In architecture, a socle is a short plinth used to support a pedestal, sculpture, or column. In English, the term tends to be most used for the bases for rather small sculptures, with plinth or pedestal preferred for larger examples.[1] This is not the case in French.
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In the field of archaeology this term refers to a wall base, frequently of stone, that supports the upper part of the wall, which is made of a different material – frequently mudbrick. This was a typical building practice in ancient Greece, resulting in the frequent preservation of the plans of ancient buildings only in their stone-built lower walls, as at the city of Olynthos.[2] A very early example is the two-storey fortified House of the Tiles at Lerna in the Peloponnese, built of mud-brick over a stone socle, with much use of wood, and clay for the floors and as stucco for the walls. This dates to the Early Helladic II, of four thousand years ago.
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In Pompeian interior painting styles, the socle is the lowest zone of wall painting in all four style periods.[3]
References
edit- ^ As defined in Merriam Webster Online Dictionary.
- ^ Maher, Matthew P, The Fortifications of Arkadian City States in the Classical and Hellenistic Periods, p. 36, 2017, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0191090204, 9780191090202, google books
- ^ Clarke, John R., The Houses of Roman Italy, 100 B.C.-A.D. 250, Ritual, Space, and Decoration, University of California Press, 1991.
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