DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.32867#0435
ROMAN PERIOD
403
refinement of these older examples, as may be seen in the lack of entasis in the shaft,
in the lower proportions of the capitals, and in the cruder workmanship of the details.
They are, in fact, very similar to the columns of the hexastyle temple at Shehba, which
probably belongs to the middle of the third century. This portico was not set on the
line of that of the temple structure, but about two meters behind it. It seems to have
had but seven columns, the intercolumniations of which are arranged in octastyle
fashion, the architrave at the west end of the portico resting upon the anta wall of the
portico of the adjoining building. Three doorways led from the portico into the
atrium, which was slightly longer than broad and had columns on all sides. There
were four widely spaced columns on the ends, and seven on the sides, counting the
corner columns twice. The two intermediate columns of the north end, with broad
intercolumniations, and presumably the corresponding columns of the south end, were
exactly similar to those of the portico without; but the columns of the sides of the court
— of which six on the east and two 011 the west are standing with architraves above
them—are of a style which is new and strange, but one which resembles the Doric
rather than any other order. Each consists of a pedestal with simple splay-faced base
and cap, a tall shaft molded with a torus and a broad cavetto at its base, and a flat,
square capital of right-lined profile that follows roughly the lines of a Doric capital.
Above these is a perfectly plain architrave, with two or three courses of stone still
preserved above it at several points. It was at the time of the building of this atrium,
apparently, that the east wall of the older structurewas piercedwith the triplewindow (d),
‘ From La Syrie Centrale, Pl. 19.
403
refinement of these older examples, as may be seen in the lack of entasis in the shaft,
in the lower proportions of the capitals, and in the cruder workmanship of the details.
They are, in fact, very similar to the columns of the hexastyle temple at Shehba, which
probably belongs to the middle of the third century. This portico was not set on the
line of that of the temple structure, but about two meters behind it. It seems to have
had but seven columns, the intercolumniations of which are arranged in octastyle
fashion, the architrave at the west end of the portico resting upon the anta wall of the
portico of the adjoining building. Three doorways led from the portico into the
atrium, which was slightly longer than broad and had columns on all sides. There
were four widely spaced columns on the ends, and seven on the sides, counting the
corner columns twice. The two intermediate columns of the north end, with broad
intercolumniations, and presumably the corresponding columns of the south end, were
exactly similar to those of the portico without; but the columns of the sides of the court
— of which six on the east and two 011 the west are standing with architraves above
them—are of a style which is new and strange, but one which resembles the Doric
rather than any other order. Each consists of a pedestal with simple splay-faced base
and cap, a tall shaft molded with a torus and a broad cavetto at its base, and a flat,
square capital of right-lined profile that follows roughly the lines of a Doric capital.
Above these is a perfectly plain architrave, with two or three courses of stone still
preserved above it at several points. It was at the time of the building of this atrium,
apparently, that the east wall of the older structurewas piercedwith the triplewindow (d),
‘ From La Syrie Centrale, Pl. 19.