DOI Artikel:
Majcherek, Grzegorz: Excavating the basilicas
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26423#0254
Grzegorz Majcherek
"idioms" of Classical architecture were abandoned and forgotten. Monumental public building
projects of the past were replaced by church construction as the sole public investment of the era.
Next to nothing is known of the Late Antiąue political institutions of Palmyra, but there is no rea-
son to think that they had lost their urban character. Municipal standards were evidently upheld,
at least over a large part of the town. The water supply system was in operation (Crouch 1975;
Barański 1997), the streets continued to serve as communication arteries and the city was not only
fortified with a new linę of defenses, but also gained a new complex of public use, the baths. The
twilight of Antiąuity with its urban chaos growing successively in the early medieval period was
still a distant futurę (al-As'ad, Stępniowski 1989).
In the past dozen or so years, fieldwork conducted by a PCMA team headed by Michał Gaw-
likowski has cleared a large fragment of the city located north of the Great Colonnade. The area
under investigation (basically sińce the 1990s) appears to have been occupied over an extended pe-
riod from the 2nd century AD to sometime in the 9th century AD, well into the early Islamie period.
Several large peristyle houses taking up the whole width of an insula (F) were explored (Gaw-
likowski 2007). Uninterrupted occupation notwithstanding, this part of the city changed its character
over the ages. A large ecclesiastic complex consisting of four basilicas and what appears to have
been a bishops' residence filled the en tire quarter in Late Antiąuity [Figs 1, 2], The first of these
churches (Basilica I) was merely an adaptation of an earlier civic building of 2nd century AD datę
(Gawlikowski 1990: 38-44; 1991a: 399-410; 1991b: 89-90; 1992: 73-76; 1993), which was generally
poorly suited, in orientation as well as generał layout, to ecclesiastical needs. Thus, in architectural
terms, the resulting transformation was problematic to say the least. Of the other two churches, Basil-
ica II was by far a morę successful adaptation of the pre-dating structure. It was a large building ini-
tially, comprising an extensive peristyle courtyard with portieoes partly incorporated into the church
aisles (Gawlikowski 1997:194-197; 1998:197-206; 1999:189-196; 2001:121-125). Despite limitations
imposed by the form of the older structure, the new design was fully adapted to ecclesiastical re-
ąuirements. It is of interest that the interior was accessed only from the south, even though the entire
west side of the building lined a Street. Part of the older structure was transformed into a large
vestibule or, speaking morę properly, an atrium. The same principal elements of the layout can be
observed in Basilica III, which was built nearby and which featured a regular, fully developed basil-
ical plan (Gawlikowski 2000: 250-255; 2001:125-127; 2002: 258-266; 2003: 280-287). The church has
on the west an extensive colonnaded atrium, which encroached partly onto a nearby Street [F/y. 2],
As in the earlier building, Basilica fil also had an additional entrance in the south wali.
The adjoining compłex to the north of the basilica demonstrates residential features; of these a
smali peristyle courtyard and a large hall fumished with an apse on one of the shorter sides, accessed
from the church courtyard as well as directly from the atrium, have already been explored. The func-
tion of the latter has yet to be determined; it may have been a chapel or an audience chamber. It is
not to be excluded that this complex, which still awaits fuli investigation, served as an episkopion.3
These buildings, however large, were dwarfed by the great Northern Basilica (IV) built along-
side the same Street further to the north. For obvious reasons, the tract which became thus the
main thoroughfare through the district has been dubbed "Church Street" by the explorers.4
The said churches are not the sole Christian complexes in Palmyra. Christian graffiti and faintly
visible murals preserved inside the cella of the tempie of Bel were traditionally considered as evi-
dence of its conversion into a church (Inv. IX, 48; Lassus 1947: 246, 302; Leroy 1965:17-20; al-Asrad,
Ruprechtsberger 1987:147; Gawlikowski 1993:153; Jastrzębowska 2013, in this volume). Adaptation
of pagan temples for the needs of the new religion was common in Late Antiąuity, but the phenom-
enon clearly avoided the other temples in Palmyra.5 No evidence of such conversion has been noted
either in the tempie of Nabu or the tempie of Allat. The latter, situated in the area of Diocletian7s
Camp, was destroyed in the end of the 4th century, most probably in the wake of the promułgation
3 Gawlikowski 2009; on episcopal residences in Syria, see Ulbert 1989.
4 A similar concentration of churches can be observed in other cities, such as Jerash for example, where three churches,
that of St. John the Baptist, St. George and the Sts Cosmas and Damian, were situated alongside a single Street.
5 For tempie conversion in generał, see the initial study by Deichmann 1939; for Syria, see Callot 1997. For a generał
overview of the debate, see Bayliss 2004: 5-7.
252
Studia Palmyreńskie XII
"idioms" of Classical architecture were abandoned and forgotten. Monumental public building
projects of the past were replaced by church construction as the sole public investment of the era.
Next to nothing is known of the Late Antiąue political institutions of Palmyra, but there is no rea-
son to think that they had lost their urban character. Municipal standards were evidently upheld,
at least over a large part of the town. The water supply system was in operation (Crouch 1975;
Barański 1997), the streets continued to serve as communication arteries and the city was not only
fortified with a new linę of defenses, but also gained a new complex of public use, the baths. The
twilight of Antiąuity with its urban chaos growing successively in the early medieval period was
still a distant futurę (al-As'ad, Stępniowski 1989).
In the past dozen or so years, fieldwork conducted by a PCMA team headed by Michał Gaw-
likowski has cleared a large fragment of the city located north of the Great Colonnade. The area
under investigation (basically sińce the 1990s) appears to have been occupied over an extended pe-
riod from the 2nd century AD to sometime in the 9th century AD, well into the early Islamie period.
Several large peristyle houses taking up the whole width of an insula (F) were explored (Gaw-
likowski 2007). Uninterrupted occupation notwithstanding, this part of the city changed its character
over the ages. A large ecclesiastic complex consisting of four basilicas and what appears to have
been a bishops' residence filled the en tire quarter in Late Antiąuity [Figs 1, 2], The first of these
churches (Basilica I) was merely an adaptation of an earlier civic building of 2nd century AD datę
(Gawlikowski 1990: 38-44; 1991a: 399-410; 1991b: 89-90; 1992: 73-76; 1993), which was generally
poorly suited, in orientation as well as generał layout, to ecclesiastical needs. Thus, in architectural
terms, the resulting transformation was problematic to say the least. Of the other two churches, Basil-
ica II was by far a morę successful adaptation of the pre-dating structure. It was a large building ini-
tially, comprising an extensive peristyle courtyard with portieoes partly incorporated into the church
aisles (Gawlikowski 1997:194-197; 1998:197-206; 1999:189-196; 2001:121-125). Despite limitations
imposed by the form of the older structure, the new design was fully adapted to ecclesiastical re-
ąuirements. It is of interest that the interior was accessed only from the south, even though the entire
west side of the building lined a Street. Part of the older structure was transformed into a large
vestibule or, speaking morę properly, an atrium. The same principal elements of the layout can be
observed in Basilica III, which was built nearby and which featured a regular, fully developed basil-
ical plan (Gawlikowski 2000: 250-255; 2001:125-127; 2002: 258-266; 2003: 280-287). The church has
on the west an extensive colonnaded atrium, which encroached partly onto a nearby Street [F/y. 2],
As in the earlier building, Basilica fil also had an additional entrance in the south wali.
The adjoining compłex to the north of the basilica demonstrates residential features; of these a
smali peristyle courtyard and a large hall fumished with an apse on one of the shorter sides, accessed
from the church courtyard as well as directly from the atrium, have already been explored. The func-
tion of the latter has yet to be determined; it may have been a chapel or an audience chamber. It is
not to be excluded that this complex, which still awaits fuli investigation, served as an episkopion.3
These buildings, however large, were dwarfed by the great Northern Basilica (IV) built along-
side the same Street further to the north. For obvious reasons, the tract which became thus the
main thoroughfare through the district has been dubbed "Church Street" by the explorers.4
The said churches are not the sole Christian complexes in Palmyra. Christian graffiti and faintly
visible murals preserved inside the cella of the tempie of Bel were traditionally considered as evi-
dence of its conversion into a church (Inv. IX, 48; Lassus 1947: 246, 302; Leroy 1965:17-20; al-Asrad,
Ruprechtsberger 1987:147; Gawlikowski 1993:153; Jastrzębowska 2013, in this volume). Adaptation
of pagan temples for the needs of the new religion was common in Late Antiąuity, but the phenom-
enon clearly avoided the other temples in Palmyra.5 No evidence of such conversion has been noted
either in the tempie of Nabu or the tempie of Allat. The latter, situated in the area of Diocletian7s
Camp, was destroyed in the end of the 4th century, most probably in the wake of the promułgation
3 Gawlikowski 2009; on episcopal residences in Syria, see Ulbert 1989.
4 A similar concentration of churches can be observed in other cities, such as Jerash for example, where three churches,
that of St. John the Baptist, St. George and the Sts Cosmas and Damian, were situated alongside a single Street.
5 For tempie conversion in generał, see the initial study by Deichmann 1939; for Syria, see Callot 1997. For a generał
overview of the debate, see Bayliss 2004: 5-7.
252
Studia Palmyreńskie XII