DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45581#0015
II. A. 2. — Southern Hauran
70
were so, imparts an entirely new aspect to our conceptions of the architecture of the
Hauran as known heretofore from the drawings in M. de Vogue’s book, La Syrie
Centrale, and from the descriptions of other travellers. The crudeness of certain classes
of architecture is concealed, the plain surfaces of others are enriched with mouldings
and plaster ornament, and the sombre effect of the black basalt is brightened with
colour.
Ornament. Carved ornament in the architecture of the Hauran seems to have
been rich and profuse in the buildings of the Nabataean and Roman periods; but, in
the Christian work, the remains of carving are very scant, and it would appear that
much of the ornament was moulded in stucco instead of being carved in stone. The
Nabataean ornament of the Southern Hauran is to be studied chiefly in fragments of
decorated pilasters, friezes and cornices. The highly conventionalized and geometrical
designs so characteristic of the earlier work at Sf, in the Djebel, are not represented
south of Bosra, but the more naturalistic treatment of the grape-vine, on pilasters and
upon jambs, is found in a doorway at il-Umtaciyeh, and in fragments in a number of
places. The capitals that we found in the ruins of Nabataean buildings were, many
of them, of that style known at Sf, Bosra, and Petra, and found by Doughty in Central
Arabia, in which a huge abacus with concave sides and very salient angles, is placed
above a flat echinus. The few extant remains of Roman architecture in the Northern
Hauran show mouldings and other ornament of the usual pattern; but the buildings
of the later Roman period, that were built on native lines, show a mixture of native
taste with Roman. These later Roman buildings, and the buildings of the Christian period,
were ornamented very largely with mouldings and other decorations that were moulded in
stucco as I have shown above. Capitals of the Doric order, which were in very common use,
were of course carved in basalt; but Ionic capitals were often only blocked out in stone to
be completed in stucco. The Corinthian order does not appear, though the bell-shaped
capitals found here were probably treated with moulded ornaments, or stuccoed and
painted with leaves etc. The mouldings are generally of right-lined profile, as we find
them in the basalt, but I believe they were covered with stucco and enriched with
various curved profiles.
6. KOSER IL-HALLABAt.
This ruin marks the point farthest south reached by the Princeton Expedition.
The place was sighted, with the aid of a telescope, from a tell east of Umm idj-Djimal.
It appears upon no map, and, so far as I can discover, has never been reported, though
Dr. Schumacher mentions the fact that ruins, to the south of Umm idj-Djimfil, were
reported to him by the Bedawin. We reached the site in the midst of the wet season,
by leaving most of our camp and its equipments at Umm idj-Djimal and moving with
as little luggage as possible to a point on the Wadi ilc-Akib, where there was water,
and where camp was pitched for the night, and then making a day’s excursion to the
ruins and back to camp for the night. On this journey we passed out of the region
of basalt, and crossed a wide rolling tract the surface of which was strewn with flint,
coming into a region of limestone a little north of the ruins. The ruins are perched
upon a high knoll sloping gradually on the north, east and south; but falling rather
steeply to the west; they consist of a Roman fortress built of limestone and basalt,
70
were so, imparts an entirely new aspect to our conceptions of the architecture of the
Hauran as known heretofore from the drawings in M. de Vogue’s book, La Syrie
Centrale, and from the descriptions of other travellers. The crudeness of certain classes
of architecture is concealed, the plain surfaces of others are enriched with mouldings
and plaster ornament, and the sombre effect of the black basalt is brightened with
colour.
Ornament. Carved ornament in the architecture of the Hauran seems to have
been rich and profuse in the buildings of the Nabataean and Roman periods; but, in
the Christian work, the remains of carving are very scant, and it would appear that
much of the ornament was moulded in stucco instead of being carved in stone. The
Nabataean ornament of the Southern Hauran is to be studied chiefly in fragments of
decorated pilasters, friezes and cornices. The highly conventionalized and geometrical
designs so characteristic of the earlier work at Sf, in the Djebel, are not represented
south of Bosra, but the more naturalistic treatment of the grape-vine, on pilasters and
upon jambs, is found in a doorway at il-Umtaciyeh, and in fragments in a number of
places. The capitals that we found in the ruins of Nabataean buildings were, many
of them, of that style known at Sf, Bosra, and Petra, and found by Doughty in Central
Arabia, in which a huge abacus with concave sides and very salient angles, is placed
above a flat echinus. The few extant remains of Roman architecture in the Northern
Hauran show mouldings and other ornament of the usual pattern; but the buildings
of the later Roman period, that were built on native lines, show a mixture of native
taste with Roman. These later Roman buildings, and the buildings of the Christian period,
were ornamented very largely with mouldings and other decorations that were moulded in
stucco as I have shown above. Capitals of the Doric order, which were in very common use,
were of course carved in basalt; but Ionic capitals were often only blocked out in stone to
be completed in stucco. The Corinthian order does not appear, though the bell-shaped
capitals found here were probably treated with moulded ornaments, or stuccoed and
painted with leaves etc. The mouldings are generally of right-lined profile, as we find
them in the basalt, but I believe they were covered with stucco and enriched with
various curved profiles.
6. KOSER IL-HALLABAt.
This ruin marks the point farthest south reached by the Princeton Expedition.
The place was sighted, with the aid of a telescope, from a tell east of Umm idj-Djimal.
It appears upon no map, and, so far as I can discover, has never been reported, though
Dr. Schumacher mentions the fact that ruins, to the south of Umm idj-Djimfil, were
reported to him by the Bedawin. We reached the site in the midst of the wet season,
by leaving most of our camp and its equipments at Umm idj-Djimal and moving with
as little luggage as possible to a point on the Wadi ilc-Akib, where there was water,
and where camp was pitched for the night, and then making a day’s excursion to the
ruins and back to camp for the night. On this journey we passed out of the region
of basalt, and crossed a wide rolling tract the surface of which was strewn with flint,
coming into a region of limestone a little north of the ruins. The ruins are perched
upon a high knoll sloping gradually on the north, east and south; but falling rather
steeply to the west; they consist of a Roman fortress built of limestone and basalt,