"Cipolin" redirects here. Not to be confused with Chipolin.
A cipollino marble column in the Basilica of Maxentius in Rome
Cipollino marble ("onion-stone") was a variety of marble used by the ancient Greeks and Romans, whose Latin term for it was marmor carystium (meaning "marble from Karystos"). It was quarried in several locations on the south-west coast of the Greek island of Euboea, between the modern-day cities of Styra and Karystos. Some of these ancient quarries survive with a mine-face of over 100 metres.
It has a white-green base, with thick wavy green bands, constrained by thin bands of mica. The colour of its base and grain grows darker the further north the location of the quarry. It is a metamorphic rock, a crystalline marble with crystals between 0.2 and 0.6 mm, with coloured veins of epidote and chlorite. A marble similar in appearance to cipollino marble was mined in the Iberian peninsula at the Anasol mines,[1] and on the Alpi Apuane, in north-west Greece and Serbia.[2]
First used in ancient Greece, it was exported to Rome from the 1st century BC onwards; in his Natural History,[3] Pliny the Elder tells how columns of this marble were used in the home of the eques Claudius Mamurra, who had been an engineer for Julius Caesar in his Gallic Wars. The quarries yielding it became imperial property, and cipollino marble became common throughout Rome during the imperial period. It was principally used for column shafts, including large and mainly smooth ones, such as the columns of the pronaos of the temple of Antoninus and Faustina in the Forum in Rome. It was also used for sculpture, such as that of a crocodile in the Canopus at the Villa Adriana at Tivoli, where its colour was used to imitate the colour of crocodile skin. It continued to be mined and used by the Byzantine Empire well into the 5th century AD.
^A geochemical isotope study focused on distinguishing between 'anasol' and 'anasol type' Spanish and Portuguese marbles and 'green cipollino' Greek and Italian marbles (Alpi Apuane) is to be found in AA.VV. Roman Quarries of Iberian Peninsula: Anasol and Anasol-Type. PDF Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine.
^A research group at Università di Roma "La Sapienza" within GABEC (Gruppo georisorse, ambiente e beni culturali). PDF Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine.
Cipollinomarble ("onion-stone") was a variety of marble used by the ancient Greeks and Romans, whose Latin term for it was marmor carystium (meaning "marble...
which sit on platforms each supported by two tall Ionic columns of cipollinomarble. The sphinxes were influenced by Attic architecture. Other architectural...
materials. The lower, commercial section of the façade is clad in green Cipollinomarble from Euboea, in striking contrast with the simple plaster of the upper...
temple precinct was decorated with over a hundred columns of expensive Cipollinomarble from Euboea, and various fountains. The aqueduct of 37 km total length...
façade more than 7 m high, made up of four columns of cipollinomarble. It is topped by an elegant marble pediment at the centre of which, supported by two...
was found in 1750. The Macellum includes three majestic columns in Cipollinomarble, which show erosion from marine Lithophaga molluscs when, at an earlier...
to the exedra for worship which had a portico formed by four large cipollinomarble columns. The exedra had three niches for statues of divinities giving...
any ornaments and was plated with the slabs of the blue-gray Italian Cipollinomarble, which was partially replaced during the 1958 reconstruction from damages...
with a plinth in cipollinomarble, and a floor in smooth slabs of white marble with a central emblem. Mosaics, wall coverings in marble veneer and stucco...
travertine half-columns that was painted to create an appearance of cipollinomarble. Another lost Baroque feature was created by Giovanni Maria Mariani...
replaced by nine fluted columns and an architrave in cipollinomarble on Ionic bases of white marble with wider intercolumns in the centre. The south portico...
mosaic with yellowish-reddish breccia in the middle and a piece of Cipollinomarble, quarried on the Greek island of Euboea, on the eastern edge. The room...
distance of three miles from the sea. This marble is the Cipollinomarble of the Romans – a green marble, with white zones. At Carystus the mineral asbestos...
lapis syenites, higher priced than cipollino from Carystus, and exceeded only in value by Synnadic or Docimaean marble from Docimium, porphyritic green...
likely belonged to the Forum Bath's decorative program. Additionally, cipollino columns were used to decorate the bathhouse. There were several phases...
the documents, must have found a wide following right away: in 1845 two cipollino columns were purchased due to market opportunity "so that they might not...
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