Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898), Bitūmen

Hide browse bar Your current position in the text is marked in blue. Click anywhere in the line to jump to another position:

This text is part of:

Greek and Roman Materials

View text chunked by:

Bitūmen

A word used by the Roman writers, especially Tacitus and Pliny , to indicate a species of mineral pitch or oil. The corresponding Greek word is ἄσφαλτος, the modern asphalt. It was brought chiefly from the Dead Sea (Asphaltites), and was used in building as a cement. In Syria it was quarried in solid blocks. In Zacynthus (Zante) there was and still is a pitch spring that has been at work for more than two thousand years. See Pliny, H. N. viii. 15; xxviii. 10.

Harry Thurston Peck. Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. New York. Harper and Brothers. 1898.

The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.

Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar:

Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898)

This text is part of:

View text chunked by:

Table of Contents:

Bitūmen