DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45586#0023
Division II Section A Part 6
380
These two types are illustrated in Plate 4 of La Syrie Centrale. The architrave
was 36 cm. high, and divided into three equal parts, the two lower being fasciae, the
uppermost being a right lined cymatium. Certain fragments of this architrave bear the
important Nabataean inscription 1 which gives a date to the temple and other structures
about it. Above the architrave I would place a narrow ornamental frieze and a cornice
both of which I shall mention in connection with my restoration of the entrance. The
peristyle probably carried a roof of stone slabs.
Entrance to the Theatron. In presenting the plan and restorations of this im-
portant gateway, I am obliged to employ numerous illustrations. There was a wealth
of material for the restoration lying in front of the gate, in the actual doorway, and
within it. The task of restoration, therefore consists in putting together the fallen
details; for almost all of them were found. Ill. 329 gives the ground-plan which was
easily extricated from the mass of debris, a scale drawing of the actual state in which
the gateway was found and elevations and sections of a restoration. Ill. 331 gives two
photographs, the lower of which shows the south side of the east face of the gateway
after it had been excavated, the upper, the keystone of the arch above the gate, with
the head of Bacal Shamin carved upon it in high relief. Ill. 332 is a photograph of a
cast, or set of casts, taken from squeezes made from the parts of the gate which were
in situ and from the fallen details, and temporarily set up in the library of Princeton
University.2 Scale drawings of many of the details are given in 111. 330, and a few
photographs of originals appear in Ills. 333 and 334.
In the plan of the theatron published by M. de Vogue,3 a large square tower is
placed on either side of the entrance, in the place where lay the huge piles of debris
that covered this part of the ruins. Upon clearing away this mass of fallen building-
stones we discovered no hanking towers, but, in their place, the elaborate composition
of pedestals and pilasters which gave dignity to the outer face of the entrance, and two
square piers with engaged columns that formed the inner face, in line with the eastern
colonnade of the peristyle. Between the outer doorway and the inner piers, the steps,
or seats, of the theatron were carried almost to the jambs of the portal. Our excava-
tions revealed, on the outside, four steps the uppermost of which formed a broad plat-
form before the gateway. We did not determine definitely whether these steps extended
along the face of the entire wall; but it seems probable that they did. Upon the
platform just mentioned we found the lower courses of the jambs of the gate, a narrow,
deep, pedestal beside either jamb, and, outside of these on either hand, a projecting
wall terminating in a pilaster from which the flat surface of the wall extends to right
and left. The ground-plan and the drawing of the actual state (Ill. 329) illustrate this
unusual plan, and show that the effect is that of a deeply recessed portal. The above-
named drawings and the accompanying photograph (Ill. 331) show the extraordinary
design of this monument and the interesting combinations of mouldings of various profiles
that were employed in its execution. The three outermost mouldings of the jamb, a
fascia, a shallow cavetto and a narrow torus, are returned inward at the foot, and
carried across the opening as a step. Upon this, and only 15 cm. back from the edge,
is a second step, with an elaborately moulded riser, set between the jambs. The face
of the jambs (Ill. 331 and C. in 330) is ornamented with four bands of carving separated
1 A. A. E. S. IV, Nab. inscr. 1; Div. IV, Sect, a, inscr. 100.
2 A fac-simile of this cast is now in the Museum at Berlin.
3 5. C. Pl. 10.
380
These two types are illustrated in Plate 4 of La Syrie Centrale. The architrave
was 36 cm. high, and divided into three equal parts, the two lower being fasciae, the
uppermost being a right lined cymatium. Certain fragments of this architrave bear the
important Nabataean inscription 1 which gives a date to the temple and other structures
about it. Above the architrave I would place a narrow ornamental frieze and a cornice
both of which I shall mention in connection with my restoration of the entrance. The
peristyle probably carried a roof of stone slabs.
Entrance to the Theatron. In presenting the plan and restorations of this im-
portant gateway, I am obliged to employ numerous illustrations. There was a wealth
of material for the restoration lying in front of the gate, in the actual doorway, and
within it. The task of restoration, therefore consists in putting together the fallen
details; for almost all of them were found. Ill. 329 gives the ground-plan which was
easily extricated from the mass of debris, a scale drawing of the actual state in which
the gateway was found and elevations and sections of a restoration. Ill. 331 gives two
photographs, the lower of which shows the south side of the east face of the gateway
after it had been excavated, the upper, the keystone of the arch above the gate, with
the head of Bacal Shamin carved upon it in high relief. Ill. 332 is a photograph of a
cast, or set of casts, taken from squeezes made from the parts of the gate which were
in situ and from the fallen details, and temporarily set up in the library of Princeton
University.2 Scale drawings of many of the details are given in 111. 330, and a few
photographs of originals appear in Ills. 333 and 334.
In the plan of the theatron published by M. de Vogue,3 a large square tower is
placed on either side of the entrance, in the place where lay the huge piles of debris
that covered this part of the ruins. Upon clearing away this mass of fallen building-
stones we discovered no hanking towers, but, in their place, the elaborate composition
of pedestals and pilasters which gave dignity to the outer face of the entrance, and two
square piers with engaged columns that formed the inner face, in line with the eastern
colonnade of the peristyle. Between the outer doorway and the inner piers, the steps,
or seats, of the theatron were carried almost to the jambs of the portal. Our excava-
tions revealed, on the outside, four steps the uppermost of which formed a broad plat-
form before the gateway. We did not determine definitely whether these steps extended
along the face of the entire wall; but it seems probable that they did. Upon the
platform just mentioned we found the lower courses of the jambs of the gate, a narrow,
deep, pedestal beside either jamb, and, outside of these on either hand, a projecting
wall terminating in a pilaster from which the flat surface of the wall extends to right
and left. The ground-plan and the drawing of the actual state (Ill. 329) illustrate this
unusual plan, and show that the effect is that of a deeply recessed portal. The above-
named drawings and the accompanying photograph (Ill. 331) show the extraordinary
design of this monument and the interesting combinations of mouldings of various profiles
that were employed in its execution. The three outermost mouldings of the jamb, a
fascia, a shallow cavetto and a narrow torus, are returned inward at the foot, and
carried across the opening as a step. Upon this, and only 15 cm. back from the edge,
is a second step, with an elaborately moulded riser, set between the jambs. The face
of the jambs (Ill. 331 and C. in 330) is ornamented with four bands of carving separated
1 A. A. E. S. IV, Nab. inscr. 1; Div. IV, Sect, a, inscr. 100.
2 A fac-simile of this cast is now in the Museum at Berlin.
3 5. C. Pl. 10.