onwards new building
types gave another impetus to stone vaulting. h ese were public buildings provid-
ing recreation and entertainment etc.—i.e. places of large scale popular assembly
(such as theatres, amphitheatres) requiring sophisticated provision for circulation
involving corridors by the kilometre. h ese corridors and passageways were roofed
by vaulting. Another application for stone vaulting lay in the passageways through
city gates. Here the distinction between arch and vault is in issue. It is in name
only. Perhaps a convenient yard stick is that where the depth of the passage is
greater than the span, then we can speak of a vault.
Graeco-Roman developments in building programs brought the stone vault above
ground, and they also concurred in dei ning the character of the vaulting. In the
i rst place the spans were all relatively narrow, and secondly the function of the
vault was to provide a ceiling for the space below and at the same time, a support
for overlying construction. h us it is very rarely that the extrados of stone vaulting
was exposed to external view. All this contrasted markedly with the old tradition
of (mud) brick vaulting which roofed great spans, and sometimes assumed a very
monumental aspect (e.g. the Taq-i-Kisra at Ktesiphon, Vol. I, ill 55; Vol. 2.2, ill
101). Equally while providing added demands for vaulted construction, the spread
of Roman rule and inl uence opposed the proliferation of dressed stone vaulting
in favour of concrete and brick construction.
During Imperial Roman times and Late Antiquity the survival of dressed stone
vaulting seems to be limited regionally. It is to be found mainly in the Greek speak-
ing provinces of the East, e.g. Cyrenaica, Syria, Anatolia. An illustrative i eld for
the continuance of dressed stone vaulting until the end of the Ancient World is the
Greek speaking province of Cyrenaica. h is devolves from two considerations: no
other form of vaulting was developed there (neither brick nor concrete), and the
almost total cessation of building at er the Arab Conquest, with the consequent
preservation of vaulted remains in the wooded countryside (v “Christian Monu-
ments of Cyrenaica,”
pass
).
Arcuated
stone
rooi ng—
Roman
develop-
ments
264-266
269
277, 399
270
392
271
