Unfortunately the earthquakes are why many great buildings of antiquity are lost, like the lighthouse at Alexandria. And we think of Poseidon as the god of the sea, but he might be better considered the earthquake god foremost, judging by the frequency of epithets for him.
TIL the alternating courses of brick and stone in Roman walls made them more earthquake resistant. Unlike northern Europe, much of the Empire was an earthquake zone.pic.twitter.com/Rp5aqFavr6
-
-
Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
-
-
-
Where is that ancient wall?
-
That's part of the Theodosian Walls in Constantinople.
- Show replies
New conversation -
-
-
What is meant by “alternating courses”?
-
The horizontal bands along the outer wall. Each region of brick or stone is a course.
- Show replies
New conversation -
-
-
This Tweet is unavailable.
-
Why unbelievably? I think it’s more an issue that we don’t want to make better concrete.
End of conversation
-
-
-
They figured out that having horizontal bands kept the stones from separating. Brick may have been chosen because of aesthetics. I’ve seen wood and concrete stripes as well
Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
-
-
-
I did not know that! The walls of Verulamium follow this pattern. When the Abbey of St Albans was built 1/4 mile away, they reused much of the Verulamium material but were very random in their reuse of technique leading to a bizarre hodgepodge (e.g. http://www.astoft.co.uk/herts/19-crop-h550s0.2-q20.jpg …).
Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
-
-
-
I wonder what other things which I believe to be purely ornamental actually serve a functional purpose.
Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
-
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.