02-22-2011, 07:54 PM
Quote:I'm not sure how this necessarily follows, since, depending on the construction method, footings or ground walls either 0.6 m thick or 1.1 m thick are both adequate to support a second story, or even more. ( I live in a detached two and a half story house constructed of freestanding - i.e no frame - 0.6 m thick blocks, for example).
Not really useful to compare modern construction techniques and technology with ancient which could range from very sturdy (brick-faced concrete in Rome) to dodgy (clay-bonded stone in the UK - the frequent collapses of Hadrian's Wall and the north wall of Housesteads were due to this) so you need more than just wall widths. In fact, Caerleon's walls are usually thought to be dwarf walls supporting a timber and wattle-and-daub superstructure.
Quote:In addition, Roman upper stories could be quite light, for example a wattle-and-daub upper story, or the 'opus craticum', an open wooden frame filled with rubble and plaster, as used in Pompeii and Herculaneum for upper stories including balconies and partition walls.
No real evidence for this in a military context that I am aware of.
Quote:Perhaps there is more to Kennedy's conclusions than just thickness of walls? For those of us without access to his work, perhaps you could elaborate, please ? mile:
Can't help here, I'm afraid, as I am unable to lay my hands on the offprint at the moment. Just remembered that he did conclude that the Castra Praetoria barracks were two-storied.
Going back and looking at Parker's reports again, however (I only have the interims, not the final), he concludes that the ground floor of the corner tower had a slab ceiling carried on arches (you can see the remains of them here) and that the towers had three storeys. Interesting then when you reread his reports on the limited excavation he carried out in the barracks:
Quote:The rooms were roofed by three parallel limestone arches with oblong basalt slabs covering the gaps between the arches.*
Basalt has a high tensile strength and is widely used in the East in the Roman period for stair cases and flooring. For the roofing of the barracks Parker says
Quote:The almost total absence of roof tiles, so common in the principia, is particularly striking. The roofs were apparently sealed by wadi rushes and dung.**
So there seems to be at least plausible evidence for a second storey at Lejjun, but it derives from comparing the arches and basalt flooring of the towers with those found in the barracks, rather than the width of the walls per se. But, of course, you can only say that for the barracks excavated; anything else would be speculation. ;-)
Mike Bishop
* Parker, S. T. 1986: Romans and Saracens: A History of the Arabian Frontier, Winona Lake, 68.
** loc. cit.