The word for a tile, tegula, is derived from tegere, to cover, or, as Isidorus says, they are so called quod aedes tegant[[2442]]; the curved roof-tiles were known as imbrices because they received rain-showers (imbres). The maker of roof-tiles was known as tegularius[[2443]] or figulus ab imbricibus.[[2444]] Tegulae or flat roof-tiles were usually made with vertical flanges (2½ inches high) down the sides, and these flanges, which fitted into one another longitudinally, when placed side by side served to hold the covering-tiles placed over them. There were also roof-tiles known as tegulae deliciares[[2445]] and colliciares, which formed the arrangement underneath the surface of the roof by means of which the water was collected from the tegulae and carried off in the front through spouts in the form of lions’ heads.[[2446]]
Besides the various rectangular forms we find triangular tiles used, either equilateral or right-angled; semicircular or curved tiles, used for circular walls, ovens, tombs, and cornices, or other parts of buildings; cylindrical tiles (tubuli fictiles),[[2447]] which were used for drains and conduits; and, finally, the rectangular hollow flue-tiles, employed for hot air in hypocausts.[[2448]] Another form was the tegula mammata, a plain square tile with four knobs or breast-like projections (mammae), which was often used in party-walls with the object of keeping out damp.[[2449]] The tiles were inserted by the points of the projections into the concrete, thus leaving a space between in which the warm air could circulate freely.
Existing examples of tiles are composed of a compact dense clay, less fine than that of the bricks, and of a pale salmon or light straw colour when baked. They were probably made in moulds—but these may only have been a couple of boards placed together—and after being dried in the sun were baked in kilns. The flanged tiles were, of course, produced by turning up the edges before drying. Besides the arrangement described above, it is probable that roofs were sometimes tiled in the manner prevalent in the present day, with flat or curved tiles overlapping like scales; and for this purpose the tiles seem to have been pierced with holes at one corner, and so attached to one another. The same method obtained in the Roman villas in Britain, except that Stonesfield slate was used in place of tiles. An inscription found at Niederbrunnen in Germany speaks of attegia tegulicia, or huts roofed with tiles, erected in honour of Mercury.[[2450]]
Tiles with turned-up edges or flanged tiles were principally employed, as has been indicated, for roofing; but some were also placed in walls where required, especially where a space was required for the passage of air.[[2451]] They were also employed for the floors of bath-rooms, in which case they were laid on the pilae of the hypocaust in an inverted position, and the cement flooring was laid upon them. The flanges are generally about 2¼ inches higher than the lower surface of the tile; they are bevelled on the inner side in order to diminish the diameter of the imbrex, but have no holes for nailing to the rafters. The ends of the sides were cut away in order that the lower edge of one tile might rest on the upper edge of the one adjoining. Those found in France are said to be distinguished by the sand and stones found in their composition.[[2452]] There are flange tiles of red and yellow clay from the Roman Thermae at Saintes in the Museum of Sèvres, and others from ancient potteries at Milhac de Nontron, as well as tiles of red clay from Palmyra.[[2453]] In the military castra in England flange tiles of a red or yellow colour have been found, the latter with fragments of red tiles mixed in the clay. They are also often found in the ruins of villas. A flange tile from Boxmoor, Herts, now in the British Museum, measures 15½ by 12 inches, the flange being 2¼ inches high; and it will be seen that these dimensions correspond roughly with the tegulae bipedales. Flanged tiles with holes in them appear to have been used at Pompeii for lighting passages, the flanges serving to keep out rain.[[2454]]
The imbrices or covering-tiles which held the flat tiles together, thus rendering the roof compact, were quite plain, with the exception of the end ones over the gutters. These were in the form of antefixal ornaments like the Greek examples (Vol. I. p. [98]), an upright semi-oval termination ornamented with a relief or painted pattern, with an arched support at the back. Many examples exist at Pompeii (see below), Ostia,[[2455]] and elsewhere; but artistically they are far inferior to the Greek examples, and of simpler design. Most of them have a simple palmette or acanthus pattern in low relief, but on or below this an ideal head or the head of a deity is sometimes added, such as Zeus Ammon, Medusa, a Bacchic head, or a mask, or even a figure of Victory. Of the last-named there is a good specimen in the British Museum (D 690 = Fig. [191]); she carries a trophy from the battle of Actium, and stands on a globe from which spring two Capricorns (the symbol of Augustus).[[2456]]
FIG. 191. ROMAN TERRACOTTA ANTEFIX: VICTORY WITH TROPHY
(BRITISH MUSEUM).
No better example of the various uses of ornamental tiles in architecture can be selected than the remains found at Pompeii, which are exceedingly numerous. Terracotta seems to have been used here especially for such parts of the decoration as were exposed to wet, as well-mouths, gutters, and antefixal tiles.[[2457]] A characteristic feature of the decoration of Pompeian houses was the trough-like gutter which surrounded and formed an ornamental cornice to the compluvium or open skylight of the atrium and peristyle, through and from which the rain-water was collected in the impluvium or tank sunk in the ground below. These were adorned with spouts in the form of animals’ heads or foreparts,[[2458]] usually lions and dogs, with borders of palmettes between; the gutter behind was virtually a long tank of square section.
Antefixes and gutter-cornices, where they occur, must always be regarded as serving ornamental rather than necessary purposes. All early work in terracotta at Pompeii is of coarse clay, but good execution; later, the reverse is the case. The only public building in which many remains of terracotta tiles and cornices have been preserved is the temple of Isis; but the Basilica may also have had terracotta decoration. Many fragments also remain from private houses, some actually in situ, having been neglected by early explorers as unimportant. In the house of Sallust a kymation cornice from one of the garden courts has scenic masks forming the spouts; this is not earlier than the rebuilding of the house A.D. 63. There is also much terracotta work in the house of the Faun.[[2459]] Comic masks were used both as spouts and as antefixes, the exaggerated mouth of the mask serving admirably for the former purpose.[[2460]] These date from the reigns of Nero and Vespasian, and all seem to be from the same fabric, although there is considerable variety in the types; the use of masks for these purposes is not earlier than Nero’s reign (cf. the house of Sallust, above). Besides the ornaments above mentioned the patterns on the cornices include palmettes and floral scrolls, dolphins and Gryphons.