DOI Artikel:
Juchniewicz, Karol: Late roman fortifications in Palmyra
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26423#0198
Karol Juchniewicz
only legionary camps. Even the inner Windows of the U-shaped towers in Singara were inclined
to the center as in Palmyra (Oates 1968:103) [Fig. 11]. The authohs interpretation of these tower
Windows as arrow slits can be reconsidered in the light of the present observations in favor of sky-
lights (Juchniewicz et alii 2010: 57) [Fig. 12]. Finally, the legionary camp in Fuxor, recently dated
to the beginning of the fourth century, offers an excellent comparison for the Palmyra fortifications
(Speidel, Pavkovic 1989:154) [Fig. 13].
Further examples of fortifications with U-shaped towers from the beginning of the 4th century
AD could be cited, but the point is that U-shaped towers were typical of the Tetrarchy and came
into wide use in this very period (Parker 1986: 69-72).
A reexamination of the structures in Palmyra argues in favor of my dating about the 4th cen-
tury origin of U-shaped towers. The starting point is again the Tempie of Standards. Comparing
the structure of the U-shaped towers with that of the principia produces results similar to those
obtained in the case of the horreum. The U-shaped towers were built of the same materiał as the
principia, that is, large slabs of pale yellow limestone, dressed on both sides. There is also a strong
resemblance of the bondwork: mainly alternating headers and stretchers, as used in the principia,
but also in the central parts of the towers vertical slabs alternating with sets of double horizontal
slabs, as in the horreum. This kind of bondwork sits well in the period when Sossianus Hierocles
carried out his building works.
In the light of these considerations it can be maintained that there is nothing in the walls of
late Roman Palmyra that could be related to Justinian. It does not mean that Procopius's descrip-
tion is completely untrue. The information about restoring Palmyra's defenses may be correct,
perhaps somewhat exaggerated, but it does not imply that any new features were added to the
older rampart.
SOURCES
Procopius, De aedificiis
Procopius, On Buildings, transl. H.B. Dewing [=Loeb Classical Library 343], Cam-
bridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1940
Zosimos, Historia nova
Zosimos, Nowa historia, transl. H. Cichocka, Warsaw: Instytut Wydawniczy Pax,
1993
References
(van) Berchem, D.
1954 Recherches sur la chronologie des enceintes de Syrie et de Mesopotamie, Syria
31/3-4,254-270
Bowersock, G.A.
1983 Roman Arabia, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
Christol, M., Fenoir, M.
2001 Qasr El-Azraq et la reconąuete de POrient par Aurelien, Syria 78,163-178
Gabriel, A.
1926 Recherches archeologiques a Palmyre, Syria 7, 71-92
196
Studia Palmyreńskie XII
only legionary camps. Even the inner Windows of the U-shaped towers in Singara were inclined
to the center as in Palmyra (Oates 1968:103) [Fig. 11]. The authohs interpretation of these tower
Windows as arrow slits can be reconsidered in the light of the present observations in favor of sky-
lights (Juchniewicz et alii 2010: 57) [Fig. 12]. Finally, the legionary camp in Fuxor, recently dated
to the beginning of the fourth century, offers an excellent comparison for the Palmyra fortifications
(Speidel, Pavkovic 1989:154) [Fig. 13].
Further examples of fortifications with U-shaped towers from the beginning of the 4th century
AD could be cited, but the point is that U-shaped towers were typical of the Tetrarchy and came
into wide use in this very period (Parker 1986: 69-72).
A reexamination of the structures in Palmyra argues in favor of my dating about the 4th cen-
tury origin of U-shaped towers. The starting point is again the Tempie of Standards. Comparing
the structure of the U-shaped towers with that of the principia produces results similar to those
obtained in the case of the horreum. The U-shaped towers were built of the same materiał as the
principia, that is, large slabs of pale yellow limestone, dressed on both sides. There is also a strong
resemblance of the bondwork: mainly alternating headers and stretchers, as used in the principia,
but also in the central parts of the towers vertical slabs alternating with sets of double horizontal
slabs, as in the horreum. This kind of bondwork sits well in the period when Sossianus Hierocles
carried out his building works.
In the light of these considerations it can be maintained that there is nothing in the walls of
late Roman Palmyra that could be related to Justinian. It does not mean that Procopius's descrip-
tion is completely untrue. The information about restoring Palmyra's defenses may be correct,
perhaps somewhat exaggerated, but it does not imply that any new features were added to the
older rampart.
SOURCES
Procopius, De aedificiis
Procopius, On Buildings, transl. H.B. Dewing [=Loeb Classical Library 343], Cam-
bridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1940
Zosimos, Historia nova
Zosimos, Nowa historia, transl. H. Cichocka, Warsaw: Instytut Wydawniczy Pax,
1993
References
(van) Berchem, D.
1954 Recherches sur la chronologie des enceintes de Syrie et de Mesopotamie, Syria
31/3-4,254-270
Bowersock, G.A.
1983 Roman Arabia, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
Christol, M., Fenoir, M.
2001 Qasr El-Azraq et la reconąuete de POrient par Aurelien, Syria 78,163-178
Gabriel, A.
1926 Recherches archeologiques a Palmyre, Syria 7, 71-92
196
Studia Palmyreńskie XII