Roman lead pipe inscription

A Roman lead pipe inscription is a Latin inscription on Roman lead water pipes (Latin fistula aquaria ), provided the information about their manufacturers and owners, often the emperor himself as a top builder. The scarce logos were created with full text temples, the use of movable type has not been established despite conflicting hypotheses.

Manufacture of lead pipes

Lead, the mass appeared as a by-product of the ancient Silberverhüttung, was recovered in the Roman Empire with an estimated peak production of 80,000 tons per year, almost on an industrial scale. The metal was used in addition to other materials for the manufacture of water pipes in far-flung water supply network of the Romans; especially in urban areas it was used almost exclusively.

The method of manufacture of lead pipes is narrated by Vitruvius and Frontinus. The lead was first cast into plates which were then bent to a round timber and brazed at the seam. The cross section of about 3 feet long lead pipe pieces was dependent on the water flow rate of about 1.3 cm and could reach 57 cm in diameter.

Production of inscriptions

Since the 19th century frequently been put forward the hypothesis that the inscriptions were made ​​by the Romans with movable type. However, a typographical study by the typesetter and linguist Herbert Brekle recently supports the widespread assumption that there must have consistently traded at multi-word stamp: " All in all, speak tangible evidence, practical and work- economic consequences and the available data clearly for the full text stamp. hypothesis " The usual preparation method was therefore:

" A ram ( male ) with the text in high relief engraved correct side is pressed into the slightly wet sand firmly pressed or Lehmfläche the mold and results in a laterally reversed impression of the text ( template) as a low- relief. After filling with liquid lead, the inscription appears in high relief on the surface of the lead pipe. This is by far plausible hypothesis for the production of such inscriptions (full text stamp ). "

Speak for the use of stamps and against the typographic art for Brekle following reasons: considered working Technically, in the Roman method of printing a single stamp block much easier to handle than a packet of individual letters, that would be quite unstable in itself and one for the necessary internal cohesion clamp or similar construction would have required. Such a device is in the printed image as well as the little detectable for printing with movable type typical fine boundary lines between the letters. In contrast, in at least one instance occurs to place text at temples around it that is created by the impression of the peripheral edges of the stamping block, clearly.

In addition, can be so Brekle never find in the lead pipe inscriptions obtained an oblique or inclined position of single letters or their deviation from the baseline of the line, as it can happen in poor positioning of the Letter in the typographic production method. Where the printed image has slipped, the whole text move is affected, which clearly indicates the use of full-text stamps. Not least, it must be remembered that during archaeological excavations never an antique character set is come with individual letters to the fore, but probably molds with laterally inverted inscriptions, such as stamp worked.