Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (16.2004(2005))

MAREA

EGYPT

CHAPEL

The room adjoining the basilica on the
north proved 6 m wide [cf. Fig. 7; Fig. 4].
A third of it was cleared in the course of
this campaign. Meriting attention is the
difference in the thickness of the walls
between the apse, the outer wall of the
basilica and the side room: 1.20 m, 0.80 m
and 0.50 m respectively.
Much would suggest that this room was
used as a chapel. Two niches were cut into
the western part of the transept wall: one
semicircular (0.80 m deep and 1.80 m
wide), the other rectangular (0.40 m deep,
1.20 m wide). The space between them and
the north wall of the chapel was occupied by

a small chamber paved with limestone slabs,
entered from a narrow passage leading from
the west. This passage was later blocked
with a piece of destroyed wall and a granite
column (diameter at the base 0.22 m; height
0.85 m) incorporating a base and shaft
which narrowed toward the top [Fig. 5]. Its
shape and the depression for a bowl in the
top of the shaft indicate that it had served as
the foot of a washbasin. Nearby, by the
north wall of the chamber, a small channel
was discovered, presumably intended as
a means for discharging water from a wash-
basin that had once stood there and which
served liturgical purposes in the chapel.


Fig. 4. Chapel adjoining northern aisle. View from the west
(Photo J.M. Kucy)

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