Opus Signinum - Roman Concrete without Pulvis Puteolanis: Example of the Substructures of Diocletian‘s Palace

Abstract

The palace of the Roman emperor Diocletian in Dalmatia, a Mediterranean region of Croatia, is an important Late Antique complex, whose most important buildings have been excellently preserved, including their vaults: the brick dome of the Diocletian’s Mausoleum, the stone barrel vault of the so-called Jupiter’s temple, and the vaults of the large substructures of the imperial apartments, constructed in Roman concrete. Because in Dalmatia there was no pozzolana (pulvis Puteolanus) – a volcanic material used for making first opus caementicium structures in the Roman world, the concrete for the vaults of the substructures of the Palace was made with crushed terracotta. This type of Roman concrete was called opus signinum. The vaults of the substructures of the imperial apartments within Diocletian’s palace are important for the research of Roman concrete structures because the whole complex of vaults of various types, covering the area of approx. 150 m by 35 m, has been entirely preserved. In this article, of this variety of vault types, several interesting vault solutions are analyzed.

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References

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