DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.32867#0339
SCULPTURE
307
The shaft is 3.75 m. high, .55 m. in diameter at the top and .67 at the bottom. The
base is of flat Attic profile and is carried upon a high plinth block.
west church, 606/7 A.u. The West Church is quite small; its
plan is of the ordinary type, and its main proportions are as 4 to 3,
being measured in feet of .37 rm: length 44 feet, width 33 feet.
There were five columns in each of the nave arcades. The walls
are visible only to the height of a foot above the soil; they seem to
have had better mortar in them than that used in the other churches
on this site. Three fallen doorways of cut stone were found, one
in the west wall and one in either side aisle. There is a Greek
inscription 1 upon the lintel of the south portal, which gives the date
606/7 A- D- It will be noticed that this apse and the other apses in
Mu'allak are semicircular in plan, departing from the style of the apses in Zebed.
II
SCULPTURE
ONLY two monuments of sculpture were found in this black-stone country of the
north; but these are of special interest on account of their subject, their execu-
tion, and the material in which they were made. Both are in low relief and both
adorned lintels, one of them certainly, the other probably, that of a church. The sub-
ject in both cases is the Blessed Virgin, holding the infant Christ upon her breast, and
adored by angels. This subject is of special significance in this region, where several
inscriptions relating to the Mother of God are found, and in comparison with the
country farther west, where only one example of figure sculpture of a Christian char-
acter was discovered.
Khanasir. The cruder example of these sculptures, and that which is presumably
the older of the two, was found lying near a well at Khanasir. It is a long, thin stone
broken into three pieces, which were put together when the photograph was taken.
The surface is divided into three panels by flat bands which also frame the panels.
The central member of the triptych is square and contains, in the flattest kind of relief,
the mere outlines of the head and shoulders of the Blessed Virgin, with the nimbus
about the head, and with eyes, eyebrows, nose, and mouth indicated very faintly in
relief. Upon her breast one can barely trace the outlines of the head and body of the
child, with features even more faintly indicated than the mother’s. The panels on either
1 Part III, insc. 332.
307
The shaft is 3.75 m. high, .55 m. in diameter at the top and .67 at the bottom. The
base is of flat Attic profile and is carried upon a high plinth block.
west church, 606/7 A.u. The West Church is quite small; its
plan is of the ordinary type, and its main proportions are as 4 to 3,
being measured in feet of .37 rm: length 44 feet, width 33 feet.
There were five columns in each of the nave arcades. The walls
are visible only to the height of a foot above the soil; they seem to
have had better mortar in them than that used in the other churches
on this site. Three fallen doorways of cut stone were found, one
in the west wall and one in either side aisle. There is a Greek
inscription 1 upon the lintel of the south portal, which gives the date
606/7 A- D- It will be noticed that this apse and the other apses in
Mu'allak are semicircular in plan, departing from the style of the apses in Zebed.
II
SCULPTURE
ONLY two monuments of sculpture were found in this black-stone country of the
north; but these are of special interest on account of their subject, their execu-
tion, and the material in which they were made. Both are in low relief and both
adorned lintels, one of them certainly, the other probably, that of a church. The sub-
ject in both cases is the Blessed Virgin, holding the infant Christ upon her breast, and
adored by angels. This subject is of special significance in this region, where several
inscriptions relating to the Mother of God are found, and in comparison with the
country farther west, where only one example of figure sculpture of a Christian char-
acter was discovered.
Khanasir. The cruder example of these sculptures, and that which is presumably
the older of the two, was found lying near a well at Khanasir. It is a long, thin stone
broken into three pieces, which were put together when the photograph was taken.
The surface is divided into three panels by flat bands which also frame the panels.
The central member of the triptych is square and contains, in the flattest kind of relief,
the mere outlines of the head and shoulders of the Blessed Virgin, with the nimbus
about the head, and with eyes, eyebrows, nose, and mouth indicated very faintly in
relief. Upon her breast one can barely trace the outlines of the head and body of the
child, with features even more faintly indicated than the mother’s. The panels on either
1 Part III, insc. 332.