« Vitr. 2.8 | Vitr. 2.8 | Vitr. 2.9 | About This Work »
7There is still another method, which is called ἔμπλεκτον (EMPLECTUM), in use even among our country workmen. In this species the faces are wrought. The other stones are, without working, deposited in the cavity between the two faces, and bedded in mortar as the wall is carried up. But the workmen, for the sake of despatch, carry up these casing walls, and then tumble in the rubble between them; so that there are thus three distinct thicknesses; namely, the two sides or facings, and the filling in. The Greeks, however, pursue a different course, laying the stones flat, and breaking the vertical joints; neither do they fill in the middle at random, but, by means of bond stones, make the wall solid, and of one thickness or piece. They moreover cross the wall, from one face to the other, with bond stones of a single piece, which they call διατόνοι, (DIATONI) tending greatly to strengthen the work.
« Vitr. 2.8 | Vitr. 2.8 | Vitr. 2.9 | About This Work »