DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.32867#0047
THE MONUMENTS
17
The tendency in the treatment of ornament in the Hauran during the classic period
seems to have been more and more toward naturalistic effects; rinceaux of foliate
design were treated with great freedom and realism, and even primarily geometrical
patterns like the Greek fret were interspersed with flowing foliage and flowers or with
realistic figure-sculpture. In the northern region during the post-classical period, on
the contrary, the tendency was to conventionalize, and, though the ornament was
treated with great richness and beauty of detail, all foliage was drawn in more or less
geometrical fashion, without becoming flat or uninteresting, and even animal figures,
such as peacocks, were introduced in bisymmetrical conventionality.
Racial and religious differences are particularly conspicuous in the ornament. For
example, let us take the symbol of the grape-vine, which is the most common pattern
in the pre-Roman and classic carvings of the Ilauran. This symbol practically
disappears in the Christian period in that country. Only five or six examples of it
were found in the limestone region of the north — one probably late classic, the others
certainly Christian of the sixth century; but in the basalt region of the north it is
very prevalent, being, in fact, almost the only pattern in Christian carving, and there
are no remains of pagan architecture by which one may judge.
17
The tendency in the treatment of ornament in the Hauran during the classic period
seems to have been more and more toward naturalistic effects; rinceaux of foliate
design were treated with great freedom and realism, and even primarily geometrical
patterns like the Greek fret were interspersed with flowing foliage and flowers or with
realistic figure-sculpture. In the northern region during the post-classical period, on
the contrary, the tendency was to conventionalize, and, though the ornament was
treated with great richness and beauty of detail, all foliage was drawn in more or less
geometrical fashion, without becoming flat or uninteresting, and even animal figures,
such as peacocks, were introduced in bisymmetrical conventionality.
Racial and religious differences are particularly conspicuous in the ornament. For
example, let us take the symbol of the grape-vine, which is the most common pattern
in the pre-Roman and classic carvings of the Ilauran. This symbol practically
disappears in the Christian period in that country. Only five or six examples of it
were found in the limestone region of the north — one probably late classic, the others
certainly Christian of the sixth century; but in the basalt region of the north it is
very prevalent, being, in fact, almost the only pattern in Christian carving, and there
are no remains of pagan architecture by which one may judge.