Roman brick

Ancient The Romans only developed fired clay bricks under the Empire, but had previously used mudbrick, dried only by the sun and therefore much weaker and only suitable for smaller buildings. Development began under Augustus, using techniques developed by the Greeks, who had been using fired bricks much longer, and the earliest dated building in Rome to make use of fired brick is the Theatre of Marcellus, completed in 13 BC. The process of drying bricks in a kiln made it so these bricks would not have cracks in them when they dried. Shapes included square, rectangular, triangular and round, and the largest bricks found have measured over three feet in length. Ancient Roman bricks had a general size of 1½ Roman feet by 1 Roman foot, but common variations up to 15 inches existed. Other brick sizes in Ancient Rome included 24" x 12" x 4", and 15" x 8" x 10". Ancient Roman bricks found in France measured 8" x 8" x 3". The Constantine Basilica in Trier is constructed from Roman bricks 15" square by 1½" thick. The Roman legions operated mobile kilns and introduced bricks to many parts of the empire. The bricks became time records and geographical pinpoints to where the Roman military was operating. This was done in order to give the structure added stability, and was particularly valuable when building with irregularly shaped building materials such as flint as the bricks would help level up the bed. The practice also had a secondary aesthetic effect of giving a polychromatic appearance to the walls. In the 1530s, the English antiquary John Leland successfully identified Roman bricks (albeit under the misleading designation of "Briton brykes") at several geographically dispersed sites, distinguishing them by size and shape from their medieval and modern counterparts. This has been described as one of the earliest exercises in archaeological typology. Medieval (France), still used nowadays. After the Fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century, many of the commercial stone quarries in Europe were abandoned. When brick production resumed in earnest in the British Isles, the 1½" to 2" height of the Roman-style brick gradually increased during the early Medieval period. Brick from the ancient Roman Empire was commonly reused in medieval Europe as well as in later periods. In Great Britain, where construction materials are less plentiful, Roman structures were quarried for their stone and brick for reuse. ==Modern==

1905 Frank L. Smith Bank Modern "Roman" bricks were introduced at the beginning of the 20th century. They are invariably longer and flatter than other modern brick types, but there are no fixed dimensions. Those used in the United States in the early 20th century had nominal dimensions of : In 2011, the Roman Brick Company of Glasgow was offering "Roman" bricks in heights of 40, 52, 65 or 71mm; widths of 90 or 115mm; and lengths of 290, 365, 440, 490 and 600mm. Roman brick was introduced to the United States by the architectural firm McKim, Mead, and White. At one time, Roman brick was one of three available brick types in the United States; the other two were "Standard" (dimensions of ) and "Norman (dimensions of )." in Chicago Frank Lloyd Wright used Roman brick in his design for the Robie House in Chicago, and he favored it in many of his Prairie style homes. For the Robie House, Wright selected a brick later known as "Pennsylvania Iron Spot Roman brick", personally traveling to St. Louis to choose it. Wright's use of Roman brick in his masonry subtly emphasized the horizontal lines common to much of his Prairie style work. Further highlighting Wright's horizontal emphasis was the use of recessed horizontal mortar joints of contrasting color to the brick. Recently, as historic preservationists work to restore and preserve the work of Wright and his fellow Prairie School architects, Roman brick has proven difficult to obtain. ==Ancient Roman brick stamps==

Around the middle of the 1st century BC Roman brick makers began using unique identifying stamps on their bricks. These earliest Roman brick stamps were emblazoned into the wet clay using a hardwood or metal mold prior to the firing of the brick. In 110, the stamps included, for the first time, the name of the consuls for the year of production, which allows modern observers to pinpoint the year a brick was created. These brick stamps, once viewed more as a curiosity than archaeological artefacts, allow scholars to learn about the demand for bricks in Ancient Rome because through the dates on the stamps they provide a chronology. Today, brick stamp discoveries are carefully documented and that documentation, combined with the use of architectural context, has helped provide a reliable method of dating Ancient Roman construction. In addition, brick stamps have proved helpful in determining general Ancient Roman chronology. == Ancient Roman brickyards ==

Most of the Roman bricks were created at brickyards. These brickyards were typically at large estates owned by a wealthy family that had access to clay deposits. There was a hierarchy in the brick production: the domini were the owners of the estate and were typically aristocrats, the officinatores, typically of lower middle class, supervised the brick making process and manufacturing of them, and the figlinae, typically slaves, were those who made the bricks. The brick stamps gave recognition to the domini, officinatores, the brickyard it was created at, and consuls serving at the time. ==Gallery==

File:Römischer Ziegelbrennofen, Aufsicht, Prittriching 2016.svg|Roman brick factory in Germany, near the Roman provincial capital of Augsburg File:Arches in outer wall of Theodosian Walls in Constantinople 2.jpg|The city walls of Constantinople, showing several courses of brickwork File:LaterizioDecorazioneViaAppiaAntica.jpg|A tomb on the Appian Way in Rome with Roman brickwork in opus latericium ==See also==