{"id":6537,"date":"2026-01-13T13:54:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T13:54:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ostiaantica.cultura.gov.it\/educational-panels-and-maps\/the-marbles\/i-marmi-piazzola-10-portasanta-marmor-chium\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T15:11:31","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T15:11:31","slug":"the-marbles-area-10","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ostiaantica.cultura.gov.it\/en\/educational-panels-and-maps\/the-marbles\/the-marbles-area-10\/","title":{"rendered":"The marbles – Area 10"},"content":{"rendered":"

The name of this marble derives from its use in the jambs of the Holy Door in the Vatican Basilica.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/div><\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tSample of portasanta marble from the Podesti Collection\n(Pensabene P., Bruno M. 1998)\n\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>
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\"\"<\/div><\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tSample of portasanta marble from the Podesti Collection\n(Pensabene P., Bruno M. 1998)\n\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t<\/div>\n\n

Pliny recalls Cicero\u2019s laconic response to the inhabitants of Chios, as they proudly showed him their city walls made of this stone: he replied that he would have been more impressed if they had used the Italian\u00a0lapis tiburtinus<\/em>, in other words a material of more modest quality but that had been imported.<\/p>\n

This anecdote illustrates the fact that Rome\u2019s power and prestige were expressed less through the aesthetic quality of the marbles adorning the city\u2019s buildings as through the fact that they came from the furthest provinces of the Empire.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t
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\"\"<\/div><\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tRoma, Foro di Traiano. Dettaglio della pavimentazione in lastre in portasanta e cipollino\n(Bruno M. 2006)\n\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>
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\"\"<\/div><\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tIsland of Chios. View of the Latomi quarries\n(Bruno M. 2004)\n\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>
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\"\"<\/div><\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tRome, Vatican Museums, Gallery of the Statues. Basin in portasanta stuoiata marble\n(Bruno M. 2007)\n\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t<\/div>\n\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The name of this marble derives from its use in the jambs of the Holy Door in the Vatican Basilica.   Pliny recalls Cicero\u2019s laconic response to the inhabitants of Chios, as they proudly showed him their city walls made of this stone: he replied that he would have been more impressed if they had…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":6517,"menu_order":10,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-templates\/page-albero.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6537","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ostiaantica.cultura.gov.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ostiaantica.cultura.gov.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ostiaantica.cultura.gov.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ostiaantica.cultura.gov.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ostiaantica.cultura.gov.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6537"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ostiaantica.cultura.gov.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6537\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6550,"href":"https:\/\/ostiaantica.cultura.gov.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6537\/revisions\/6550"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ostiaantica.cultura.gov.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ostiaantica.cultura.gov.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}