TELL LARAMA
EGYPT
were dared on archeological grounds to the
Hellenistic period as well; they are repre-
sented in the section by brown earth mixed
with lime and powdered brick (layer 4) and
the ghost wall located south of this layer. It
belonged to an apparently monumental
building evidently preceding the construc-
tion of the theater. This edifice had its own
sewage system connected with the main
sewage drain (cf. Fig. 3) running E-W
through the town (only one of the slabs
covering this channel has been preserved
in situ) [Fig. 2}. The two drains appear to
be contemporary, but all joining channels
between the two were destroyed when the
building itself was dismantled immediately
prior to or during the construction of the
theater.
Superimposed on top of the main drain
were two separate layers of flagstones,
presumably marking the street levels
already of the Roman period and associated
with the theater entrance. The paving could
have actually belonged not so. much to
a street as to a small square siding the
theater structure. After the theater was
abandoned, the entire district was turned
into an industrial area. The limestone
flagging was partly looted and destroyed.
A big pit was dug in the center, the fill
containing a big slab of limestone. Traces of
ashy gray mortar on the surface of the
remaining flagstones and some pieces of red
brick constitute the sole surviving evidence
of some kind of masonry channel in-
stallations presumably contemporaneous
with the devastation and dismantling of the
theater.
Upon investigation, an accumulation of
red bricks spotted 5 m west of the entrance
in the north wall of the theater proved to be
part of a sewage system constructed
together with the theater [Fig. 4] and
apparently destroyed and taken apart at the
same time as the theater. The flagstones
covering it (none of which have survived in
situ, must have been part of the northern
peristyle. The pottery from this trench was
relatively late, indicating that the de-
struction of the pavement and drainage
Fig. 3■ N-S section (AB) looking north through the trench adjoining the eastern entrance to the
theater (Drawing S. Mas'lak)
128
EGYPT
were dared on archeological grounds to the
Hellenistic period as well; they are repre-
sented in the section by brown earth mixed
with lime and powdered brick (layer 4) and
the ghost wall located south of this layer. It
belonged to an apparently monumental
building evidently preceding the construc-
tion of the theater. This edifice had its own
sewage system connected with the main
sewage drain (cf. Fig. 3) running E-W
through the town (only one of the slabs
covering this channel has been preserved
in situ) [Fig. 2}. The two drains appear to
be contemporary, but all joining channels
between the two were destroyed when the
building itself was dismantled immediately
prior to or during the construction of the
theater.
Superimposed on top of the main drain
were two separate layers of flagstones,
presumably marking the street levels
already of the Roman period and associated
with the theater entrance. The paving could
have actually belonged not so. much to
a street as to a small square siding the
theater structure. After the theater was
abandoned, the entire district was turned
into an industrial area. The limestone
flagging was partly looted and destroyed.
A big pit was dug in the center, the fill
containing a big slab of limestone. Traces of
ashy gray mortar on the surface of the
remaining flagstones and some pieces of red
brick constitute the sole surviving evidence
of some kind of masonry channel in-
stallations presumably contemporaneous
with the devastation and dismantling of the
theater.
Upon investigation, an accumulation of
red bricks spotted 5 m west of the entrance
in the north wall of the theater proved to be
part of a sewage system constructed
together with the theater [Fig. 4] and
apparently destroyed and taken apart at the
same time as the theater. The flagstones
covering it (none of which have survived in
situ, must have been part of the northern
peristyle. The pottery from this trench was
relatively late, indicating that the de-
struction of the pavement and drainage
Fig. 3■ N-S section (AB) looking north through the trench adjoining the eastern entrance to the
theater (Drawing S. Mas'lak)
128