General wall definition + Ancient Roman Walls materials and construction. Note : The Presentation includes sketches done by our team in addition to the geological map .

2. CONTEXT We will be discussing …
 Brief History Of The Roman Empire .
 Geological Map of the Roman Empire . ( Gifts Of Nature ) .
 Roman Building Materials.
 What is a Wall ? (General View ) .
 General Characteristics of the Roman Walls .
 Systems Used to Construct the Roman Walls .
 Cladding and Rendering of the Roman Walls.

3. 1- Brief History Of The Roman Empire
• The roman Empire spread widely through Europe, Asia and
Africa.
• According to Architecture Romans borrowed heavily from to
cultures that the conquered – The Etruscans* and The Greeks
* Etruscan : Is the modern name given to a powerful and wealthy civilization of
ancient Italy

4. 3- Building Materials
• Roman acquaintance and expertise with such a variety of materials was partly
facilitated by the extent of the empire. Their knowledgeable use is
what allowed them to achieve a considerable leap in construction and
Roman architecture. Having said this, it can also be said that for economic
reasons the ancient Romans tended to resort to locally available materials
wherever possible. Import and transport of construction materials was limited
to the strictly necessary or items of high value luxury such as marble, if
required.
• The principal construction materials were used :
1 – Timber 5 – Terracotta and Ceramics
2 – Stone 6 – Mortar
3 – Mud Brick 7 - Metal
4 – Fired Brick

5. Clay
Stone
2 -
- The Gifts Of Nature -

6. A - Stone
* Stone was clearly an important material
for construction and the Romans were
skilled in quarrying it and in using the
different types of stone in different types of
application.
* Stone
- Marble and sand stone :
- the most commonly used
- clearly used to decorate surfaces
- Lime lava of granite :
- used for pedestrians areas, door frames
- and steps

7. B - Mud brick
- How it was made ?
by mixing mud with sand and chopped
straw, pushed into a wooden mold.
The brick was then turned out onto the
ground to dry in the sun.
Spring or Autumn are the best times for
manufacture to ensure even drying;
cracks do not then occur .

8. C - Fired brick ( Burnt brick )
• . • Sand was putting with clay and then they
added water, a process called puddling, and
then the mixture was transferred to wooden
frames for shaping and preliminary drying.
• The bricks were then fired.

9. d -Terracotta and ceramics
• The use of terracotta and ceramics allowed an immense degree of
freedom in a wide range of areas of construction such as the tiling
of roofs and floors .

10. E - Mortar
- the term loosely applied to a material
used for bedding, jointing and
rendering brickwork and stonework. It
normally consists of a cementitious or
other-building material. with or without
a suitable filler or fine aggregate.
- Mud mortars was taken from the
Egyptian civilization
- In Italy Romans used Lime mortar
which consisted of water+
Sand + limestone

11. F - Timber
• the Romans were extremely
advanced in their knowledge and
use timber in machinery of war and
for construction purposes
For example : The Roman Rampart
It was also used in timber framing
(Opus craticium) ,scaffolding and
for making different types of joints .

12. J - Metal
• In a construction context metal could
hardly compete with cheaper
materials which required less
handling and could usually be
"produced" locally such as stone or
wood. However in certain contexts
its use was inevitable.
•
Metals were taken from the Etruscans.
• Hard metal was also used to join
make the clasps to lift stone blocks
with cranes
• .

13. H - Concrete
• Roman concrete (opus caementicium is an
artificial building material composed of an
aggregate, a binding agent, and water.
• Aggregate is essentially a filler, such as
gravel, chunks of stone and rubble, broken
bricks, etc.
• Binding agent is a substance which is mixed
with the aggregate (water added) and
solidifies when it dries, or "sets.“
• Many materials, even mud, can be a binding
agent, and used to make, what we generally
call, mortar.

14. • Roman contribution to this basic structural
mixture was the addition as primary binding
agent pozzolona, a special volcanic dust found
in central Italy.
• Pozzolona created an exceptionally strong bond
with the aggregate
• . the binding agent used in modern concrete is
called "cement," or Portland cement
• Modern concrete is stronger than Roman
concrete mainly because it incorporates steel
bars to build up tensile strength; technically, it
is "reinforced concrete," or ferro-concrete.
Romans did not use metal-reinforced concrete].
• Concrete, the hydraulic mortar responsible for
its cohesion
Concrete

15. 1 : a high thick masonry structure
forming a long rampart or an enclosure
chiefly for defense
2 : one of the sides of a room or building
connecting floor and ceiling or foundation
and roof
3 : a structure that serves to hold back
pressure (as of water or sliding earth)
Why we need Walls :
- To achieve privacy & protection of a certain region
- Provide defensive environment from outside danger

16. I. A bearing wall (structural) : is a wall
that bears some of the building’s
weight in addition to its own weight
and transfer it from top all the way
to the foundations
II. A non- bearing wall (non
structural): is a wall that does not
support any gravity loads from the
building, hence doesn’t bear any
weight besides its own.
Similarities between the two types :
-Both may see lateral loading such as wind loads
and seismic loads
- Also, they can serve as shear walls to brace the
building in lateral and/or longitudinal directions.

17. -To construct walls, the builders
used wood scaffolding that was
very light and tied together with rope.
Definition :
- It is a temporary wooden structure with
levels (platforms), consists of :
Scaffold-poles , scaffold-boards , braces ,
putlogs , props & ledges
Example of
Transverse
putlog holes

18. The scaffolding could be of three
types:
- Independent scaffolding: that stood
on its own and did not need to be
supported by another structure.
- Dependent scaffolding: was
inserted into holes strategically placed
in the structure and was fully
supported by the structure that they
were using the scaffolding to build.
- Semi-dependent scaffolding: was a
mixture of both; supported by both the
ground and the structure being built.

19. 5- Roman wall general characteristics
• Walls were constructed through a number of different techniques which
could range from clay packed around a wooden frame through to stone
blocks and bricks held together by mortar
• Opus Caementicium ( concrete ) was the core of every Roman wall after
the 2nd century BC. Mostly walls made in opus caementicium were
covered with other materials to make a more robust and workable surface.
• The resulting walls were very solid, but not nice to see, so very often some
sort of facing was applied.
 Walls were made in one of these
ways:
BrickMasonryAshlar

20. * The different techniques were used
according to preference of the particular
age, availability of materials, aesthetic
result and of course structural function.

21.  Opus caementicium is a construction
technique using an aggregate, water and
a binding agent. The aggragate
functioned as a filler like gravel, chunks
of bricks or stones and rubble. The
binding agent is usually called mortar
like lime, gypsum or pozzolana
(nowadays (Portland) cement is used).
 Walls covered with other materials to
make a more robust and workable
surface.

22. • It’s composed of various rock
chunks (irregular small stones)
mixed with cement.
• The blocks were more carefully
chosen to match in size and the
amount of cement between them
reduced.
• It was one of the earlier concrete
construction methods .
• The face of the concrete was
studded to (8-10 ) cm .

23. Temple of Iovis Anxur in Terracina, Italy

24. • The transition from opus intcertum
to reticulate facing was the
beginning of opus reticulatum.
• Basically they’re small square tufa*
blocks placed diagonally to form a
diamond – shaped pattern .
NET WORK ??
* Tufa is a variety of limestone formed when carbonate
minerals precipitate out of ambient temperature water.
• Pattern was regular & defined. Stones were
at fixed lines, each square in shape .

25. • The choice of arrangement of
small stones at 45 degrees might
appear odd for the first time but
in fact with the line of economic
and social evolution which led
to the creation of new
techniques has make it
acceptable and that appeared in
Hadrian's villa .

26. Hadrian's Villa , a large Roman archaeological complex
at Tivoli, Italy

27. • It’s the use of blocks which seems
the most logical and the most
conventional consists simply of
arranging stones with a rectangular
outline and of equal height in
horizontal courses.

28. • Mostly used in isodomic .
• Usually its maid of small volcanic tufa
blocks but limestone can be used .
intersected by one or more brick bands at
regular distances
• It started to show strongly after the middle
of the second century Ad and after that it
became the standard form of architecture
bonded with mortar in parallel with Ashlars
construction and this wide spread came
because its easy to be rendered after
construction.

29. • A Masonry of reticulated
material reinforced and/or
intersected by brick bands or
interlocked with bricks.
• sometimes found on interior
walls, where the exterior of
same wall is faced entirely in
opus latericium.
• Beyond its obvious decorative
appeal the technique may also
have allowed less-skilled labor
to build more quickly .

31. • It consists of bricks , tiles or
cut stone laid in a fish-bone
pattern , used also In floors .

32. • The basic elements are large
square bricks, the manufacture
of which was standardized in the
first century, the main formats
and their names were:
 Bessales: 19.7 cm long.
 Sesquipedales: 44.4 cm long.
 Bipedales: 59.2 cm long.
• These different bricks could be
used in their original sizes or
broken up into regular pieces, in
particular triangles.

33. • Bonding courses:
single horizontal Courses of large square
bricks (Biped ales) that run Through the
entire thickness of the wall.

34. Their use, there is 2 basic
explanations for it:
1- To prevent undue settling of
mass of wet concrete by
creating new “floors” for each
stratum.
2- As a convenient surface on
which to place wood work
such as scaffolding putlogs
and centering for arches and
vaults.
The insula of the house of Diana .

35. The House of Diana in
Ostia, Rome’s port city,
from the late 2nd c. C.E.

37. • It consists of a wooden frame
filled with stones in random
length or (clay), and covered
with plaster.
• It is made of vertical bearing
elements (wooden beams)
framed by beams and braces that
prevent bending and gives the
whole appearance.

39. The House of Opus
Craticium, Herculaneum, Italy

40. Greek way ( Isodomic ) . Etruscan way ( Irregular ) .
• Squared Blocks of stone of the same height were set in
parallel courses , most often without the use of mortar .
(Dry Construction ).
Header
Stretcher

41. Headers against a
Stretcher .
Header Stretcher .

42. • The name of this wall indicates the
region where it was mostly
used(Africa) but it can be found in
Italy and Sicily.
• It is made of vertical chains of large
stone blocks in which up right blocks
alternate with horizontal ones.
• This technique is called framework
and fill, and the filling was of rubble
that is bonded with clay mortar.
Disadvantages:
• lack of permanence .
• dampness .
• danger of fire .

43. The Evolutionof theRomanWalls
Under water
concrete
technology
1st century
Large brick
faced
concrete
64 AD
Opus
Cemienticium
2nd century
Opus
Testaceum
Opus Incertum
3rd century
Opus Mixtum
5th century
Opus Spicatum
6th century
Opus Quadratum Opus Vittatum Opus
Craticium
Opus
Reticulatum
Renaissance

44. 1) White wash : Mixture of lime and powdered limestone intended to :
- give a marble-like appearance to monuments constructed of blocks of tufa
- to mask the irregularity of the surface and make it look like ashlar
2) Thick rendering : Made up of several
layers of mortar .
Roman used both protective
and decorative wall rendering

45. A) First layer : rough, to facilitate the adhesion of the next
layer
- By trowel
- by mixing fragments of terracotta (reinforcing the rendering
and prevent cracking )
- when building were made of clay , it was useful to
scratch the fresh material with fingers or wood
stick
B) Second layer : Finer (not treated) , in order to provide a
supporting surface
C) Third layer : The finest , often pure lime and might remain bare

46. This type of painting is usually defined bye the word (Fresco) consist of trapping
pigments in the lime mortar before it sets
As Vitruvius clearly states “as for the colors , carefully applied on the wet
rendering , they do not come off and are fixed forever “
Starting work at the top of the wall and working downwards so as not to spoil the surface once covered

47. Decoration could be done with mortar itself , this was known as stucco , it
could be made out of templates that were pressed into the wet mortar .
Cornice
Decorating walls or Imitation of
stone block construction

48. marble veneer
• Walls could be covered with veneer that was made up of sheets of
material placed over the stone wall or blocks , marble was often on
numerous monuments and walls, often only 1 cm thick were placed
over the blocks , these veneer coverings were often held in place by
iron clamps , the thin panels did not need the clamps and could be
held in place by a layer of mortar.

49. Walls could also be
covered with mosaics
. these were made of
small fragments .
And although usually
found in floors
- The history of
mosaic goes back to
the use of terracotta
cones pushed point-
first into a
background
- Romans only
occasionally used
this method of
decorating large
surfaces, but fine
examples do exist at
hadrian's villa .
Mosaic floor and wall in opus reticulatum
(reticulated wall), Hadrian's Villa

50.  Jean-Pierre Adam, Anthony Mathews, Roman Building,
1994.
 W. L. MacDonald, The Architecture of the Roman Empire,
rev. ed. Yale University Press, New Haven, 1982 .
 http://www.crystalinks.com/Fortress.html
 http://www.ancient.eu/wall/
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOG63D2GBsM
 Heather N. Lechtman & Linn W. Hobbs, “Roman Concrete
and the Roman Architectural Revolution,” Ceramics and
Civilization Volume 3: High Technology Ceramics: Past,
Present, Future, edited by W.D. Kingery and published by
the American Ceramics Society, 1986.
 Vitruvius/the Ten Books on Architecture.