OUMNH Number: | 823 |
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Name and quarry location: | Granito antico, granito della Colonna, from Wadi Umm Shegilat, near Gebel Abu el-Hasan, Eastern Desert, Egypt |
Geological description: | Coarse pegmatitic diorite, with large black prismatic crystals of hornblende. |
Comments: | This distinctive very coarse-grained igneous rock is named after a small column in the chapel of Sant Zenone in the church of Santa Prassede in Rome, said to be that which Christ was chained to during his flagellation in Jerusalem. The stone is from the Precambrian basement rocks at Wadi Umm Shegilat. It is unusual in being sawn from the quarry in ancient Roman times rather than extracted with wedges. |
References: | Borghini (1997) 220; Del Bufalo (2002); Harrell (2002c); Harrell (2010a); Lazzarini (2002c) 229-230; Mielsch (1985) 69, taf.23; Price (2007) 230 |
Further information: |
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Corsi's classification: | Class 16. Granites; i. Antique granite |
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Corsi's text: | 205.11 Granito antico. Marmor Syenite. Marmo Sienite... [trovata] presso la città di Siene sul confine fra Egitto, e l'Etiopia... Pyrrhopoecilon... Psaronion...Aethiopicum perchè... era Siene sul confine dell' Etiopia. |