The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1905-04-13
FROM ANCIENT QUARR|ES
Synnadian Marble Imported by
New York Builders.
ARE OF VARIOUS COLORS
The Lapis synnadicus Of Ancient
Rome, Where It Was Used for the
Decorative Features of the Tenn.
ples-lmperial Ottoman Bank Of
Constantinople is Interested.

Turkish marble is what the stone Is
called in prosaic language, but the
material was known to the ancient
Romans as lapis Synnadicus, and to
the inhabitants of Phrygia, where 1t
was quarried, as lithos Docimaeos. Ii
is famed Synnadian marble, widely
used in Rome for the decorative fea-
lures of temples and public buildings.
Strabo speaks of the high repute in
which it was held and tells of col
umns of slabs having been transport
ed to Rome with great trouble and
expense. The quarries were between
Synnada and Docimaeum, towns OF
Phrygia northwest of the plain Of
Ipsus, near the modern Bulwudun.
The Synnadian marbles were of vari-
Gus colors, but the variety to which
the name is generally applied is
white with red spots. The present
importation. however, is white stat.
uary marble. 1t Is an interesting
commentary on the decadence of the
Oriental artisan that, while huge
blocks suitable for columns were talk
en- to Rome before the time of Christ,
the modern quarrymen, with access
to improved machinery, can turn out
only small blocks. Not single one Of
the stones which have just reached
New York contains a cubic metre, and
most Of them measured only few
feet.
Although the Synnada quarries have
ar
have been neglected because Of the
lack Of transportation facilities. Now
1t is believed that the Smyrna rail
road will render the marble available
for the Western market, and an effort
will be made to open and work the
quarries. The Imperial Ottoman bank
OF Constantinople has become inter
ested in the venture.
The great demand for unique dec
orative material for modern buildings
has led to the search for rare marbles
in all parts of the world. The most
promising fields for these are in
Greece, the Aegean Archipelago Asia
Minor and Egypt. These countries
we're all carefully exploited by the
|
tiquity. Scores of quarries that were
worked two thousand years ago, but
the very location of which was for
gotten, have been re-discovered and
re-opened. Several years ago the IA
nous quarries on the Island of Eu.
boea, producing the Cipollno, or on
ion-skin marble, were found just as
hoI 1nft Ia,
before the Christian era. Crude
bronze tools and roughly shaped col
umns were lying in the trenches.
These quarries are now being vigor.
ously operated, and the product has
been used in New York. The old
quarries on the Island of Scyros have
also been recovered, and the rich, red
mottled marble is now held in high
favor in this city. When Athens was
in its glory one Of the choicest treas
ures of the builders and sculptors was
the creamwhite marble from Mt Pen
elicus. Through the generosity of
rich Athenian banker, the Pentelicon
quarries, idle for many centuries
were opened to furnish marble for re-
pairing the Stadium at the time of
the revival Of the Olympian games.
They are still operated, and the mar
BILE has been used for wainscoting in a
number of the finest of the recent Of
fee buildings in the city. So it has
come about that modern American
architects are taking tribute from the
very same veins of marble that yield
er material for Praxiteles and his fol-
lowers