Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (19.2007(2010))

HAWARTE

SYRIA

The central section, the southern part of
the east wall and the eastern part of the south
one posed the greatest difficulties in view of
the damages to the paintings. The cycle
presumably ended with a hunting scene,
which is suggested by fragmentarily
preserved figures of riders in the western part
of the south wall and a scene depicting
animals occupying part of the west wall
(Parandowska 2008: Fig. 1).
The reconstruction of the decoration in
the central part of the east wall, where the
most important representation was expected,
made use of parallel representations from the
Mithraic cycle as a base and archival photos
depicting the various symbols accompanying
the tauromachy scene [Fig. 3, top]. The
photos helped to divide proportionately the
entire surface of the east wall and to
position the central scene. In turn, it became
possible to complete the cycle with a big
fragment of painting which is currently in
the museum in Hama and which depicts
Mithra giving Helios a torch. Thanks to the
image of a personification of the moon,
which was preserved on this fragment and
which is traditionally positioned to the
right of a tauromachy scene, the entire scene
was returned to its proper position as the
next scene in the cycle.

The next stage of the reconstruction
project took place in the Hama museum
where all the small plaster fragments
from the Hawarte mithreum have been
stored.1
The best results were achieved in the
reconstruction of the main scene, the
tauromachy, not the least because particular
elements are the most easily recognized.
It was possible to identify a personification
of the sun, a representation of a serpent
and raven and altars with burning flames.
Bands of decoration preserved on these
fragments were useful in reconstructing
a border that imitated a niche. This was
indeed one of the most interesting and most
surprising findings of the reconstruction
project, because room A already has
a traditional three-dimensional niche
for a statue of the tauromachy. It would
suggest the simultaneous presence in one
room of two such representations [Fig. 2\.
Photographs in the mithreum, processed
archival photographs and photos of
identified fragments were combined in
a digital reconstruction of the scene of
the tauromachy. Based on all these elements,
the presumed appearance of the decoration
on the east wall was recon-structed [Fig. 3,
bottom].

THE CEILING IN ROOM A

The decoration of the ceiling in Room
A has proved to be the most questionable
part of the mithreum’s interior decoration.
Despite large fragments having been
preserved (when the roof of the cave
collapsed under the load of the later basilica
built directly on top of the mithreum),

the reconstruction of this ceiling has
remained hypothetical.
A major problem is the absence of any
parallels whatsoever. Floor mosaics have
proved to be of help in reconstructing the
general principles of the composition. So was
the meticulous positioning of particular

3 The museum currently holds 40 trays (100 by 50 cm and 50 by 30 cm) with the unattributed plaster fragments from Hawarte.

Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 19, Reports 2007

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