DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.32867#0162
CHAPTER V
ARCHITECTURE OF THE FIFTH CENTURY
THE builders of the fifth century in Northern Syria were even more considerate of
the archaeologists of the twentieth than those of the fourth had been. Dated
buildings of every description are found here: four churches, a baptistery, a public
bath, a number of private houses, and tombs of many kinds. With the aid of these
dated buildings of every class, it is not difficult to find an approximate date for many
others which have no dated inscriptions upon them. The buildings of this century do
not dififer materially from those of the century preceding. The methods of construc-
tion are practically the same: the general plan and arrangement of churches, houses,
and tombs is not altered, and the unit of measurement remains unchanged. In the
churches, however, we find that the scheme of proportions has been changed from the
relation 3 : 2 or 5 : 3 to that of 4:3; the width of the nave is not always equal to a
specific number of intercolumniations, and the engaged columns, so common at the
ends of the nave arcades of fourth-century churches, are replaced by rectangular
responds. But it is in the ornament of buildings of all kinds that we discover the most
striking changes. New and strange styles of capitals are introduced ; in the larger
portals, bands of rich ornament are employed with the moldings, and a rich symbol-
ism, pervasively Christian, appears in all forms of ornament. The strange elements,
foreign to classic art, which appeared in the century before, and which, as has been
said, may be the artistic expression of the Aramean influence heralded by the Syriac
inscriptions which now begin to appear, are more and more in evidence, finding ex-
pression in the new forms of capitals, in the bands of ornament inserted between the
moldings, in carved pulvinated friezes, and in cornices of varied forms, while classic
models are less and less frequently used as the new style develops. The rectangular
window opening in buildings of importance now gives way almost entirely to the
curved-topped window, a semicircle being cut in the lintel to give the effect of an
arch, the rectangular form being retained chiefly, though not entirely, for secular build-
ings. The coupled window, either rectangular or round-topped, with an engaged
colonnette between the openings, becomes more common, and a relieving-arch,
either true or false, is often introduced above the broader doorways. This arch is
130
ARCHITECTURE OF THE FIFTH CENTURY
THE builders of the fifth century in Northern Syria were even more considerate of
the archaeologists of the twentieth than those of the fourth had been. Dated
buildings of every description are found here: four churches, a baptistery, a public
bath, a number of private houses, and tombs of many kinds. With the aid of these
dated buildings of every class, it is not difficult to find an approximate date for many
others which have no dated inscriptions upon them. The buildings of this century do
not dififer materially from those of the century preceding. The methods of construc-
tion are practically the same: the general plan and arrangement of churches, houses,
and tombs is not altered, and the unit of measurement remains unchanged. In the
churches, however, we find that the scheme of proportions has been changed from the
relation 3 : 2 or 5 : 3 to that of 4:3; the width of the nave is not always equal to a
specific number of intercolumniations, and the engaged columns, so common at the
ends of the nave arcades of fourth-century churches, are replaced by rectangular
responds. But it is in the ornament of buildings of all kinds that we discover the most
striking changes. New and strange styles of capitals are introduced ; in the larger
portals, bands of rich ornament are employed with the moldings, and a rich symbol-
ism, pervasively Christian, appears in all forms of ornament. The strange elements,
foreign to classic art, which appeared in the century before, and which, as has been
said, may be the artistic expression of the Aramean influence heralded by the Syriac
inscriptions which now begin to appear, are more and more in evidence, finding ex-
pression in the new forms of capitals, in the bands of ornament inserted between the
moldings, in carved pulvinated friezes, and in cornices of varied forms, while classic
models are less and less frequently used as the new style develops. The rectangular
window opening in buildings of importance now gives way almost entirely to the
curved-topped window, a semicircle being cut in the lintel to give the effect of an
arch, the rectangular form being retained chiefly, though not entirely, for secular build-
ings. The coupled window, either rectangular or round-topped, with an engaged
colonnette between the openings, becomes more common, and a relieving-arch,
either true or false, is often introduced above the broader doorways. This arch is
130