Monoliths

• The largest monolith lifted by a single crane can be determined from the number of holes (each of which points at the use of one crane) in the lifted stone block. By dividing its weight by their number, one arrives at a maximum lifting capacity of 7.5 to 8 t as exemplified by a cornice block at the Trajan's Forum and the architrave blocks of the Temple of Jupiter at Baalbek. Based on a detailed Roman relief of a construction crane, the engineer O'Connor calculates a slightly less lifting capability, 6.2 t, for such type of a crane, on the assumption that it was powered by five men and using a three-pulley block.
• The largest monolith lifted by cranes was the 108 t heavy corner cornice block of the Jupiter temple at Baalbek, followed by an architrave block weighing 63 t, both of which were raised to a height of about 19 m. The capital block of Trajan's Column, with a weight of 53.3 t, was even lifted to 34 m above the ground. As such enormous loads far exceeded the lifting capability of any single treadwheel crane, it is assumed that Roman engineers set up a four-masted lifting tower in the midst of which the stone blocks were vertically raised by the means of capstans placed on the ground around it.
• The largest monoliths were two giant building blocks in the quarry of Baalbek: an unnamed rectangular block which was only recently discovered is measured at 20 m x 4.45 m x 4.5 m, yielding a weight of 1,242 t. The similarly shaped Stone of the Pregnant Woman nearby weights 1,000.12 t. Both blocks were intended for the Roman temple nearby, but were left for unknown reasons at their sites.
• The largest monolith was a group of three monumental blocks in the podium of the Jupiter temple at Baalbek. The individual stones are 19.60 m, 19.30 m and 19.10 m long respectively, with a depth of 3.65 m and a height of 4.34 m. Weighing approximately 800 t on average, they were transported to a distance of 800 m and probably pulled by the means of ropes and capstans into their final position. The supporting stone layer beneath features a number of blocks which are still in the order of 350 t. The various giant stones of Roman Baalbek rank high among the largest man-made monoliths in history.
• The largest monolithic columns were used by Roman builders who preferred them over the stacked drums typical of classical Greek architecture. The logistics and technology involved in the transport and erection of extra-large single-piece columns were demanding: As a rule of thumb, in the length range between 40 and 60 Roman feet (approximately 11.8 to 17.8 m), the weight of the column shafts, due to their larger diameter, doubled with every ten feet from 50 over 100 to 200 t. Despite this, forty and also fifty feet tall monolithic shafts can be found in a number of Roman buildings, but examples reaching sixty feet are only in evidence in two unfinished granite columns which still lie in the Roman quarry of Mons Claudianus, Egypt. One of the pair, which was discovered only in the 1930s, has an estimated weight of 207 t. All these dimensions, however, are surpassed by Pompey's Pillar, a free-standing victory column erected in Alexandria in 297 AD: measuring 20.46 m high with a diameter of 2.71 m at its base, the weight of its granite shaft has been put at 285 t.
• The largest monolithic dome crowned the early 6th century AD Mausoleum of Theodoric in Ravenna, then capital of the Ostrogothic kingdom. The weight of the single, 10.76 m wide roof slab has been calculated at 230 t.

Дата добавления: 2014-12-27