page_title: Verd antique
hierarchical_section_title: Verd antique
caption_attribution_description: Hagia Sophia&#160;; inside view&#160;: columns (southern section); Istanbul, Turkey
context_page_description: Verd antique, also called verde antique, marmor thessalicum, or Ophite, is a serpentinite breccia popular since ancient times as a decorative facing stone. It is a dark, dull green, white-mottled serpentine, mixed with calcite, dolomite, or magnesite, which takes a high polish. The term verd antique has been documented in English texts as early as 1745.
  It is sometimes classed, erroneously, as a variety of marble. It has also been called and marketed as "ophicalcite" or "ophite".
  Non-brecciated varieties of a very similar serpentinite, sometimes also called "verd antique", have been quarried at Victorville, California; Cardiff, Maryland; and Rochester in Addison County, Vermont.
context_section_description: Verd antique (obsolete French, from Italian, verde antico, "ancient green"), also called verde antique, marmor thessalicum, or Ophite, is a serpentinite breccia popular since ancient times as a decorative facing stone. It is a dark, dull green, white-mottled (or white-veined) serpentine, mixed with calcite, dolomite, or magnesite, which takes a high polish. The term verd antique has been documented in English texts as early as 1745.
  It is sometimes classed, erroneously, as a variety of marble ("Thessalian marble", "serpentine marble", "Moriah stone", etc.). It has also been called and marketed as "ophicalcite" or "ophite".
  Non-brecciated varieties of a very similar serpentinite, sometimes also called "verd antique", have been quarried at Victorville, California; Cardiff, Maryland; and Rochester in Addison County, Vermont.
caption: Sixth century verde antico Roman columns in Byzantium's Hagia Sophia
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