DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45927#0046
44
2. BUILDING DESCRIPTION
2.3.6 Corridor
The long narrow space between the scene wall and the rear wall of the Basilica had, at least in its initial state,
no special architectural treatment, and probably served no special function connected with either of the two
buildings it separated (plan 1; 7; pls. 30, 2; 40, 1). A short wall joined the west pier with the Basilica (pl. 43, 1)
preventing direct access from the clivus sacer. As the locking devices in the doorways of both buildings would
have been superfluous with an open passage, we can assume that this wall or a predecessor was an original fea-
ture of the plan. Made of rough stones set in mortar, the wall is 0.20 m thick and preserved to a height of 1.00 m.
The opposite end of the space is less well defined as it lies at the edge of the excavated area (pl. 40, 1).
The most important feature of this space is the drain (plan 1; pl. 40, 1), ca.1.90 m deep and 0.30 m wide,
running down the middle which must, at some point, have served to catch the rainwater from the roofs of the
buildings on both sides (plan 7) while carrying off water from the Baths on the Upper Agora immediately to
the east. Made of unshaped stones laid flat without mortar, its walls undulate in plan. Incorporated into its
northern side is a boulder ca. 1.10 m wide and 0.85 m high. Worked to a level upper surface, it underlies the
buttress behind pedestal 2 at a level +45.05 m above sea-level beneath the paving of the pulpitum. These rough
walls have been seen as belonging to the foundations of the two buildings flanking them, but they appear to
have served merely as revetment for the earthen sides of the channel. The slabs that today cover stretches of the
drain, providing a precarious footing for those entering the Bouleuterion, are not original but replace a more
regular series removed during excavations in 1966.
On his restored plan of the Bouleuterion, J. T. Wood indicated corridors formed by short walls connecting
the five pairs of doorways giving access from the Basilica (pl. 4, 2). Traces of one of these walls flank the
low eastern doorway on its western side, and E. Fossel’s photographs show several more.77 These must have
served to hide the rough masonry surfaces and at the same time to support canopies that permitted passage
in rainy weather. It is likely that these were in ruins when the rear wall was hidden behind a brick revetment.
The springing of a brick arch on the western side of the easternmost buttress (pl. 43, 2) indicates that the broad
spaces between the buttresses were made into alcoves of a blind arcade. In the brickwork of one of these, Fos-
sel noted a segment of terracotta pipe which she believed to have been part of a drainage system connected
with the roof.78 Large limestone pavers are preserved between the buttresses which flank the first stage door.
2.4 The Tall Arched Doorways
The outer retaining wall was pierced at the ends of the parodoi by tall arched doorways which allowed direct
access to the Baths on the Upper Agora to the east (plan 3; pl. 32, 1) and the official buildings lining the clivus
sacer on the west (pl. 43, 3). A short flight of steps (pl. 40, 2) made up the difference in level of 0.55 m be-
tween the outer ends of the two parodoi of the Bouleuterion and these buildings which rested on broad terraces
about 0.90 m above the Basilica. The eastern doorway was 1.46 m wide and 3.00 m high (up to the impost
capital), the western doorway 1.66 m wide and 2.80 m high. Both doorways have unmolded jambs 0.44 m
wide and 1.06-1.08 m deep which are built in segments of unequal height. At the upper ends of the jambs
impost capitals with crown moldings on three sides supported keystone arches of five voussoirs carved with
fascias moldings on both faces (pls. 16, 1; 41, 1).
The top of the second step of the western doorway was level with the stylobate of the Rhodian Peristyle. A
third step, apparently added to serve as a threshold, bears at least two sets of cuttings for doorposts (pl. 40, 2).
The south impost was cut in near its outer face to receive the top of a doorpost or frame which was strengthened
near the top and bottom by metal elements anchored in small rectangular holes in the jamb. Double door leaves
could be secured from the inside by a bar that was inserted into a socket in the northern jamb and lowered into
a curving groove opposite. Rectangular holes in the intrados of the arch supported a semicircular grate that
rested on the impost blocks. A photograph shows this doorway blocked by a well-made wall constructed of
stone and brick in mortar plastered on the inside, which seems to belong to a late, probably Byzantine phase
(pl. 46, 2).
77 Fossel 1967, passim.
78 Fossel 1967, 75; Meinel 1980, 125.
2. BUILDING DESCRIPTION
2.3.6 Corridor
The long narrow space between the scene wall and the rear wall of the Basilica had, at least in its initial state,
no special architectural treatment, and probably served no special function connected with either of the two
buildings it separated (plan 1; 7; pls. 30, 2; 40, 1). A short wall joined the west pier with the Basilica (pl. 43, 1)
preventing direct access from the clivus sacer. As the locking devices in the doorways of both buildings would
have been superfluous with an open passage, we can assume that this wall or a predecessor was an original fea-
ture of the plan. Made of rough stones set in mortar, the wall is 0.20 m thick and preserved to a height of 1.00 m.
The opposite end of the space is less well defined as it lies at the edge of the excavated area (pl. 40, 1).
The most important feature of this space is the drain (plan 1; pl. 40, 1), ca.1.90 m deep and 0.30 m wide,
running down the middle which must, at some point, have served to catch the rainwater from the roofs of the
buildings on both sides (plan 7) while carrying off water from the Baths on the Upper Agora immediately to
the east. Made of unshaped stones laid flat without mortar, its walls undulate in plan. Incorporated into its
northern side is a boulder ca. 1.10 m wide and 0.85 m high. Worked to a level upper surface, it underlies the
buttress behind pedestal 2 at a level +45.05 m above sea-level beneath the paving of the pulpitum. These rough
walls have been seen as belonging to the foundations of the two buildings flanking them, but they appear to
have served merely as revetment for the earthen sides of the channel. The slabs that today cover stretches of the
drain, providing a precarious footing for those entering the Bouleuterion, are not original but replace a more
regular series removed during excavations in 1966.
On his restored plan of the Bouleuterion, J. T. Wood indicated corridors formed by short walls connecting
the five pairs of doorways giving access from the Basilica (pl. 4, 2). Traces of one of these walls flank the
low eastern doorway on its western side, and E. Fossel’s photographs show several more.77 These must have
served to hide the rough masonry surfaces and at the same time to support canopies that permitted passage
in rainy weather. It is likely that these were in ruins when the rear wall was hidden behind a brick revetment.
The springing of a brick arch on the western side of the easternmost buttress (pl. 43, 2) indicates that the broad
spaces between the buttresses were made into alcoves of a blind arcade. In the brickwork of one of these, Fos-
sel noted a segment of terracotta pipe which she believed to have been part of a drainage system connected
with the roof.78 Large limestone pavers are preserved between the buttresses which flank the first stage door.
2.4 The Tall Arched Doorways
The outer retaining wall was pierced at the ends of the parodoi by tall arched doorways which allowed direct
access to the Baths on the Upper Agora to the east (plan 3; pl. 32, 1) and the official buildings lining the clivus
sacer on the west (pl. 43, 3). A short flight of steps (pl. 40, 2) made up the difference in level of 0.55 m be-
tween the outer ends of the two parodoi of the Bouleuterion and these buildings which rested on broad terraces
about 0.90 m above the Basilica. The eastern doorway was 1.46 m wide and 3.00 m high (up to the impost
capital), the western doorway 1.66 m wide and 2.80 m high. Both doorways have unmolded jambs 0.44 m
wide and 1.06-1.08 m deep which are built in segments of unequal height. At the upper ends of the jambs
impost capitals with crown moldings on three sides supported keystone arches of five voussoirs carved with
fascias moldings on both faces (pls. 16, 1; 41, 1).
The top of the second step of the western doorway was level with the stylobate of the Rhodian Peristyle. A
third step, apparently added to serve as a threshold, bears at least two sets of cuttings for doorposts (pl. 40, 2).
The south impost was cut in near its outer face to receive the top of a doorpost or frame which was strengthened
near the top and bottom by metal elements anchored in small rectangular holes in the jamb. Double door leaves
could be secured from the inside by a bar that was inserted into a socket in the northern jamb and lowered into
a curving groove opposite. Rectangular holes in the intrados of the arch supported a semicircular grate that
rested on the impost blocks. A photograph shows this doorway blocked by a well-made wall constructed of
stone and brick in mortar plastered on the inside, which seems to belong to a late, probably Byzantine phase
(pl. 46, 2).
77 Fossel 1967, passim.
78 Fossel 1967, 75; Meinel 1980, 125.
