DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45582#0011
154
Division II Section A Part 3
side-walls, flat roof of stone, and no clearstorey; and third, the same general arrangement,
with a double pitched roof of timber over the main aisle, set on the level of the stone
roofs of the side aisles. Columnar narthexes, rare in the other parts of the Hauran,
are found in a number of churches here, and the rectangular presbyterium exists as
well as the semi-circular. The ornament does not differ from that of other churches
in the basalt region -of Southern Syria.
The type of domestic architecture is the one common in all the towns of the
locality; but the proportion of large and tall houses is much larger. The use of
columns, in some porticos and loggias, adds interest to the general appearance of the
houses. Houses with two large arched storeys in front and four storeys of narrow
chambers, without arches, behind, are common throughout the ruins.
Ornament of all kinds is meagre in the buildings of the Christian period as it
was in the Roman and Nabataean periods. A few Roman mouldings of intricate pro-
file were employed as second-hand decoration in Christian buildings; but the mouldings
of the Christian period are usually of simple right-lined profile. They are used as
string courses and impost mouldings, and, in a few cases, as door frames. The use
of the column introduced other ornamental features. The Doric column, with plain
shaft, and with or without a base, is the most common form used; but the typical
Doric entablature does not appear, being replaced by a perfectly plain architrave and
a simply moulded cornice. The Ionic order appears in the columns of the “Praeto-
rium” and in the pilaster caps of the Church of Numerianos. No Corinthian types
were found in the ruins, though very plain campaniform capitals appear in a number
of places. The remains of mosaic pavements are to be seen in several of the churches;
these were in simple geometrical patterns of four colors. The subjects of moulded
ornament in plaster, and of painted decoration, in Umm idj-Djimal are discussed on
page 69 of Part 2, describing the architecture of the Southern Hauran.
History of the Monuments : Certain deductions with regard to the history of
the city are to be drawn from the monuments of architecture, with the aid of a few
inscriptions that have to do with the buildings. The remains of no less than two
Nabataean temples, and one monumental tomb, besides a large number of Nabataean
stelae that belonged to other tombs now destroyed, indicate that the site was an im-
portant centre of Nabataean civilization as early as the first century B.C.—A.D. A
gateway bearing an inscription of the Emperors Marcus Aurelius and Commodus, and
parts of an early wall, prove that the city was defended certainly before the end of the
second century; the great reservoir near the centre of the town probably belonged
to the same epoch. There are no monuments that can be assigned definitely to the
third century; but the fourth century is represented by the “Praetorium”, and by a
church dated in the year 345. In the next century the barracks were built; forthough
the inscription referring to the building of the castellum is not in situ, there is very
little doubt that the Dux Pelagios Antipatros, whose name is mentioned in it, and
who built the fortress at Kasr il-Ba'ik in 411 —12, was also the builder of the barracks
here. A large portion of the city as it stands today was erected in the sixth century;
and there is only slight evidence to show that any building operations were carried
on here afterwards. The first settlers were Arabs of the nation we have called Na-
bataean, and the absorption of that nation into the Roman Empire seems to have had
little effect upon the racial characteristics of the city; for, though Latin and Greek be-
Division II Section A Part 3
side-walls, flat roof of stone, and no clearstorey; and third, the same general arrangement,
with a double pitched roof of timber over the main aisle, set on the level of the stone
roofs of the side aisles. Columnar narthexes, rare in the other parts of the Hauran,
are found in a number of churches here, and the rectangular presbyterium exists as
well as the semi-circular. The ornament does not differ from that of other churches
in the basalt region -of Southern Syria.
The type of domestic architecture is the one common in all the towns of the
locality; but the proportion of large and tall houses is much larger. The use of
columns, in some porticos and loggias, adds interest to the general appearance of the
houses. Houses with two large arched storeys in front and four storeys of narrow
chambers, without arches, behind, are common throughout the ruins.
Ornament of all kinds is meagre in the buildings of the Christian period as it
was in the Roman and Nabataean periods. A few Roman mouldings of intricate pro-
file were employed as second-hand decoration in Christian buildings; but the mouldings
of the Christian period are usually of simple right-lined profile. They are used as
string courses and impost mouldings, and, in a few cases, as door frames. The use
of the column introduced other ornamental features. The Doric column, with plain
shaft, and with or without a base, is the most common form used; but the typical
Doric entablature does not appear, being replaced by a perfectly plain architrave and
a simply moulded cornice. The Ionic order appears in the columns of the “Praeto-
rium” and in the pilaster caps of the Church of Numerianos. No Corinthian types
were found in the ruins, though very plain campaniform capitals appear in a number
of places. The remains of mosaic pavements are to be seen in several of the churches;
these were in simple geometrical patterns of four colors. The subjects of moulded
ornament in plaster, and of painted decoration, in Umm idj-Djimal are discussed on
page 69 of Part 2, describing the architecture of the Southern Hauran.
History of the Monuments : Certain deductions with regard to the history of
the city are to be drawn from the monuments of architecture, with the aid of a few
inscriptions that have to do with the buildings. The remains of no less than two
Nabataean temples, and one monumental tomb, besides a large number of Nabataean
stelae that belonged to other tombs now destroyed, indicate that the site was an im-
portant centre of Nabataean civilization as early as the first century B.C.—A.D. A
gateway bearing an inscription of the Emperors Marcus Aurelius and Commodus, and
parts of an early wall, prove that the city was defended certainly before the end of the
second century; the great reservoir near the centre of the town probably belonged
to the same epoch. There are no monuments that can be assigned definitely to the
third century; but the fourth century is represented by the “Praetorium”, and by a
church dated in the year 345. In the next century the barracks were built; forthough
the inscription referring to the building of the castellum is not in situ, there is very
little doubt that the Dux Pelagios Antipatros, whose name is mentioned in it, and
who built the fortress at Kasr il-Ba'ik in 411 —12, was also the builder of the barracks
here. A large portion of the city as it stands today was erected in the sixth century;
and there is only slight evidence to show that any building operations were carried
on here afterwards. The first settlers were Arabs of the nation we have called Na-
bataean, and the absorption of that nation into the Roman Empire seems to have had
little effect upon the racial characteristics of the city; for, though Latin and Greek be-