Difference between revisions of "Marble"

<p> (μάρμαρος, Lat. <i> marmor </i> ; from μαρμαίρειν, ‘sparkle,’ ‘glisten’) </p> <p> [[Marble]] is the name given to any limestone which is sufficiently close in texture to admit of being polished. It is mentioned as part of the merchandise of ‘Babylon,’ <i> i.e. </i> Rome (&nbsp;Revelation 18:12). It began to be used there for the adornment of buildings about the beginning of the 1st cent. b.c. For a time such luxury was viewed with jealousy by stern republicans (Pliny, <i> Historia Naturalis (Pliny) </i> xxxvi. 7), but the [[Empire]] effected a great change of sentiment, and [[Augustus]] boasted, not without reason, that he ‘found Rome of brick and left it of marble’ (Suet. <i> Octav. </i> xxix.). ‘The [[Emperor]] obtained this result, seconded by his friend and minister, Agrippa, and succeeded in leaving behind him truly a city of marble, to which the [[Pantheon]] bears sufficient witness’ (Mary W. Porter, <i> What Rome was built with </i> , 1907, p. 7). While the white marble of Luna (near the modern Carrara), Hymettus, Pentelicus, and [[Paros]] was used for statuary, many varieties of coloured marble were available for architecture. See, further, articleRome. </p> <p> Literature.-F. Corsi, <i> Delle pietre antiche </i> , Rome, 1845; G. P. Merrill, <i> Stones for [[Building]] and Decoration </i> 3, New York, 1903. </p> <p> James Strahan. </p>

<p> '''(1):''' ''' (''' n.) A thing made of, or resembling, marble, as a work of art, or record, in marble; or, in the plural, a collection of such works; as, the Arundel or Arundelian marbles; the [[Elgin]] marbles. </p> <p> '''(2):''' ''' (''' n.) A little ball of marble, or of some other hard substance, used as a plaything by children; or, in the plural, a child's game played with marbles. </p> <p> '''(3):''' ''' (''' a.) Made of, or resembling, marble; as, a marble mantel; marble paper. </p> <p> '''(4):''' ''' (''' a.) Cold; hard; unfeeling; as, a marble breast or heart. </p> <p> '''(5):''' ''' (''' n.) A massive, compact limestone; a variety of calcite, capable of being polished and used for architectural and ornamental purposes. The color varies from white to black, being sometimes yellow, red, and green, and frequently beautifully veined or clouded. The name is also given to other rocks of like use and appearance, as serpentine or verd antique marble, and less properly to polished porphyry, granite, etc. </p> <p> '''(6):''' ''' (''' n.) To stain or vein like marble; to variegate in color; as, to marble the edges of a book, or the surface of paper. </p>

<p> שיש , &nbsp;1 Chronicles 29:2; &nbsp;Esther 1:6; &nbsp;Song of [[Solomon]] 5:15; a valuable kind of stone, of a texture so hard and compact, and of a grain so fine, as readily to take a beautiful polish. It is dug out of quarries in large masses, and is much used in buildings, ornamental pillars, &c. Marble is of different colours, black, white, &c; and is sometimes elegantly clouded and variegated. The stone mentioned in the places cited above is called the stone of <em> sis </em> or <em> sish: </em> the LXX and [[Vulgate]] render it "Parian stone," which was remarkable for its bright white colour. Probably the cliff Ziz, &nbsp; 2 Chronicles 20:16 , was so called from being a marble crag: the place was afterward called Petra. The variety of stones, בהט , שיש , דר , סחרת , mentioned in the pavement of Ahasuerus, might be marble of different colours. The ancients sometimes made pavements wherein were set very valuable stones. </p>

<li> Sohareth, "black marble," probably some spotted variety of marble. "The marble pillars and tesserae of various colours of the palace at [[Susa]] came doubtless from [[Persia]] itself, where marble of various colours is found, especially in the province of [[Hamadan]] Susiana." The marble of Solomon's architectural works may have been limestone from near Jerusalem, or from Lebanon, or possibly white marble from Arabia. Herod employed Parian marble in the temple, and marble columns still exist in great abundance at Jerusalem. <div> <p> '''Copyright Statement''' These dictionary topics are from M.G. Easton M.A., D.D., Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Third Edition, published by [[Thomas]] Nelson, 1897. Public Domain. </p> <p> '''Bibliography Information''' Easton, Matthew George. Entry for 'Marble'. Easton's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ebd/m/marble.html. 1897. </p> </div> </li>

<p> M`ARBLE, n. L. marmor Gr. white. </p> 1. The popular name of any species of calcarious stone or mineral, of a compact texture, and of a beautiful appearance, susceptible of a good polish. The varieties are numerous, and greatly diversified in color. Marble is limestone, or a stone which may be calcined to lime, a carbonate of lime but limestone is a more general name, comprehending the calcarious stones of an inferior texture, as well as those which admit a fine polish. Marble is much used for statues, busts, pillars, chimney pieces, monuments, &c. 2. A little ball of marble or other stone,used by children in play. 3. A stone remarkable for some inscription or sculpture. <p> Arundel marbles, </p> <p> Arundelian marbles, marble pieces with a chronicle of the city of [[Athens]] inscribed on them presented to the university of Oxford, by Thomas, earl of Arundel. </p> <p> M`ARBLE, a. Made of marble as a marble pillar. </p>

<p> <strong> MARBLE. </strong> See [[Mining]] and Metals. </p>

<p> is the rendering in the Auth.Vers. of two forms of the same Heb. word, and is thought by some to be signified by others differently rendered. שֵׁשׁ ''(Shesh,'' &nbsp;Esther 1:6, Sept. πάρινος; &nbsp;Song of Solomon 5:15, Sept. μαρμάρινος ''),'' or שִׁיַשׁ(sha'yish, &nbsp;1 Chronicles 29:2, Sept. πάριος ), so called from its whiteness, undoubtedly refer to a pure kind of marble, μάρμαρος (&nbsp;Revelation 18:12). Primary limestone, or marble, is a simple rock, consisting of carbonate of lime. In its pure state, it is granular, crystalline, and of a color varying from pure white to gray and yellowish. It is sometimes found in irregular masses, or beds, or large nodules, with little or no appearance of stratification; more generally, however, it is regularly stratified, and these strata alternate with other rocks, and are of all varieties of thickness. The texture varies from a highly crystalline, of a larger or finer grain, to a compact and even earthy. Other substances are sometimes combined with the simple rock, which modify its appearance and texture, such as mica, quartz, hornblende. It is never found in veins, except in the form of regular crystals, and, in this respect, it exactly resembles quartz. There is considerable difficulty in drawing the line of distinction between the primary and secondary limestones, where the latter do not happen to contain organic remains. In the primary limestone, strictly speaking, no organic remains have yet been discovered. With one or two exceptions, and as a general rule, it may be said, they, like the primary schists, are almost destitute of organic bodies. Like the strata which it accompanies, beds of limestone are often bent and contorted, evidently from disturbance below. The colors vary from a pure white, which constitutes the statuary marble, to various shades of gray, brown, black, and green. These tints are derived from a carbonaceoas matter or oxide of iron, or an admixture of other minerals. </p> <p> Several other terms occur in &nbsp;Esther 1:6, as the names of stones in the pavement of the magnificent hall in which [[Ahasuerus]] feasted the princes of his empire. That rendered "white" marble, is דִּר '', Dar,'' which some take to signify Parian marble, others white marble; but nothing certain is known about it. In Arabic, the word dar signifies a large pearl. Now pearls were certainly employed by the ancients in decorating the walls of apartments in royal palaces, but that pearls were also used in the pavements of even regal dining-rooms is improbable in itself, and unsupported by any known example. The [[Septuagint]] refers the [[Hebrew]] word to a stone resembling pearls (πίννινος λίθος ), by which, as J. D. Michaelis conjectures, it intends to denote the ''Alabastrites'' of Pliny ''(Hist. Nat.'' 36:7, 8), which is a kind of alabaster with the gloss of mother-of-pearl. (See Alabaster). </p> <p> The בָּהִט ''(Bahat';'' Sept. σμαραγδίτης, "red" marble) of the same passage was, [[Gesenius]] thinks, the ''Verdeantique,'' or half-porphyry of Egypt. The סֹחֶרֶת . ''(Soche'Reth;'' Sept. Πάρινος λίθος, "black" marble) is likewise there mentioned with the other kinds of marble for forming a pavement. Gesenius says, perhaps tortoiseshell. Others, from the rendering of the Syriac, think it refers to black marble. It was probably some spotted variety of marble. (See [[Mineralogy]]). </p> <p> The pavement in the palace of Ahasuerus was no doubt of mosaic work, the floors of the apartments being laid with painted tiles or slabs of marble, in the same way as Dr. Russell describes the houses of the wealthy in modern times. In these a portion of the pavement of the courts is of mosaic, and it is usually that part which lies between the fountain and the arched alcove on the south side that is thus beautified. (See [[House]]). </p> <p> "The marble pillars and tesserae of various colors of the palace at Susa came doubtless from Persia itself, where marble of various colors is found, especially in the province of Hamadan, Susiana (Marco Polo, Travels, p. 78, ed. Bohn; Chardin, Voy. 3:280, 308, 358, and 8:253; P. della Valle, Viagg i, 2:250). The so-called marble of Solomon's architectural works, which [[Josephus]] calls λίθος λευκός, may thus have been limestone — (''A'' ) from near Jerusalem; (''B'' ) from [[Lebanon]] (Jura limestone), identical with the material of the Sun Temple at Baalbek; or (''C'' ) white marble from [[Arabia]] or elsewhere (Josephus, ''Ant.'' 8:3, 2; Diod. Sic. 2:52; Pliny, ''H. N. 3'' 6:12; Jamieson, ''Mineralogy,'' p. 41; Raiumer, ''Pal.'' p. 28; Volney, ''Trav.'' 2:241; Kitto, ''Plays. Geogr. Of Pal.'' p. 73, 88; Robinson, 2:493; 3:508; Stanley, ''S. And P.'' p. 307, 424; Wellsted. ''Trav.'' 1:426; 2:143). That this stone was not marble seems probable from the remark of Josephus, that whereas Solomon constructed his buildings of ‘ white stone,' he caused the roads which led to [[Jerusalem]] to be made of ‘ black stone,' probably the black basalt of the Hauran; and also from his account of the porticoes of Herod's temple, which he says were μονόλιθοι λευκοτήτης μαρμάρου (Josephus, Ant. 1. c., and War, v. 5, 1, 6; Kitto, ut sup. p. 74, 75, 80, 89). But whether the ‘ costly stone' employed in Solomon's buildings was marble or not, it seems clear, from the expressions both of [[Scripture]] and Josephus, that some, at least, of the ‘ great stones,' whose weight can scarcely have been less than forty tons, must have come from Lebanon (&nbsp;1 Kings 5:14-18; &nbsp;1 Kings 7:10; Josephus, ''Ant.'' 8:2, 9). There can be no doubt that Herod, both in the Temple and elsewhere, employed Parian or other marble. Remains of marble columns still exist in abundance at Jerusalem (Josephus, Ant. 15:9, 4, 6, and 11,3, 5; Williams, [[Holy]] City, 2:330; Sandys, p. 190; Robinson, 1:301, 305)." (See [[Stone]]). </p>