Constantinopolitan masonry, a building technique consists of
alternating bands of brick and stone, following the example of late
Roman opus mixtus. Namely squared stone faced both the inner and
outer surfaces of the wall, and mortared rubble filled the space
between the facings. The brick would normally form a leveling
course, extending through the thickness of the wall and binding the
two faces together. This technique acquired its name from the walls
"aswar" of Constantinople, as the oldest and the most distinctive
example of which.
The walls of the famous Roman Fortress of Babylon in the
ancient district of Cairo (Misr Al-Qadima), are built in
Constantinopolitan masonry. This paradigm shows the standard
practice of this technique, namely, both the inner and the outer
surfaces of a wall correspond to each other, namely where a brick
course appears on the exterior, the same will appear in the interior.
Also the interior and exterior cornices correspond to each other, and
arcading on the exterior normally coincides with the springing of
arches and vaults in the interior.
Later, this technique is reappeared, after many centuries,
partially, in the Mamluk-Ottoman monuments as well as completely
in some of the 19th – 20th centuries' historical buildings.
This paper aims to investigate the archaeological and historical context of using this technique through its paradigms in
Egypt.