empolium

empolium Empolia

A square shaped shallow niche carved at the center point of a column drum, used to hold blocks and pegs that bound the drums together.

Description: An approximately square, shallow (inches deep) niche was carved on both sides of a column drum. The square was centered such that its center was in line with the center of the drum. Each niche was then filled with a block. On one side of the drum the block had a peg protruding from its center, on the other side of the drum the block had a hole at its center, instead of a peg. When the drums were stacked the "peg" side of a drum was fitted into the "hole" side of the above, or lower, whichever the case may have been, drum.

• Drum