DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.32867#0301
VARIOUS BUILDINGS
269
(1) The apparatus of the simple press consists of a rectangular vat, 30 to 40 cm.
deep, provided with a huge stone roller tapering slightly toward the ends. Beside
this is a smaller vat, circular or rectangular, presumably for water, and a deep, gourd-
shaped cistern, ordinarily about 1.50 m. in diameter at its widest point, and a meter or
less wide at its mouth. This connects with the side of the vat near the bottom, by
means of a small bore which appears in the cistern, with a lip from which the oil or
juice would drop instead of running down the side. This cistern was covered by a
large, flat, circular stone which fitted into its neck and was raised upon socket hinges.
In many cases there is a wall of natural rock or a built wall at one end of the vat; this
has a smooth surface and contains a niche for the wooden machinery for working the
press. No remnants of this machinery were found.
(2) In the second type the press described above is surrounded on three sides by
monolithic piers supporting an architrave, the fourth side being occupied by a wall in
which there is cut a rectangular niche
with several wedge-shaped slots, like that
described above. Examples of this kind
of press are to be found at Kirk Beza,
Kfer, Babiska, Behyo, Kokanaya, Dju-
waniyeh, and elsewhere. At Kfer and
Kirk Beza the rectangular piers have
capitals in the form of inverted truncated
pyramids adorned with simple crosses.
(3) MAr Saba. press. 1 Thebestex-
ample of the third form is found at Mar
Saba, near the head of the valley be-
tween the Djebel il-A‘la and the Djebel Barisha. This is the rock-hewn press pub-
lished by M. de Vogiie, and contains an inscription in Greek which is one of the
formulas used in funeral inscriptions. 2 The excavation consists of two rock-hewn
chambers, a large outer apartment and a small inner chamber at the rear. There is a
niche, with a semicircular top, on the right wall of the larger chamber as you enter,
and one beside the doorway in the rear wall. The inscription, which appears above
the niche on the right, would indicate that the excavation was originally made for a
tomb. The tomb, made perhaps in pagan times, may have been converted into a
wine-press in the fifth or sixth centuries. Some Syriac graffiti 3 which appear below
the Greek inscription belong, in Dr. Littmann’s opinion, to the later period.
Press at Kirk Beza.
(4) Bashmishli. press. We found a small but interesting example of the fourth
type of press in a perfect state of preservation at Bashmishli, near the north end of the
‘La Syrie Centrale, Pl. 113. ” Part III, insc. 42. 3Part IV, Syr. inscs. 4 ancl 5.
269
(1) The apparatus of the simple press consists of a rectangular vat, 30 to 40 cm.
deep, provided with a huge stone roller tapering slightly toward the ends. Beside
this is a smaller vat, circular or rectangular, presumably for water, and a deep, gourd-
shaped cistern, ordinarily about 1.50 m. in diameter at its widest point, and a meter or
less wide at its mouth. This connects with the side of the vat near the bottom, by
means of a small bore which appears in the cistern, with a lip from which the oil or
juice would drop instead of running down the side. This cistern was covered by a
large, flat, circular stone which fitted into its neck and was raised upon socket hinges.
In many cases there is a wall of natural rock or a built wall at one end of the vat; this
has a smooth surface and contains a niche for the wooden machinery for working the
press. No remnants of this machinery were found.
(2) In the second type the press described above is surrounded on three sides by
monolithic piers supporting an architrave, the fourth side being occupied by a wall in
which there is cut a rectangular niche
with several wedge-shaped slots, like that
described above. Examples of this kind
of press are to be found at Kirk Beza,
Kfer, Babiska, Behyo, Kokanaya, Dju-
waniyeh, and elsewhere. At Kfer and
Kirk Beza the rectangular piers have
capitals in the form of inverted truncated
pyramids adorned with simple crosses.
(3) MAr Saba. press. 1 Thebestex-
ample of the third form is found at Mar
Saba, near the head of the valley be-
tween the Djebel il-A‘la and the Djebel Barisha. This is the rock-hewn press pub-
lished by M. de Vogiie, and contains an inscription in Greek which is one of the
formulas used in funeral inscriptions. 2 The excavation consists of two rock-hewn
chambers, a large outer apartment and a small inner chamber at the rear. There is a
niche, with a semicircular top, on the right wall of the larger chamber as you enter,
and one beside the doorway in the rear wall. The inscription, which appears above
the niche on the right, would indicate that the excavation was originally made for a
tomb. The tomb, made perhaps in pagan times, may have been converted into a
wine-press in the fifth or sixth centuries. Some Syriac graffiti 3 which appear below
the Greek inscription belong, in Dr. Littmann’s opinion, to the later period.
Press at Kirk Beza.
(4) Bashmishli. press. We found a small but interesting example of the fourth
type of press in a perfect state of preservation at Bashmishli, near the north end of the
‘La Syrie Centrale, Pl. 113. ” Part III, insc. 42. 3Part IV, Syr. inscs. 4 ancl 5.