DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.32867#0434
402
PAGAN ARCHITECTURE IN THE DJEBEE HAURAN
small rectangular window, with a bust in relief on either side of it. These busts are,
plainly, one of a man and onc of a woman ; they appear to be portraits of Roman type ;
both are badly dis-
figured ; but, in view
of the inscription in
honor of the Emperor
Philip 1 inscribed in
two different parts of
the building, I think
it is not rash to as-
sume that we have
here portraits of the
Arab emperor and his
wife Otacilia.
The interior walls
of the cella are embel-
lished with flat pilas-
ters of good Corin-
thian style, five on a
side, carrying an ar-
chitrave band, a pulvinated frieze, and a rich denticulated cornice. The same decoration
is carried into the northern chambers, which are practically parts of the cella. The
roof of the building, which was of wood, seems to have been destroyed by fire, which
has destroyed the greater part of the interior ornament.
Kanawat. basilica. 2 Late in the third century, or perhaps early in the fourth,
but still within the pagan period, the decline in architecture had gone so far in the
Hauran that builders had begun to prey upon the monuments of preceding centuries
for architectural details. This condition of things is manifest from a study of the
so-called Seraya at Kanawat, the classic portions of which have been described on
page 357. Many years after the completion of the prostyle temple, or whatever it may
have been (see page 358), a large basilica was erected immediately to the east of it,
which included the eastern wall of the more ancient building in its structure. This
building consisted of a colonnaded forecourt, or atrium, which extended along the
entire eastern wall of the old edifice, and a basilica stretching to the south, having a
semicircular apse in its south end. Before the atrium stood an octastyle portico, the
Corinthian columns of which — there being three in situ — are interesting in compari-
son with those of the portico of the adjoining building, wanting much of the beauty and
1 Part III, insc. 357.
2De Laborde, Voyage de la Syrie, Pl. 55, p. 116; La Syrie Centrale, Pls. 19, 20; Rey, Voyage dans le Haouran, Pl. V;
Porter, Five Years in Damascus, II, p. 89.
South f'a(jade of temple at Dmer, shovving busts in tympanum.
PAGAN ARCHITECTURE IN THE DJEBEE HAURAN
small rectangular window, with a bust in relief on either side of it. These busts are,
plainly, one of a man and onc of a woman ; they appear to be portraits of Roman type ;
both are badly dis-
figured ; but, in view
of the inscription in
honor of the Emperor
Philip 1 inscribed in
two different parts of
the building, I think
it is not rash to as-
sume that we have
here portraits of the
Arab emperor and his
wife Otacilia.
The interior walls
of the cella are embel-
lished with flat pilas-
ters of good Corin-
thian style, five on a
side, carrying an ar-
chitrave band, a pulvinated frieze, and a rich denticulated cornice. The same decoration
is carried into the northern chambers, which are practically parts of the cella. The
roof of the building, which was of wood, seems to have been destroyed by fire, which
has destroyed the greater part of the interior ornament.
Kanawat. basilica. 2 Late in the third century, or perhaps early in the fourth,
but still within the pagan period, the decline in architecture had gone so far in the
Hauran that builders had begun to prey upon the monuments of preceding centuries
for architectural details. This condition of things is manifest from a study of the
so-called Seraya at Kanawat, the classic portions of which have been described on
page 357. Many years after the completion of the prostyle temple, or whatever it may
have been (see page 358), a large basilica was erected immediately to the east of it,
which included the eastern wall of the more ancient building in its structure. This
building consisted of a colonnaded forecourt, or atrium, which extended along the
entire eastern wall of the old edifice, and a basilica stretching to the south, having a
semicircular apse in its south end. Before the atrium stood an octastyle portico, the
Corinthian columns of which — there being three in situ — are interesting in compari-
son with those of the portico of the adjoining building, wanting much of the beauty and
1 Part III, insc. 357.
2De Laborde, Voyage de la Syrie, Pl. 55, p. 116; La Syrie Centrale, Pls. 19, 20; Rey, Voyage dans le Haouran, Pl. V;
Porter, Five Years in Damascus, II, p. 89.
South f'a(jade of temple at Dmer, shovving busts in tympanum.