DOI issue:
Syria
DOI article:Gawlikowski, Michał: Palmyra: excavations 1996
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.41241#0197
by a caravan inscription, published a long time ago by
M. RostovtzefF, which had been found lying on the ground in this
area. The investigation of block G, as it is designated, is well
advanced by now and has yielded unexpected results.
Another of the season's objectives was to clear the entrance
to the church in block E in search of evidence for its relation to the
Colonnade. This was only partly achieved because of the
substantial amounts of fill needing to be removed, but some
conclusions are already obvious based on available evidence.
Finally, test trenches in the SE corner of house F
(the excavations of which are practically finished) were designed to
check out some remaining details of the layout.
THE OCTOSTYLE PORTICO OF THE GREAT COLONNADE
The eight columns in front of the church in block E (five of
which were re-erected by the Palmyra Museum some years ago)
form a separate unit, differing from other porticoes in this section
of the Colonnade, though set in line with other columns in the
main street. They formed a building extending for 25 m between
two lateral streets and including a row of six shops aligned 6.70 m
behind the columns. It is clear from two well known inscriptions
on the first column from the east that the portico was already
standing in AD 158 (probably erected shortly before that date) and
restored in AD 328. The two inscriptions are, respectively, the
earliest and the latest dated text found so far in the Great
Colonnade.
It is common knowledge that the Great Colonnade had no
pavement, neither in the open part nor in the porticoes. It came as
a surprise that in the case of this particular portico there was not
only a late pavement of large flagstones in front of the shops
(reaching up to about the mid-height of column bases and already
apparent in an old trench made by restorers in the 1970s) but also
an original pavement between the columns and out in the street,
forming a sidewalk 1.40 m wide, stepping down from the
193
M. RostovtzefF, which had been found lying on the ground in this
area. The investigation of block G, as it is designated, is well
advanced by now and has yielded unexpected results.
Another of the season's objectives was to clear the entrance
to the church in block E in search of evidence for its relation to the
Colonnade. This was only partly achieved because of the
substantial amounts of fill needing to be removed, but some
conclusions are already obvious based on available evidence.
Finally, test trenches in the SE corner of house F
(the excavations of which are practically finished) were designed to
check out some remaining details of the layout.
THE OCTOSTYLE PORTICO OF THE GREAT COLONNADE
The eight columns in front of the church in block E (five of
which were re-erected by the Palmyra Museum some years ago)
form a separate unit, differing from other porticoes in this section
of the Colonnade, though set in line with other columns in the
main street. They formed a building extending for 25 m between
two lateral streets and including a row of six shops aligned 6.70 m
behind the columns. It is clear from two well known inscriptions
on the first column from the east that the portico was already
standing in AD 158 (probably erected shortly before that date) and
restored in AD 328. The two inscriptions are, respectively, the
earliest and the latest dated text found so far in the Great
Colonnade.
It is common knowledge that the Great Colonnade had no
pavement, neither in the open part nor in the porticoes. It came as
a surprise that in the case of this particular portico there was not
only a late pavement of large flagstones in front of the shops
(reaching up to about the mid-height of column bases and already
apparent in an old trench made by restorers in the 1970s) but also
an original pavement between the columns and out in the street,
forming a sidewalk 1.40 m wide, stepping down from the
193