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PAVEMENT (Lat. pavimentu;n, a floor b...

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Originally appearing in Volume V20, Page 970 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PAVEMENT (See also:Lat. pavimentu;n, a See also:floor beaten or rammed hard, from pavire, to See also:beat)  , a See also:term originally applied to the covering of a road or pathway with some durable material, and so used of the paved footway at the See also:side of a See also:street—the "side-walk " as opposed to the roadway proper . The term is also extended to the interior See also:floor of churches and public buildings . It is probable that the earliest pavements consisted only of rammed See also:clay, as in the " beehive " tombs of See also:Mycenae, or of See also:cement or See also:stucco decorated with lines in coloured See also:marbles, such as those mentioned in the See also:Book of See also:Esther (vi . 1) in the See also:palace at See also:Susa . W . M . See also:Flinders See also:Petrie discovered at Tell el' Amarna in the palace of Akhenaton the remains of a stucco See also:pavement, decorated with foliage, See also:flowers, birds, &c., and a See also:complete naturalistic treatment . The See also:threshold of the doors of the See also:Assyrian palaces were of See also:stone carved with patterns in See also:imitation of those in a See also:carpet . The pavements of See also:Greek temples were either in stone or See also:marble, and at See also:Olympia the pronaos of the See also:temple of See also:Zeus was laid in See also:mosaic representing tritons, and the floor of the naos was in coloured marbles . The See also:Roman pavements were invariably in mosaic, sometimes of a very elaborate nature, as in the See also:House of the Faun at See also:Pompeii, where the mosaic represented the See also:battle of Issus between See also:Alexander the See also:Great and See also:Darius III., a See also:reproduction probably of some Greek See also:painting of the See also:period . In See also:Rome the palaces on the See also:Palatine See also:Hill and the thermae were all paved with mosaic, and numerous pavements have been found in See also:Carthage, many of which are in the See also:British Museum, as are also examples from the Roman villas in See also:England . Perhaps the richest Roman pavements outside See also:Italy are those at Treves in See also:Germany .

The Roman tradition was continued by the See also:

Byzantine architects, who, throughout the See also:East, paved their churches with mosaics, frequently of the same See also:design and See also:execution as those of the See also:Romans, but with See also:Christian symbols . The churches of the Romanesque, See also:Gothic and See also:Renaissance periods were all paved in marble, but of a different See also:character from those of the earlier period (see MOSAIC) .

End of Article: PAVEMENT (Lat. pavimentu;n, a floor beaten or rammed hard, from pavire, to beat)
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