Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (15.2003(2004))

PALMYRA

SYRIA

lithic Attic base {Fig. 6). Once the pit was
backfilled, an even level was provided for
the plaster floor covering the parts of the
stylobate remaining in place. The entrance
to the building was in the eastern wall,
where the threshold survives.
NEIGHBORING
In order to understand the archaeological
context of the mosaic, we decided to
excavate the whole width of the block from
Diogenes Street to Oil Press Street,
amounting to about 24 m. In the other
direction, the distance from the back wall
of the shops along the Great Colonnade,
excavated earlier, and the portico in front
of Basilica I, also cleared years ago, reaches
19 50 m. The surface excavated this year
thus covers 470 m2, of which the Bellero-
phon Hall occupied 60 m2A
The area was excavated to a depth of
1.20 m on the average below the pavement
in front of Basilica I. In places, trial pits
went deeper without reaching virgin soil.
The material recovered goes back to the
lst-3rd centuries, but the associated
structures are very poorly preserved.
One reason why the early occupation of
the area cannot be readily understood is
that some parts of the buildings considered
remain inaccessible under the south
portico of the basilica. Indeed, they are the
best preserved parts, as was seen in some
limited soundings, while elsewhere there
remain but a few incomplete walls and no
hard floors. It seems that the building of
the portico was accompanied or preceded
by a systematic destruction followed by
filling with earth. Some columns and other
architectural members were used in the
fill, resulting in a uniform level some

Dating evidence - coins of Constantine
and Constantius II, as well as lamps and
pottery of the same period — recovered
from between the two floors pointed to the
mid-4th century as the date for the laying
of the higher floor.
STRUCTURES
50 cm below the portico. It is not clear
how access to it was secured.
Striking evidence for the destruction of
the early buildings and the leveling of the
area has been found. Among fallen stones
close to one buried column there were the
remains of a wooden box with bronze
fittings and lock. It was thrown open, as if
emptied by a robber. Inside there were still
a few discarded objects, once wrapped in
linen cloth: a writing stylus, a bronze seal
ring, small pieces of gold including a coin
(an exotic imitation of a Roman imperial
coin, not yet identified), and four identical
coins of Gallienus datable AD 260-268. It
does not seem too farfetched to presume
that this find is a witness to the sacking of
Palmyra in 273.
Later on, a stone pavement was laid all
along the eastern side of the Colonnaded
Hall. There are wide stone thresholds at
each end of it, one leading from a former
shop behind the Great Colonnade, the
other, raised two steps up, opening towards
the portico of the basilica. It is clear that the
floor corresponds to a long room serving as
the vestibule to the Colonnaded Hall. Its
eastern wall is not preserved, but it can be
safely said that it was bordered by a partly
paved open space above the 3rd century
buildings. At a still later time, a stone
pavement was introduced another 50 cm
above this floor, apparently in the open.

3) The work was supervised by M. Zuchowska and M. Wagner.

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