DOI article:
Godlewski, Włodzimierz; Parandowska, Ewa: Naqlun 1993
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43746#0059
The tower was initially a freestanding structure and the
II.DB building, which developed to the east and north, respected
this. At some point, an unidentified structure was added to the
facade of the western wall of the tower; whatever its function, it
was by no means intended for habitation.
n.DB is a rectangular ipudbrick structure measuring 7 by
12 m, and was possibly even larger (room D.22 to the west is not
fully excavated). It has a history of alterations. Originally, there
was an entrance from the east and the plan consisted of a number
of rooms located on either side of the central corridor. The
building was undoubtedly storeyed, to judge by an inside staircase
(D.20) presumably faciliting communication with the nearby tower.
Rooms on both floors were plastered and decorated with paintings
(fragments of upper floor murals were discovered in the debris
filling spaces on the ground floor). It is difficult to determine what
purpose particular units have served. Two rooms on the west
(D.19 and D.22) communicated initially with each other under a
double arcade; both had a stone floor, additionally covered with
waterproof and finely polished mortar. The presence of such a
floor is justified, at least in part, by a small basin which appears
to be of a quite unique form. It recalls an armchair with a rather
shallow central pool and small depressions joined by a channel in
the floor in front of it. The purpose and operation of the basin
remains unclear, Most certainly it was not a swimming pool, but
it could have had some relation with medical operations e.g. steam
baths carried out in the monastery^.
$ The existence of a "hospital" at Naqlun seems to be further evidenced by
a document discovered in the so-called rubbish dump, in which a hospital
oikonomos is mentioned.
57
II.DB building, which developed to the east and north, respected
this. At some point, an unidentified structure was added to the
facade of the western wall of the tower; whatever its function, it
was by no means intended for habitation.
n.DB is a rectangular ipudbrick structure measuring 7 by
12 m, and was possibly even larger (room D.22 to the west is not
fully excavated). It has a history of alterations. Originally, there
was an entrance from the east and the plan consisted of a number
of rooms located on either side of the central corridor. The
building was undoubtedly storeyed, to judge by an inside staircase
(D.20) presumably faciliting communication with the nearby tower.
Rooms on both floors were plastered and decorated with paintings
(fragments of upper floor murals were discovered in the debris
filling spaces on the ground floor). It is difficult to determine what
purpose particular units have served. Two rooms on the west
(D.19 and D.22) communicated initially with each other under a
double arcade; both had a stone floor, additionally covered with
waterproof and finely polished mortar. The presence of such a
floor is justified, at least in part, by a small basin which appears
to be of a quite unique form. It recalls an armchair with a rather
shallow central pool and small depressions joined by a channel in
the floor in front of it. The purpose and operation of the basin
remains unclear, Most certainly it was not a swimming pool, but
it could have had some relation with medical operations e.g. steam
baths carried out in the monastery^.
$ The existence of a "hospital" at Naqlun seems to be further evidenced by
a document discovered in the so-called rubbish dump, in which a hospital
oikonomos is mentioned.
57