Expert: John J. Shea - 10/27/2004

Question
John,
This may not be your area of expertise,but perhaps you could refer my question to another source.
I have just returned from Italy where I saw many examples of ancient, one piece, several meter tall, marble columns. The uniformity of columns in a particular building, and the apparent perfect shape of the individual column seems beyond belief. They look molded, but clearly show the veining patterns typical of marble. Could you please direct me to a source that explains how such columns were constructed, and once constructed, how they were placed in a vertical position? Would they not snap if lifted from a horizontal position? I have appealed to several archaeological societies with no success. I have photos that I could send.

Thanks for any assistance you can provide.
Norm Favro
Toronto Canada
Normfavro@sympatico.ca  

Answer
Dear Norm
Some columns were built of smaller segments held together with metal pins, but the ones you describe seem to be of one piece.  Egyptian, Greek, and Roman stone-workers were very good at extracting large pieces of marble from quarries and shaping them.
This is kind of outside my area of expertise, but I do know there are books on this subject, one by John Landels, Engineering in the Ancient World, is probably the best place for you to look for concise answers.
Sincerely,
John Shea