Corsi 847, approx. 145 x 73 x 40 mm, © Oxford University Museum of Natural History
| OUMNH Number: | 847 |
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| Name and quarry location: | Marmor Claudianum, granito del Foro, from Mons Claudianus, Eastern Desert, Egypt |
| Geological description: | It is a weakly metamorphosed granodiorite showing some foliation, and composed mainly of plagioclase feldspar, hornblende, biotite, and lesser amounts of quartz, with traces of epidote. |
| Comments: | This the granito del foro, so-called because it was used for the columns of Trajans Forum in Rome. The quarry has been discovered between Wadi Abu Marakhat and Wadi Diqal near Wadi Fatiri el Bayda. Harrell describes this stone as a tonalite gneiss, and in the literature it has been variously described as granodiorite, quartz diorite and tonalite suggesting it shows some compositional variation. |
| References: | Borghini (1997) 222-223; Corsi (1845) 210-211, 213-214; Harrell (2010a); Lazzarini (2002c) 235-236; Mielsch (1985) 69, taf.23; Peacock (1994); Price (2007) 228 |
| Further information: |
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| Corsi's classification: | Class 16. Granites; i. Antique granite |
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| Corsi's text: | 208.35 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. Dicesi del Foro perchè tutte le colonne del Foro Trajano sono di questa specie. |