DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45582#0060
Umm idj-Djimal (Thantia?)
193
space between the two pilasters, having found a small column in the ruins of the porch.
The gallery thus formed was roofed with slabs of stone, the corbels for which are still
visible. It is most probable that the south aisle is to be restored exactly like the
north aisle, as I have done in Ill. 171, Section A-B. It was possible to pass from
one gallery to the other by a narrow platform corbelled out above the transverse wall¬
arch at the west end of the main aisle, as is shown in Section C-D, Ill. 171.
I have restored the remainder of the faQade from small columns and other broken
details lying in the porch, on the basis of certain facades in Northern Syria; of the
architrave and cornice there can be little doubt. The porch was a free-standing col-
onnade carrying a roof of slabs: the walls, which are now found in ruins at the ends
of the porch, are late additions. The Ionic angle-pilaster cap from the south end of
facade is now lying near the southeast angle of the chapel of the Barracks. The entire
lower storey of this church, including the outer walls and the piers and arches of the
interior, was built of the most highly finished stone, admirably laid and fitted (Ill. 173);
the upper parts were built of smooth quadrated masonry in blocks of unusual size.
The mouldings of the main west portal, which are very simple and the only mouldings
visible in the church, have the appearance of not having been made for the place
which they now occupy; for the moulding of the lintel is not returned and brought
down at the ends of the lintel; but the inscription of Numerianos is complete and is
undoubtedly coeval with the building. The bases of the columns of the porch were
well moulded Attic basis, but the capitals were in plain Doric style.
The ecclesiastical buildings on the north side of the church (Ill. 171) are grouped'
about a nearly symmetrical court with a circular cistern in the middle; the cistern was
originally covered with slabs level with the pavement of the court. The buildings are
all small, only those adjoining the church and those on the west side being two storeys
high ; a tower of three storeys occupied the northeast corner. The two rooms adjoin-
ing the church, with a passage, or slype, between them, are still preserved in part
and have a stone ceiling a little lower than the ceiling of the side aisle within. Upon
the outer wall of these rooms there apparently stood a colonnade of columns about
3 m. high carrying a roof of wood. None of these columns is in situ; but there are
several in the ruins, and I cannot find any other place where they might have stood
than that I have shown in Section A-B, Ill. 171. This open loggia would have been
reached by a long flight of steps leading up from the court along the east wall, and
it would have been necessary to have steps to reach the gallery of the church from
the open loggia. Most of the rooms in the court were for residence, one was a long
stable with five mangers. Beside the doorway in the southeast angle of the court, at
the left hand, was a bracket, in the form of a diminutive altar, with a slight depression
in its top and an inscription 1 upon its side. Similar altar-like brackets2 were found be-
side other doorways in Umm idj-Djimal; I believe that they belonged originally to
Pagan buildings, but I am unable to suggest what their use may have been. This is
one of the few buildings in Umm idj-Djimal, if not the only one, which shows un-
mistakable evidence of Moslem occupation. No demonstration is required to prove
that Moslem hands built the wall which closes the apse, and there is little doubt, if
the south wall of the church were not in ruins, that we should find it pierced to receive
1 III, insc. 240.
2 Cf. p. 211, Ill. 193.
193
space between the two pilasters, having found a small column in the ruins of the porch.
The gallery thus formed was roofed with slabs of stone, the corbels for which are still
visible. It is most probable that the south aisle is to be restored exactly like the
north aisle, as I have done in Ill. 171, Section A-B. It was possible to pass from
one gallery to the other by a narrow platform corbelled out above the transverse wall¬
arch at the west end of the main aisle, as is shown in Section C-D, Ill. 171.
I have restored the remainder of the faQade from small columns and other broken
details lying in the porch, on the basis of certain facades in Northern Syria; of the
architrave and cornice there can be little doubt. The porch was a free-standing col-
onnade carrying a roof of slabs: the walls, which are now found in ruins at the ends
of the porch, are late additions. The Ionic angle-pilaster cap from the south end of
facade is now lying near the southeast angle of the chapel of the Barracks. The entire
lower storey of this church, including the outer walls and the piers and arches of the
interior, was built of the most highly finished stone, admirably laid and fitted (Ill. 173);
the upper parts were built of smooth quadrated masonry in blocks of unusual size.
The mouldings of the main west portal, which are very simple and the only mouldings
visible in the church, have the appearance of not having been made for the place
which they now occupy; for the moulding of the lintel is not returned and brought
down at the ends of the lintel; but the inscription of Numerianos is complete and is
undoubtedly coeval with the building. The bases of the columns of the porch were
well moulded Attic basis, but the capitals were in plain Doric style.
The ecclesiastical buildings on the north side of the church (Ill. 171) are grouped'
about a nearly symmetrical court with a circular cistern in the middle; the cistern was
originally covered with slabs level with the pavement of the court. The buildings are
all small, only those adjoining the church and those on the west side being two storeys
high ; a tower of three storeys occupied the northeast corner. The two rooms adjoin-
ing the church, with a passage, or slype, between them, are still preserved in part
and have a stone ceiling a little lower than the ceiling of the side aisle within. Upon
the outer wall of these rooms there apparently stood a colonnade of columns about
3 m. high carrying a roof of wood. None of these columns is in situ; but there are
several in the ruins, and I cannot find any other place where they might have stood
than that I have shown in Section A-B, Ill. 171. This open loggia would have been
reached by a long flight of steps leading up from the court along the east wall, and
it would have been necessary to have steps to reach the gallery of the church from
the open loggia. Most of the rooms in the court were for residence, one was a long
stable with five mangers. Beside the doorway in the southeast angle of the court, at
the left hand, was a bracket, in the form of a diminutive altar, with a slight depression
in its top and an inscription 1 upon its side. Similar altar-like brackets2 were found be-
side other doorways in Umm idj-Djimal; I believe that they belonged originally to
Pagan buildings, but I am unable to suggest what their use may have been. This is
one of the few buildings in Umm idj-Djimal, if not the only one, which shows un-
mistakable evidence of Moslem occupation. No demonstration is required to prove
that Moslem hands built the wall which closes the apse, and there is little doubt, if
the south wall of the church were not in ruins, that we should find it pierced to receive
1 III, insc. 240.
2 Cf. p. 211, Ill. 193.