DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45586#0015
374
Division II Section A Part 6
BUILDINGS WITHIN THE PRECINCT.
The Temple of Baal Shamin, 33/32 b. c. In taking up the discussion of the
principal temple of Sic we shall include the Theatron, or peristylar forecourt, as well as
the temple itself (Ill. 324). The temple proper stands a little to the west of the middle
of an oblong enclosure (24 m. X 50 m.) leaving a forecourt, approximately a square, in
front of it. It is so oriented that its diagonals point almost directly toward the cardinal
points. The forecourt is provided with colonnades on three sides, and was entered
through a fine portal in the middle of its east wall. The entire enclosure about the
temple is paved with large and beautifully-fitted blocks of basalt. Only the bare outline
of the outer square of the temple was measured by M. de Vogue. The entire space
within its walls was heaped high with fallen building stones and other debris. He cleared
out the shallow portico between two projections, like towers, at either end of the facade,
and the space in front of it, and made a beautiful drawing of the whole front in its
actual state. When I first visited Sic, in 1900, all of that front wall had been broken
up for building material in connection with the erection of new barracks at Suw£da.
On the occasion of my second visit, in 1904, I found that the stone-breakers, having
exhausted the supply of building-stones that had been in place, had begun to draw
upon the heap of fallen blocks within the temple. In removing these stones they had
laid bare the foundations and lower courses of parts of the interior division walls of the
temple, and had brought to light a number of architectural fragments which had never
been seen before. With the aid of these foundations and fragments, I was able to
make the restored plan and elevation given in Ill. 325. It was found that there had
been an inner chamber within the great cella, this chamber measured 8.28 m. by 7.62 m.
inside, its walls were 76 cm. thick, and it was set 4.12 m. from the rear wall of the
outer cella, 3.98 m. from the north wall, 4.18 m. from the south wall, and only 1.90 m.
from the wall of the portico. At the eastern end of the north .wall of the inner cella
there are remains of a cross wall, other fragments of which show that it was carried
entirely across the greater cella to form the front of the inner cella and the west walls
of the two square towers which flank the portico. Only one end of the east wall of
the inner cella was found; but this preserved a fragment of the jamb of a doorway
still in place, which, from its position, indicates that there were either three portals
leading into the cella, or two, one at either end. Fragments of wall still in place, and
door-jambs of different designs lying near, show that there were doorways leading from
the narrow passage between the wall of the inner cella and the wall of the portico,
into the towers, and other doorways opening from the towers into the broad passage
on three sides of the inner cella. Within the inner cella were discovered four bases
for columns, one of which was in situ. The columns which stood upon these four bases
probably occupied the angles of a rectangle within the cella, and may have provided
for an open space in the roof, like the impluvium of a Pompeian house. In my plan
(Ill. 325) the portions of the temple measured by M. de Vogiie are shown in black,
few of these parts are now in existence; the newly discovered walls are shaded, and the
restored, or conjectured, portions are simply outlined. Above the plan, in Ill. 325, I
have shown the middle part of the fagade as seen by M. de Vogue. Here will be
seen the inner angles of the angle-towers, the doorway, the bases of the two columns,
the altar-pedestals a, b, c and d in the porch, and the altar e in front of the steps.
Division II Section A Part 6
BUILDINGS WITHIN THE PRECINCT.
The Temple of Baal Shamin, 33/32 b. c. In taking up the discussion of the
principal temple of Sic we shall include the Theatron, or peristylar forecourt, as well as
the temple itself (Ill. 324). The temple proper stands a little to the west of the middle
of an oblong enclosure (24 m. X 50 m.) leaving a forecourt, approximately a square, in
front of it. It is so oriented that its diagonals point almost directly toward the cardinal
points. The forecourt is provided with colonnades on three sides, and was entered
through a fine portal in the middle of its east wall. The entire enclosure about the
temple is paved with large and beautifully-fitted blocks of basalt. Only the bare outline
of the outer square of the temple was measured by M. de Vogue. The entire space
within its walls was heaped high with fallen building stones and other debris. He cleared
out the shallow portico between two projections, like towers, at either end of the facade,
and the space in front of it, and made a beautiful drawing of the whole front in its
actual state. When I first visited Sic, in 1900, all of that front wall had been broken
up for building material in connection with the erection of new barracks at Suw£da.
On the occasion of my second visit, in 1904, I found that the stone-breakers, having
exhausted the supply of building-stones that had been in place, had begun to draw
upon the heap of fallen blocks within the temple. In removing these stones they had
laid bare the foundations and lower courses of parts of the interior division walls of the
temple, and had brought to light a number of architectural fragments which had never
been seen before. With the aid of these foundations and fragments, I was able to
make the restored plan and elevation given in Ill. 325. It was found that there had
been an inner chamber within the great cella, this chamber measured 8.28 m. by 7.62 m.
inside, its walls were 76 cm. thick, and it was set 4.12 m. from the rear wall of the
outer cella, 3.98 m. from the north wall, 4.18 m. from the south wall, and only 1.90 m.
from the wall of the portico. At the eastern end of the north .wall of the inner cella
there are remains of a cross wall, other fragments of which show that it was carried
entirely across the greater cella to form the front of the inner cella and the west walls
of the two square towers which flank the portico. Only one end of the east wall of
the inner cella was found; but this preserved a fragment of the jamb of a doorway
still in place, which, from its position, indicates that there were either three portals
leading into the cella, or two, one at either end. Fragments of wall still in place, and
door-jambs of different designs lying near, show that there were doorways leading from
the narrow passage between the wall of the inner cella and the wall of the portico,
into the towers, and other doorways opening from the towers into the broad passage
on three sides of the inner cella. Within the inner cella were discovered four bases
for columns, one of which was in situ. The columns which stood upon these four bases
probably occupied the angles of a rectangle within the cella, and may have provided
for an open space in the roof, like the impluvium of a Pompeian house. In my plan
(Ill. 325) the portions of the temple measured by M. de Vogiie are shown in black,
few of these parts are now in existence; the newly discovered walls are shaded, and the
restored, or conjectured, portions are simply outlined. Above the plan, in Ill. 325, I
have shown the middle part of the fagade as seen by M. de Vogue. Here will be
seen the inner angles of the angle-towers, the doorway, the bases of the two columns,
the altar-pedestals a, b, c and d in the porch, and the altar e in front of the steps.