DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26282#0035
Chapter Two
THE OLDEST STRUCTURES ON THE SITE
2.1. The Mud Church
The Mud Church was undoubtedly the oldest
building identified on the central part of the kom
inside the fortifications. There is no certainty,
however, that investigations carried out in the last
days before the crew had to abandon Faras
actually reached a depth sufficient to determine
that the Mud Church was indeed the first
complex of architecture erected on sterile ground.
Only the eastern and central sections of the church
were explored, inside the confines of the Paulos
Cathedral and in the western part of the cathedral
naos, where a wall was identified as the partition
between the naos and narthex (?) of the Mud
Church.
The Mud Church (Gartkiewicz’s Church
No. 1) was built of mud brick, presumably
following a basilican layout, but the reconstruc-
tion of the plan suggested by Michalowski (f 967:
48-49) [cf. Fig. 8a] is uncertain as the apse with
passages to the lateral pastophoria was built
entirely of mud brick, while the western part
and the southeastern corner of the structure
incorporated into the reconstruction all have
broken-stone foundations. The difference in
building material is possibly an indication of
two separate building phases, presumably repre-
senting successive edifices erected on the site.
This is particularly well visible at the southern
edge of the cathedral apse, where a broken-stone
foundation cuts across a transversal wall of mud
brick [cf. Fig. 7],
A study of this complex requires a more detail-
ed discussion, which will also take into considera-
tion the civil architecture found to the north and
west of it; it will appear under separate cover.
The biggest controversy so far has been the
dating of the Mud Church. Michafowski (1967:
53) and Jakobielski (1972: 20) placed it in the
middle of the 5th century, in the period preceding
the official conversion of Nobadia to Christianity.
Grossmann (1971: 331-335) found no grounds
for such a dating and moved the building of the
church into the middle of the 6th century, a date
that is clearly more justifiable (Torok 1988: 69-
73; Godlewski 1992.1: 115).
2.2. Church No. 2
This structure, which Michalowski failed to
separate out, was identified by Gartkiewicz
(1986: 250-252, Fig. 17) based on photographs
and field notes. It was a building raised on
broken-stone foundations with walls made of
well-dressed and fitted sandstone blocks. Gart-
kiewicz suggested that it was a three-aisled
basilica with a narrow apse connected with side
passages leading to the pastophoria. The footings
of broken stone discovered inside the naos of the
Cathedral of Paulos are associated with Church
No. 2, as are the ruins of a south wall, which
served - barring a slight deviation at the western
end - as the foundation under the south wall of
the Cathedral of Aetios [cf. Fig. 12],
Gartkiewicz’s observations, as well as his
reconstruction of the plan on the grounds of
surviving relics, seems persuasive, unlike his
poorly documented argument for associating the
eagle frieze (see below, p. 37) with this church.
Flis dating of the structure to the first half of the
7th century also seems a bit late and supported by
nothing but the eagle frieze. In truth of the
matter, there is no dating evidence for this church
aside from its position in the architectural
sequence of buildings identified on the kom. It
may have been contemporary with the Faras
fortifications and the residential architecture to
the west of the cathedral (Michalowski 1962: 74-
79). The broken-stone wall bond is identical with
that of the footing cleared inside the cathedral
naos. As for its destruction, it may have occurred
at the same time when the fortifications and stone
houses near the western gate were ruined,
possibly in the Sassanid invasion of c. 620 (God-
lewski 2004: 58). The considerable number of
Pharaonic blocks found west of the cathedral
(Karkowski 1980: 1986) could have originated
from the fresh ruins.
The reconstructed section of the plan of
Church No. 2 Gartkiewicz compared with the
Old Church at Qasr Ibrim, believing the two
structures to be contemporary. There is nothing
to permit an identification of this building as the
first cathedral ever built at Pachoras except the
PAM Supplement Series 1
31
THE OLDEST STRUCTURES ON THE SITE
2.1. The Mud Church
The Mud Church was undoubtedly the oldest
building identified on the central part of the kom
inside the fortifications. There is no certainty,
however, that investigations carried out in the last
days before the crew had to abandon Faras
actually reached a depth sufficient to determine
that the Mud Church was indeed the first
complex of architecture erected on sterile ground.
Only the eastern and central sections of the church
were explored, inside the confines of the Paulos
Cathedral and in the western part of the cathedral
naos, where a wall was identified as the partition
between the naos and narthex (?) of the Mud
Church.
The Mud Church (Gartkiewicz’s Church
No. 1) was built of mud brick, presumably
following a basilican layout, but the reconstruc-
tion of the plan suggested by Michalowski (f 967:
48-49) [cf. Fig. 8a] is uncertain as the apse with
passages to the lateral pastophoria was built
entirely of mud brick, while the western part
and the southeastern corner of the structure
incorporated into the reconstruction all have
broken-stone foundations. The difference in
building material is possibly an indication of
two separate building phases, presumably repre-
senting successive edifices erected on the site.
This is particularly well visible at the southern
edge of the cathedral apse, where a broken-stone
foundation cuts across a transversal wall of mud
brick [cf. Fig. 7],
A study of this complex requires a more detail-
ed discussion, which will also take into considera-
tion the civil architecture found to the north and
west of it; it will appear under separate cover.
The biggest controversy so far has been the
dating of the Mud Church. Michafowski (1967:
53) and Jakobielski (1972: 20) placed it in the
middle of the 5th century, in the period preceding
the official conversion of Nobadia to Christianity.
Grossmann (1971: 331-335) found no grounds
for such a dating and moved the building of the
church into the middle of the 6th century, a date
that is clearly more justifiable (Torok 1988: 69-
73; Godlewski 1992.1: 115).
2.2. Church No. 2
This structure, which Michalowski failed to
separate out, was identified by Gartkiewicz
(1986: 250-252, Fig. 17) based on photographs
and field notes. It was a building raised on
broken-stone foundations with walls made of
well-dressed and fitted sandstone blocks. Gart-
kiewicz suggested that it was a three-aisled
basilica with a narrow apse connected with side
passages leading to the pastophoria. The footings
of broken stone discovered inside the naos of the
Cathedral of Paulos are associated with Church
No. 2, as are the ruins of a south wall, which
served - barring a slight deviation at the western
end - as the foundation under the south wall of
the Cathedral of Aetios [cf. Fig. 12],
Gartkiewicz’s observations, as well as his
reconstruction of the plan on the grounds of
surviving relics, seems persuasive, unlike his
poorly documented argument for associating the
eagle frieze (see below, p. 37) with this church.
Flis dating of the structure to the first half of the
7th century also seems a bit late and supported by
nothing but the eagle frieze. In truth of the
matter, there is no dating evidence for this church
aside from its position in the architectural
sequence of buildings identified on the kom. It
may have been contemporary with the Faras
fortifications and the residential architecture to
the west of the cathedral (Michalowski 1962: 74-
79). The broken-stone wall bond is identical with
that of the footing cleared inside the cathedral
naos. As for its destruction, it may have occurred
at the same time when the fortifications and stone
houses near the western gate were ruined,
possibly in the Sassanid invasion of c. 620 (God-
lewski 2004: 58). The considerable number of
Pharaonic blocks found west of the cathedral
(Karkowski 1980: 1986) could have originated
from the fresh ruins.
The reconstructed section of the plan of
Church No. 2 Gartkiewicz compared with the
Old Church at Qasr Ibrim, believing the two
structures to be contemporary. There is nothing
to permit an identification of this building as the
first cathedral ever built at Pachoras except the
PAM Supplement Series 1
31