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List of illustrations

  • Two Roman legionaries drag a log from the forest, using a rope sling
  • Altar dedicated to Minerva
  • Relief of a woodworkers' furniture shop
  • A grave relief of Marcus Aebutius, freedman of the gens Aebutia, showing measuring tools used by both the mason and the carpenter
  • A plane recovered from the excavation of Pompeii
  • Various adze hammers
  • The adze-plane depicted on the funerary relief of P. Ferrarius Hermes, from the vicinity of Pisa
  • Relief depicting a craftsman, perhaps sharpening iron blades
  • An adze-plane from the funerary stele of P. Beitenos Hermes, detail
  • A Roman soldier standing over a timber
  • Funerary relief of a furniture maker
  • Relief of P. Longidienus
  • Roman woodworking tools (drawknife, socketed chisel, auger blade, one-piece fine mortising chisel)
  • Examples of spiral or twisted iron bits
  • Roman axes
  • Variants of axes shown felling trees
  • Roman military-type axes (dolobrae) from Newstead
  • The funerary relief of Eutyches, from Priolo in Sicily
  • The Aquileia chisel shown with original wooden handle
  • Icarus, son of Daedalus, sits at a workbench and cuts mortises with a tanged chisel and a mallet
  • A group of iron socketed gouges found at Silchester
  • Drill and stock of a bow drill from Hawara, Egypt
  • Funerary relief of Licinius Philonic(os) and P. Licinius Demetrius
  • Bow, drill, compasses, and ruler from the side of a funerary altar erected for Eutychs, from the Priolo cemetery of Sicily
  • Funerary relief of the soldier Monimus, the son of Jerombalus
  • Vatican gilt glass vessel depicting the tools of the shipright
  • Strap drill from the sarcophagus of Eutropos
  • Relief of a knife seller from the tomb of L. Cornelius Atimetus
  • A stone bed leg from a funerary bier in the Tomb of the Funeral Beds at Populonia
  • A probable depiction of a simple bow-operated lathe from a Roman sarcophagus
  • Turned legs on a beg depicted on a Roman funerary relief
  • Mint marks on late Roman republican silver coinage
  • Roman plane blades from Augst (Germany)
  • Plane from the Roman Colonia Agrippina
  • Planes
  • Fresco from Pompeii depicting a procession of carpenters
  • Plane with front and rear grips depicted on a funerary relief
  • Roman saw
  • Woodworking shop, detail
  • Bucksaw in use by two cupids, from a painting found in Herculaneum
  • Gilt glass vessel, detail
  • Bucksaw in use
  • Iron handsaw blade from Verulamium
  • A Roman soldier striking a heavy mortising chisel with a mallet
  • A Roman soldier hammers at a pile with a heavy mallet
  • Relief, perhaps in honor of a wagon maker
  • Sketch of a wooden caliper gauge found on the Giglio wreck
  • A statue base dedicated to Silvanus by P. Tartarius Chiaritus and his brother Atticus
  • Bronze foot-rule from Roman London
  • Square from Neftenback (Switzerland)
  • Square from Pompeii
  • Sketches of clamping mechanisms
  • Depiction of a capstan of an olive press from Aquileia
  • Metal pins attached to the moldings of Roman period sarcophagi
  • Roman woodworking joints
  • Mortises and tenons used to connect the strakes of the Lake Nemi barges
  • Mortises and tenons used to connect the strakes of the Lake Nemi barges
  • A retaining wall along the London waterfront
  • Retaining wall built of squared beams and flat planks
  • Box or finger joint
  • Wooden box from the Comacchio wreck
  • Scarf joints used on the Lake Nemi barges
  • Scarfing of a keel from a cargo ship excavated at Ostia in 1962
  • A wooden window grill exhibiting the use of the saddle joint
  • Saddle-jointed heavy timbers arranged as a retaining wall at the Bronze Age site of Castione
  • Saddle joint used with thin oaken planks to form a well casing
  • Dacian buildings on wooden piles on fire
  • Plan of a roman military granary from Niederbieber, Germany
  • Section of a timbered Roman military warehouse from Fendoch, Scotland
  • Methods used to sheath oaken piles with iron before ramming them into place
  • Piles used for bridge construction in Germany
  • Reconstruction of Julius Caesar's bridge over the Rhine
  • Section (hypothetical) of Caesar's bridge over the Rhine
  • A simple military bridge built of piles and planking
  • Reconstruction of shuttering
  • The north retaining wall of the Temple of Venus and Roma
  • Caesarea Maritima
  • Alder logs bored to serve as water pipes
  • Reconstruction (hypothetical) of the timber framing of Roman Iron Age huts, based upon the foundations discovered on the Palatine Hill
  • A farmer's hut made of poles and thatch observed in 1998 near the Etruscan necropolis of San Giuliano
  • Method of anchoring wooden posts in Iron Age dwellings
  • An Iron Age "hut urn"
  • Sandstone grave marker excavated at the Porta San Vitale necropolis (tomb no. 793) near Bologna
  • Reconstruction of wattle work found at Verulamium, Britain
  • Early use of proto opus craticium from Lavinium, Italy
  • Opus craticium in a house from Herculaneum
  • Distribution of bread from a stall in Pompeii
  • Painted column capital found at the site of S. Omobono, Rome
  • Trajan's bridge over the river Danube
  • Reconstruction of the bridge over the Danube based upon the representation on the Column of Trajan
  • Reconstruction (hypothetical) of a simple cantilevered bridge
  • Fresco from a bedroom found at Boscoreale, detail
  • A hybrid stone and wooden amphitheater
  • Roman contignatio according to Vitruvius: joists (tigna), planking (tabulatum), ferns, the rudus nucleus, and finish surface of mosaic
  • Remains of a masonry floor supported by wooden planking
  • Contignatio evidence in the west wall of the Ludus Gladiatorius, Pompeii
  • Wall construction of the Ludus Gladiatorius, Pompeii
  • Shop from Ostia with holes preserved for floor joists in a wall of opus mixtum
  • Methods of anchoring joists to walls
  • Joists supported by stone wall brackets
  • The Greek prop-and-lintel system, cross section of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia
  • An Etruscan rock-cut tomb from Tuscania
  • Etruscan tomb façade from San Giuliano (Latium), Italy
  • Two hypothetical roofing systems for the covering of a Tuscan style prop-and-lintel temple
  • Pyrgi: plans of Temple A and Temple B
  • Method of joining compound wooden architraves at corners
  • Right angle T join of heavy timbers over a vertical support point
  • Terracotta columen plaque from Temple A, Pyrgi
  • Roof of a votive model temple from the sanctuary of Diana, Nemi
  • Model of the roofing beams used at Temple B, Pyrgi
  • Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus in Rome
  • The Doric temple at Cori (Lazio), Italy, stone framing of the pediment
  • Section of St. Paul's basilica, Rome (begun 385 AD), drawn before the trussed roof burned down in 1823
  • Hypothetical attachment of main rafter to horizontal tie-beam of a triangular truss
  • Hypothetical method of joining a rafter to a tie-beam using a mortise and tenon
  • Reinforcement of the timber truss
  • Sketch by G. A. Dosio of the original bronze trusses that supported the roof of the porch of the Pantheon
  • Relief on stone of an amphitheater covered by a timber structure built of trusses
  • The basilica designed by Vitruvius at Fanum
  • A view of the interior of the basilica of St. Paul's Outside the Walls, Rome
  • Plan of the state halls of the Domus Augustana, Rome
  • Reconstruction of the roofing of the Coenatio Iovis (triclinium) of the Flavian Palace, Rome
  • Sestertius showing the façade of a building, perhaps Domitian's Palace
  • Reconstruction of the main façade of Domitian's palace
  • The wooden ceiling from the House of the Mosaic Atrium, Herculaneum
  • A beam ceiling in the Etruscan Tomb of the Cornice
  • Coffering from a ceiling in the Tomba Cina, Necropolis of San Giuliano
  • Coffer carved into a ceiling of the so-called Tomba del Leone
  • Coffering in the Tomba del Cardinale, Tarquinia
  • A marble panel carved with a geometric pattern of coffers
  • Temple of Bacchus, Baalbek, Lebanon
  • Painted coffers from the ceiling of the entrance vestibule of the House of the Samnite, Herculaneum
  • The Tuscan atrium visualized in a nineteenth-century reconstruction of the interior with coffered ceiling
  • The wooden roofing components of the Tuscan atrium
  • Centering with a timber framework, hypothetical reconstruction
  • Modern centering in use at the site of Herculaneum for the restoration of barrel vaults
  • Reconstruction of the portal at Puteoli
  • A lintel and door frame of a shop from Herculaneum
  • Reconstruction of the shop entrance shown in the previous figure
  • Shuttered door from a shop on the north side of the decumanus at Herculaneum
  • Shuttered shops in Farfa, Italy
  • Roman door from the Roman fort at Vindolanda
  • Exterior door from the House of D. Octavius Quartio, Pompeii
  • Exterior doorway to a house in Pompeii
  • Plan of the main (west) entrance of the House of the Fawn, Pompeii
  • Plan of a threshold from a bedroom (cubiculum) in the west atrium of the House of the Faun, Pompeii
  • View of the fauces of the Collegio degli Augustali, Herculaneum, from the inside of the room
  • Elements of a double-leaved Roman door
  • A triple-leaved door from the Villa of the Mysteries, Pompeii
  • Wooden shutter recovered from the excavations at Lake Nemi
  • Carbonized window shutters at Herculaneum along the north side of the decumanus
  • Four-leaved window shutter from a bedroom in the villa at Oplontis
  • A painted doorway from the back wall of oecus 6, Villa of the Mysteries
  • A drawing of the painted doorway from the back wall of oecus 6, Villa of the Mysteries
  • The layout of the decorative pattern used for the painted door from the Villa of the Mysteries
  • Door frames and openings for double-leaved doors redrawn as if all are of equal height while retaining their true proportional characteristics
  • A funerary marker of Q. Minicius
  • A single-piece wheel, including nave, formed from a thick wooden blank cut longitudinally from the trunk of a tree
  • Model of a tripartite wheel under construction
  • A cart used for transporting wild animals, with planked solid wheels
  • Late Bronze Age crossbar wheel from Mercurago, Northern Italy
  • Crossbar wheel, detail
  • An eleven-spoked wooden wheel from Newstead, Scotland
  • Reconstruction of a "Great Wheel" or treadmill-powered crane
  • Treadwheel-powered crane from the Tomb of the Haterii, Rome
  • Illustration from J. Pollen's Ancient and Modern Furniture and Woodwork
  • Venus seated on a solium with deeply turned legs and a footstool
  • The Simpelveld Sarcophagus
  • A solium with attached footstool depicted on the sarcophagus of Sosia Juliana
  • A solium of wicker with a seated female musician
  • A wooden bench from Herculaneum
  • A folding chair depicted on a painted plaque from the Etruscan town of Cerveteri
  • A pair of bronze legs from a folding chair found at Herculaneum
  • A frescoed scene of cupids working as shoemakers at a four-legged table
  • A six-legged table, perhaps an abacus, as depicted on a funerary relief showing a tavern scene from the necropolis of Isola Sacra (Ostia)
  • Three-legged banquet table standing in front of a dining couch
  • Wooden mensa delphica from Herculaneum
  • Armarium from the Casa del Fabbro, Pompeii
  • A combination cupboard-aedicula (shrine) from Herculaneum
  • Reconstruction of a wooden bed from Herculaneum
  • Methods of sawing trunk into boards
  • Veneer work on a stool from Herculaneum
  • Map of Italy and central Europe
  • Map showing the orginal range of cypress in the Mediterranean
  • Map showing the distribution of holm oak in the Mediterranean
  • Map showing the distribution of larch in Europe
  • Map of the distribution of Valonia oak in Europe
  • Map of Rome and its neighboring topography in the Tiber and Anio watersheds
  • Mature silver firs in the forest of Vallombrosa, in the Apennines of central Italy
Free
Description: Roman Woodworking
Contents
PublisherYale University Press
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00107.001
Free
Description: Roman Woodworking
Acknowledgments
PublisherYale University Press
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00107.002
Free
Description: Roman Woodworking
Abbreviations of Ancient Sources
PublisherYale University Press
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00107.003
Description: Roman Woodworking
Wood was arguably the most valuable natural resource utilized by the peoples of the ancient Mediterranean. Wood was a primary, and in some cases the only...
PublisherYale University Press
Related print edition pages: pp.1-5
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00107.004

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Description: Roman Woodworking
Plutarch, writing in his native Greek about the quasi-legendary second king of Rome, attributed the organization of skilled workers into associations...
PublisherYale University Press
Related print edition pages: pp.6-12
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00107.005

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Description: Roman Woodworking
Like their modern counterparts, the tools of a Roman woodworker were precious assets. Each handmade instrument represented a significant investment...
PublisherYale University Press
Related print edition pages: pp.13-58
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00107.006

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Description: Roman Woodworking
The fundamental skill of the woodworker throughout the ages has been measured by his ability to join securely—and with elegance—two pieces of wood...
PublisherYale University Press
Related print edition pages: pp.59-71
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00107.007

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Description: Roman Woodworking
A revealing passage concerning the role of wood in everyday construction, in this case a farmhouse (villa rustica), is included as a kind of model...
PublisherYale University Press
Related print edition pages: pp.72-89
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00107.008

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Description: Roman Woodworking
Wood played a vital role in ancient construction long before the utilization of mud brick, stone, and fired brick. Even when fired brick, masonry...
PublisherYale University Press
Related print edition pages: pp.90-110
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00107.009

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Description: Roman Woodworking
Wooden flooring was found everywhere in the Roman world; its construction required substantial expenditures of both manual labor and materials...
PublisherYale University Press
Related print edition pages: pp.111-122
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00107.010

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Description: Roman Woodworking
The visible part of a Roman roof was its external protective sheathing, originally of thatch or wooden shingles (scandulae) or even packed clay...
PublisherYale University Press
Related print edition pages: pp.123-177
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00107.011

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Description: Roman Woodworking
Woodwork occupied a prominent place in the treatment of Roman interior spaces; it is the missing component of an environment now understood primarily...
PublisherYale University Press
Related print edition pages: pp.178-201
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00107.012

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Description: Roman Woodworking
The wheels of the carts, wagons, and chariots of the Roman world were of wooden parts often reinforced with metal...
PublisherYale University Press
Related print edition pages: pp.202-212
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00107.013

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Description: Roman Woodworking
Over the past century a number of publications for a broad range of audiences have appeared on the subject of Greco-Roman furniture...
PublisherYale University Press
Related print edition pages: pp.213-238
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00107.014

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Description: Roman Woodworking
Cato, Vitruvius, and Pliny devote lengthy comment to the suitability of individual species for certain applications and the best times for harvesting wood...
PublisherYale University Press
Related print edition pages: pp.239-262
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00107.015

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Description: Roman Woodworking
It is beyond the scope of this book to offer a full discussion of the forests of Italy or of the immense tracts of timber found in other parts of the Roman world...
PublisherYale University Press
Related print edition pages: pp.263-268
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00107.016

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Free
Description: Roman Woodworking
Glossary of Roman Woodworking Terms
PublisherYale University Press
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00107.017
Free
Description: Roman Woodworking
~The following should be considered a representative list that includes most of the best-known examples of Roman woodworking tools. Figure numbers at the end of individual listings refer to images in the text.
PublisherYale University Press
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00107.018
Free
Description: Roman Woodworking
Bibliography
PublisherYale University Press
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00107.019
Free
Description: Roman Woodworking
Index
PublisherYale University Press
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00107.020
Roman Woodworking
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