Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (17.2005(2007))

MAREA

EGYPT

deterioration, its shape is clearly dis-
cernible [Fig. 4}• It belongs to the round
piscina type (1.08 m in diameter and
1.00 m in depth), with descending flights
of steps situated facing each other on the
eastern and western sides, two steps on
each side.4 The wall of the basin,
preserved only on the south side, and the
steps, were made of lime mortar and
covered with red, waterproof plaster (opus
signinum). Vertical imprints are proof of
marble revetment on facing the walls.
The location of the baptistery below the
floor and under or in the vicinity of the
altar points to a dating earlier than the

basilica. Presumably it was part of a sanc-
tuary (chapel?) that preceded the struc-
ture currently under excavation.
The work in the nave supplied data on
the successive building stages of the
basilica. Moving westward, the debris of
stone blocks, which had fallen from the
side walls of the basilica and remained in
the fill, ended c. 2.50 m from the wall of
the kiln. Found here was a small number
of fragments of marble column shafts,
0.24, 0.30 and 0.35 m in diameter, as
well as, appearing here for the first time,
polygonal column bases [Fig. 5], which
are typically Byzantine5 and which were


Fig. 4. Baptistery. View from the north
(Photo j. Babraj)

4 Baptisteries of this type were also found in the Abu Mena basilica, cf. A. Khatchatnan, Les baptisteres paleochretiens
(Paris 1962), 8, 60 a and b; P. Grossmann, Abu Mina II. Das Baptisterium (Mainz 2004).
5 Cf., e.g., G.G. Gounares, Eisagoge sten Palaiochristianine Archaiologia (Thessalonike 2000), 146, Figs 237-239-

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