DOI issue:
Syria
DOI article:Byliński, Janusz: Arab castle
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26390#0151
ca. 70 cm), plastered on the inside. The ash fiil was mixed with
some pottery fragments indicating the time at which the ovens
were in use. A bronze knob broken off a bigger object was found
in the oven, along with potsherds.
The most important discovery this year was, rather
unexpectedly, a mosque erected upon the lower terrace of the
fortress, on the south-eastern side, almost abutting the terrace of
Tower XV flanking the entrance gate (Fig. 1). Its digging
consumed almost all of the excavators' time. The two successive
structures were explicit proof of two construction stages being
present on the highest floor which, as should be kept in mind,
postdated most of the fortress building phases. On the other hand,
the excavation of the mosque and its immediate surroundings
brought evidence arguing in favour of an Ayyubid date for the
whole building.
The later mosque and its associated structures were
uncovered first, abutting Tower XV; work later proceeded on the
earlier and smaller mosque which was a small trapezoidal edifice
with one placed roughly in the middle of its (y/TiA? wall
(Fig. 2). Curiously enough, the seems to have had a double
orientation. While the projection was oriented 25 degrees west of
south, the was made to point almost exactly due south by a
curving of its southern wall, enabling the faithful to pray in that
direction. The north-eastern corner of the mosque was occupied by
a rectangular structure preserved only at ground level. This
structure might have functioned as a minaret, although we are
hardly inclined to locate a fairly high tower in this place. Instead,
the probably hollow rectangular structure could have constituted a
platform rising to the top of the mosque walls and supporting a
pavilion from which the call to prayer was sung. The above
interpretation has been inspired by the minaret arrangement in the
so called Fadl mosque in Palmyra, built as an cx/rar Friday
mosque for the medieval city squeezed inside the Be! temple
precinct. The Fadl mosque, probably a 13^ or 14^ century
149
some pottery fragments indicating the time at which the ovens
were in use. A bronze knob broken off a bigger object was found
in the oven, along with potsherds.
The most important discovery this year was, rather
unexpectedly, a mosque erected upon the lower terrace of the
fortress, on the south-eastern side, almost abutting the terrace of
Tower XV flanking the entrance gate (Fig. 1). Its digging
consumed almost all of the excavators' time. The two successive
structures were explicit proof of two construction stages being
present on the highest floor which, as should be kept in mind,
postdated most of the fortress building phases. On the other hand,
the excavation of the mosque and its immediate surroundings
brought evidence arguing in favour of an Ayyubid date for the
whole building.
The later mosque and its associated structures were
uncovered first, abutting Tower XV; work later proceeded on the
earlier and smaller mosque which was a small trapezoidal edifice
with one placed roughly in the middle of its (y/TiA? wall
(Fig. 2). Curiously enough, the seems to have had a double
orientation. While the projection was oriented 25 degrees west of
south, the was made to point almost exactly due south by a
curving of its southern wall, enabling the faithful to pray in that
direction. The north-eastern corner of the mosque was occupied by
a rectangular structure preserved only at ground level. This
structure might have functioned as a minaret, although we are
hardly inclined to locate a fairly high tower in this place. Instead,
the probably hollow rectangular structure could have constituted a
platform rising to the top of the mosque walls and supporting a
pavilion from which the call to prayer was sung. The above
interpretation has been inspired by the minaret arrangement in the
so called Fadl mosque in Palmyra, built as an cx/rar Friday
mosque for the medieval city squeezed inside the Be! temple
precinct. The Fadl mosque, probably a 13^ or 14^ century
149