DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45582#0061
194
Division II Section A Part 3
a mihrab, or its portal fitted with the Mohammedan prayer niche. It may well have
been that the Moslem occupants of the city were nomads who lived in tents and did
not inhabit the houses of their Christian predecessors, and that this church was the
only building restored or altered for Moslem uses.
Domestic Architecture.
The greater part of the ruins of Umm idj-Djimal are, naturally, those of domes-
tic architecture. Almost the entire area within the walls, exclusive of that devoted
to the open common in the middle of the city, and of that devoted to the churches
and their courts, is occupied by private residences in a better or a worse state of
preservation. These houses represent such various classes of domestic architecture,
as may be indicated by differences of size, quality of construction, and minor details
of luxury. They are, for the most part, grouped in irregular blocks divided from
each other by narrow, crooked streets and lanes. The houses in a block usually
open upon one large court-yard, though, in a number of cases, two or three courts
are found in a block of unusual size separated by rather narrow buildings. The
outer walls present plain unbroken surfaces to the streets, with no windows except in
the upper storeys. The entrances to the court-yards, usually two in each, are occasion-
ally arched, and several of the houses have towers which rise one or two storeys above
the surrounding roofs. The doors, and most of the windows, the staircases and bal-
conies, in fact all of the more attractive features of the houses, are to be seen only
from the court-yards. The exteriors were severe and forbidding in the extreme, just
as one finds the case to have been in those residential quarters of Pompeii in which
the private insulae were not surrounded by shops; and for plainness they were not unlike
the street fronts of English and American city houses of the 1 Sth and early 19th
centuries. All the different qualities of stone work and wall building that have been
described as belonging to the architecture of the Christian period in the Hauran 1 appear
in these houses most of which are two storeys high, though there are blocks of one-
storey houses, and many residences of three and even four storeys. The most common
form of house is that in which two high arched storeys composed of large rooms are
combined with four storeys of smaller rooms,, all under one flat roof·, like the majority
of houses in other parts of the Southern Hauran,3 except that the smaller rooms are
placed at the side of the large arched rooms instead of behind them. The transverse
arch, the corbel courses and long stone slabs for roofs and intermediate floors, described
in a former Part,3 are the important features of construction in all these houses, and
determine their form and style. Stucco on the outside, and several coats of plaster
within, gave a finish to these buildings which the present appearance of their ruins
would hardly suggest. It is quite unnecessary to draw an odious comparison between
the appearance of these ruins and that of wrecked houses in any great modern city.
The larger of the two maps of the city presented herewith shows twenty groups
of private residences, with detailed ground plans measured and drawn to scale. Almost
as many more houses were in a state of preservation to have been added to the map
in the same manner, if there had been time to devote to the long and somewhat
tedious process; most of these are given on the map as blocks with shaded sides, the
1 II. A, 2, p. 67.
2 Ibid. pp. 120, 122.
3 II, a. 2, p. 68.
Division II Section A Part 3
a mihrab, or its portal fitted with the Mohammedan prayer niche. It may well have
been that the Moslem occupants of the city were nomads who lived in tents and did
not inhabit the houses of their Christian predecessors, and that this church was the
only building restored or altered for Moslem uses.
Domestic Architecture.
The greater part of the ruins of Umm idj-Djimal are, naturally, those of domes-
tic architecture. Almost the entire area within the walls, exclusive of that devoted
to the open common in the middle of the city, and of that devoted to the churches
and their courts, is occupied by private residences in a better or a worse state of
preservation. These houses represent such various classes of domestic architecture,
as may be indicated by differences of size, quality of construction, and minor details
of luxury. They are, for the most part, grouped in irregular blocks divided from
each other by narrow, crooked streets and lanes. The houses in a block usually
open upon one large court-yard, though, in a number of cases, two or three courts
are found in a block of unusual size separated by rather narrow buildings. The
outer walls present plain unbroken surfaces to the streets, with no windows except in
the upper storeys. The entrances to the court-yards, usually two in each, are occasion-
ally arched, and several of the houses have towers which rise one or two storeys above
the surrounding roofs. The doors, and most of the windows, the staircases and bal-
conies, in fact all of the more attractive features of the houses, are to be seen only
from the court-yards. The exteriors were severe and forbidding in the extreme, just
as one finds the case to have been in those residential quarters of Pompeii in which
the private insulae were not surrounded by shops; and for plainness they were not unlike
the street fronts of English and American city houses of the 1 Sth and early 19th
centuries. All the different qualities of stone work and wall building that have been
described as belonging to the architecture of the Christian period in the Hauran 1 appear
in these houses most of which are two storeys high, though there are blocks of one-
storey houses, and many residences of three and even four storeys. The most common
form of house is that in which two high arched storeys composed of large rooms are
combined with four storeys of smaller rooms,, all under one flat roof·, like the majority
of houses in other parts of the Southern Hauran,3 except that the smaller rooms are
placed at the side of the large arched rooms instead of behind them. The transverse
arch, the corbel courses and long stone slabs for roofs and intermediate floors, described
in a former Part,3 are the important features of construction in all these houses, and
determine their form and style. Stucco on the outside, and several coats of plaster
within, gave a finish to these buildings which the present appearance of their ruins
would hardly suggest. It is quite unnecessary to draw an odious comparison between
the appearance of these ruins and that of wrecked houses in any great modern city.
The larger of the two maps of the city presented herewith shows twenty groups
of private residences, with detailed ground plans measured and drawn to scale. Almost
as many more houses were in a state of preservation to have been added to the map
in the same manner, if there had been time to devote to the long and somewhat
tedious process; most of these are given on the map as blocks with shaded sides, the
1 II. A, 2, p. 67.
2 Ibid. pp. 120, 122.
3 II, a. 2, p. 68.