[ProtectOurFreedom]

"...by the time I read it and pulled out a few more volumes to get the related subjects, I’d forgotten what I’d originally wondered about."

I remember that well! But, now that old age is upon me, I get to relive that every day. "Now why did I come to the bedroom?"

"...the quarry of Mons Porphyrites"

That was mentioned in the article I was reading: "the only known source of the purple "imperial" variety of porphyry in the world." I'd never even heard of it before. Isn't it beautiful?

[SunkenCiv]

Yeah, I want a slab of that for my grave marker. Not yet, but eventually.

[j.havenfarm]

Have you seen “Nero’s bathtub”? From the same extinct quarry. Valued at $2 billion. The room where it sits at the Vatican was built around it. Just stunning
https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-emperor-neros-marble-bathtub-16728626.html?imageid=2C6059FA-CAD6-4EB3-B71F-36DCFC699632&pn=1&searchId=1f4bc3ace49ba612a79ed3a858ee4b43&searchtype=0