DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.44946#0018
VI
General Preface to Division II.
the other Greek cities of Syria were so thoroughly altered during the Roman era.
The only building of the period, the great structure at £Arak il-Emir, is infused with
elements that are not Hellenistic, and it can not be regarded as representative of
the architecture of its time in other parts of Syria. But there are remains of pre-Roman,
though not Hellenistic, architecture in Syria that offer a comparatively new field to the
student of architectural history. I refer to that remarkable style which may be called
Nabataean, that was discovered by M. de Vogue, in the temples of Sf and Suweda.
The southern parts of the Hauran are thickly strewn with the remains of this civilization.
Sic and Suweda remain the most important sites for the study of these remains, but
there are many other places where there are fragmentary remains, in inscriptions and
in architectural details, of temples built in that peculiar style which borrowed little from
classic art, and represents a distinct racial, if not national, life, and which is Oriental
in sentiment and in expression. It is in this field, and in that of the Christian archi-
tecture of the North, that Syria contributes most that is new and individual in the
history of art. As builders, the Nabataeans were unrivalled in the art of stone-cutting
and dressing; as architects they showed extraordinary ability in planning large schemes,
in arranging masses and in accommodating buildings or groups of structures to given
sites. Their ornament was rich yet reserved, admirably adapted to the material in
hand (the hard black basalt), and, in most instances, entirely free from the neighboring
influences of the time. Their architecture constitutes a style by itself, a style which
strongly influenced the succeeding styles of the Roman and Christian periods in Syria,
not only in principles of construction, but in the forms of ornamental details.
At the opposite extremity of Central Syria, and at the other end of the period during
which architecture may be said to have flourished in Syria, is the Christian architecture
of the North, so magnificently commended to the notice of European scholars in the
great work of the Marquis de Vogue h Here again we have a distinct and individual
style, which at every point, save that of domical construction, surpassed all the styles
of architecture developed by the early Church. During 250 years, from the middle of
the fourth century to the beginning of the seventh, the Christian architects of Northern
Syria evolved a system of architecture which, in point of diversity of plan, in the
disposition of masses, and in the treatment of details, excelled all contemporary schools;
and they applied it to every form of building, religious, civil, funerary and domestic.
Like the Byzantine and the Roman architecture of Europe, this style had its roots in
the Hellenistic architecture of Greece and Rome; but, in the hands of Oriental builders,
it expanded into a system which, in elasticity of application and in exuberance of
decorative features, knew no rival until 500 years after its death, when the Gothic
architecture of Northern Europe came into being.
Although these two styles, the Nabataean of the South, and the early Christian
of Northern Syria, present the most important monuments for the history of architecture
in Syria, and will fill a considerable space in these publications, the Princeton Expedition
made a point of examining the monuments of all the pre-Islamic periods of architecture
in the regions which it explored. These are presented in the following fascicules in
the manner described above. The monuments now to be published embrace practically
every building, in the places visited by the expedition, that is earlier than the Hegira,
') La Syrie Centrale^ Architecture Civile et Religieuse., Count Melchior de Vogue. Paris 1865.
General Preface to Division II.
the other Greek cities of Syria were so thoroughly altered during the Roman era.
The only building of the period, the great structure at £Arak il-Emir, is infused with
elements that are not Hellenistic, and it can not be regarded as representative of
the architecture of its time in other parts of Syria. But there are remains of pre-Roman,
though not Hellenistic, architecture in Syria that offer a comparatively new field to the
student of architectural history. I refer to that remarkable style which may be called
Nabataean, that was discovered by M. de Vogue, in the temples of Sf and Suweda.
The southern parts of the Hauran are thickly strewn with the remains of this civilization.
Sic and Suweda remain the most important sites for the study of these remains, but
there are many other places where there are fragmentary remains, in inscriptions and
in architectural details, of temples built in that peculiar style which borrowed little from
classic art, and represents a distinct racial, if not national, life, and which is Oriental
in sentiment and in expression. It is in this field, and in that of the Christian archi-
tecture of the North, that Syria contributes most that is new and individual in the
history of art. As builders, the Nabataeans were unrivalled in the art of stone-cutting
and dressing; as architects they showed extraordinary ability in planning large schemes,
in arranging masses and in accommodating buildings or groups of structures to given
sites. Their ornament was rich yet reserved, admirably adapted to the material in
hand (the hard black basalt), and, in most instances, entirely free from the neighboring
influences of the time. Their architecture constitutes a style by itself, a style which
strongly influenced the succeeding styles of the Roman and Christian periods in Syria,
not only in principles of construction, but in the forms of ornamental details.
At the opposite extremity of Central Syria, and at the other end of the period during
which architecture may be said to have flourished in Syria, is the Christian architecture
of the North, so magnificently commended to the notice of European scholars in the
great work of the Marquis de Vogue h Here again we have a distinct and individual
style, which at every point, save that of domical construction, surpassed all the styles
of architecture developed by the early Church. During 250 years, from the middle of
the fourth century to the beginning of the seventh, the Christian architects of Northern
Syria evolved a system of architecture which, in point of diversity of plan, in the
disposition of masses, and in the treatment of details, excelled all contemporary schools;
and they applied it to every form of building, religious, civil, funerary and domestic.
Like the Byzantine and the Roman architecture of Europe, this style had its roots in
the Hellenistic architecture of Greece and Rome; but, in the hands of Oriental builders,
it expanded into a system which, in elasticity of application and in exuberance of
decorative features, knew no rival until 500 years after its death, when the Gothic
architecture of Northern Europe came into being.
Although these two styles, the Nabataean of the South, and the early Christian
of Northern Syria, present the most important monuments for the history of architecture
in Syria, and will fill a considerable space in these publications, the Princeton Expedition
made a point of examining the monuments of all the pre-Islamic periods of architecture
in the regions which it explored. These are presented in the following fascicules in
the manner described above. The monuments now to be published embrace practically
every building, in the places visited by the expedition, that is earlier than the Hegira,
') La Syrie Centrale^ Architecture Civile et Religieuse., Count Melchior de Vogue. Paris 1865.