DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45583#0071
Division II Section A Part 4
There are still to be traced in the southern part of the heap the founda-
a wall the position of which is only approximately given in my plan. Apsis .
noted by Professor Briinnow 3
last
gate
with
also
semi-circular ends (Ill. 239).
of the edifice is standing to a height of 2 metres,
the remainder is to be traced in foundations. Here
who gives two small drawings of its details.
About 100-metres to the northwest of the ruin
described, and 75 metres south of the north
of the city, there are remains of another building
apses toward the north and south, which appears
to have been in the nature of a narthex with
A little less than half
apsis (B). The space between is now a heap of-ruins in which Burckhardt1 saw broken
columns.
tions of
(B) was
the west wall is provided with three entrances, a broad doorway between two narrower
ones, and separated by pilaster buttresses. The space within was spanned by four trans-
verse arches springing from salient piers between which were the openings leading into
a greater building of which these remains formed the narthex. Whatever may remain
of the greater building is entirely concealed by heaps of ruins and comparatively modern
structures.
It seems quite plain that these large apsidal halls, and smaller apsidal narthexes,
were not of Christian origin, even though an apse toward the east always suggests a
church,. and narthexes with semicircular ends are known to have existed in some of
the churches of Constantinople and Ravenna. The stonework in all of these struc-
tures in Bosra is quite similar in quality to that of other buildings in the Hauran which
are known to be of Roman date of the second or third centuries, and the details
present characteristics that are unknown in buildings here which are known to be
Christian. It would be well worth the effort of some archaeologist to excavate the
group lying north of the Basilica, where there are no modern houses, and the area
west of the same building, for the probabilities are that he would find the complete
plan, and much of the superstructure and details, of a complex of civic buildings of
Roman Bostra. The appearance of Christian symbols is rare, and only in the form
of graffiti that might have been cut upon the stonework at any time after the erection
of the buildings.
Market. Towering above the modern buildings in the midst of the modern village
are the ruined walls and vaults of an ancient structure called by the natives Khan id-Dibs,
the „honey khan”, to which we have given the name of Market because it seems to
fulfill the requirements which such a structure as an ancient bazaar in the Orient would
demand. On our map it is shown to lie just north of the intersection of the two
principal streets of the city, It is also shown in the map as two distinct buildings,
its western half being labelled „ Central Baths”. This error resulted from the presence
of modern structures between the eastern and western sections of the building, and the
necessity of measuring and drawing the two parts separately. It was only when the
two sections were drawn out side by side that their mutual interdependence was established.
This great structure has been mentioned by a number of travellers, but no plan
of it has been published hitherto. Some writers have confused the late, quite modern,
1 Op. cit. p. 227.
2 Op. cit. p. 39.
There are still to be traced in the southern part of the heap the founda-
a wall the position of which is only approximately given in my plan. Apsis .
noted by Professor Briinnow 3
last
gate
with
also
semi-circular ends (Ill. 239).
of the edifice is standing to a height of 2 metres,
the remainder is to be traced in foundations. Here
who gives two small drawings of its details.
About 100-metres to the northwest of the ruin
described, and 75 metres south of the north
of the city, there are remains of another building
apses toward the north and south, which appears
to have been in the nature of a narthex with
A little less than half
apsis (B). The space between is now a heap of-ruins in which Burckhardt1 saw broken
columns.
tions of
(B) was
the west wall is provided with three entrances, a broad doorway between two narrower
ones, and separated by pilaster buttresses. The space within was spanned by four trans-
verse arches springing from salient piers between which were the openings leading into
a greater building of which these remains formed the narthex. Whatever may remain
of the greater building is entirely concealed by heaps of ruins and comparatively modern
structures.
It seems quite plain that these large apsidal halls, and smaller apsidal narthexes,
were not of Christian origin, even though an apse toward the east always suggests a
church,. and narthexes with semicircular ends are known to have existed in some of
the churches of Constantinople and Ravenna. The stonework in all of these struc-
tures in Bosra is quite similar in quality to that of other buildings in the Hauran which
are known to be of Roman date of the second or third centuries, and the details
present characteristics that are unknown in buildings here which are known to be
Christian. It would be well worth the effort of some archaeologist to excavate the
group lying north of the Basilica, where there are no modern houses, and the area
west of the same building, for the probabilities are that he would find the complete
plan, and much of the superstructure and details, of a complex of civic buildings of
Roman Bostra. The appearance of Christian symbols is rare, and only in the form
of graffiti that might have been cut upon the stonework at any time after the erection
of the buildings.
Market. Towering above the modern buildings in the midst of the modern village
are the ruined walls and vaults of an ancient structure called by the natives Khan id-Dibs,
the „honey khan”, to which we have given the name of Market because it seems to
fulfill the requirements which such a structure as an ancient bazaar in the Orient would
demand. On our map it is shown to lie just north of the intersection of the two
principal streets of the city, It is also shown in the map as two distinct buildings,
its western half being labelled „ Central Baths”. This error resulted from the presence
of modern structures between the eastern and western sections of the building, and the
necessity of measuring and drawing the two parts separately. It was only when the
two sections were drawn out side by side that their mutual interdependence was established.
This great structure has been mentioned by a number of travellers, but no plan
of it has been published hitherto. Some writers have confused the late, quite modern,
1 Op. cit. p. 227.
2 Op. cit. p. 39.