DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45583#0101
Bosra eski Sham (Bosira or Bosra)
291
in white marble. These columns were taken from some Christian edifice, as an inscrip-
tion 1 on two of them will attest, and probably belonged originally to some Pagan
building. The combination of the low pier and the high column, (x), where the narrow
arches join the broad arch on either side, is a beautiful piece of design. South of
this arcade is a wall arcade quite similarly designed, but having slightly pointed arches
and Ionic columns of basalt taken from Roman buildings and rather badly put together.
This arcade partly blocks up the windows in the south wall, and is, I believe, one of
the earlier restorations, having been inserted to decrease the width of the aisle and to
reduce the required length of roofing slabs. North of the arcade first described was
an arcade similar to it in every detail, but now in ruins. This was reinforced, at
Ill. 258.
some later period, by an arcade of pointed arches carried on piers and set directly
beside it on the south. All these later columns and piers are marked (L) on the plan,
and are shown in broken lines in Section C-D. This reinforcing arcade served, like
the wall arcade, to narrow the space to be spanned by the stone slabs of the roof
(Ill., 256). These two south aisles extended through the building from the east wall to
the west; the east aisles terminated at the arches of the inner south aisle. The
arches of the first two bays are of unequal width, both are semicircular, but the
narrower is stilted. Their common support is a column of extreme slenderness in white
marble (Y). The arches of both arcades in these two bays lie parallel, and north and
south. They carry their roofs of stone slabs intact. The next two columns to the
north (Z), and the column east of it, both in basalt, carried each two pairs of arches
1 Div. Ill, insc. 560.
291
in white marble. These columns were taken from some Christian edifice, as an inscrip-
tion 1 on two of them will attest, and probably belonged originally to some Pagan
building. The combination of the low pier and the high column, (x), where the narrow
arches join the broad arch on either side, is a beautiful piece of design. South of
this arcade is a wall arcade quite similarly designed, but having slightly pointed arches
and Ionic columns of basalt taken from Roman buildings and rather badly put together.
This arcade partly blocks up the windows in the south wall, and is, I believe, one of
the earlier restorations, having been inserted to decrease the width of the aisle and to
reduce the required length of roofing slabs. North of the arcade first described was
an arcade similar to it in every detail, but now in ruins. This was reinforced, at
Ill. 258.
some later period, by an arcade of pointed arches carried on piers and set directly
beside it on the south. All these later columns and piers are marked (L) on the plan,
and are shown in broken lines in Section C-D. This reinforcing arcade served, like
the wall arcade, to narrow the space to be spanned by the stone slabs of the roof
(Ill., 256). These two south aisles extended through the building from the east wall to
the west; the east aisles terminated at the arches of the inner south aisle. The
arches of the first two bays are of unequal width, both are semicircular, but the
narrower is stilted. Their common support is a column of extreme slenderness in white
marble (Y). The arches of both arcades in these two bays lie parallel, and north and
south. They carry their roofs of stone slabs intact. The next two columns to the
north (Z), and the column east of it, both in basalt, carried each two pairs of arches
1 Div. Ill, insc. 560.