DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45586#0050
Sic (Seeia)
399
subject of the main relief is the usual representation of Mithras wearing a Phrygian
cap, sitting sideways upon the bull, with his left hand upon the bull’s head and with
his right plunging a knife into the bull’s shoulder. The usual accompanyments are here,
the dog licking the blood, the serpent, and the scorpion; but there are other figures
besides. In the upper left hand angle of the slab is a radiate bust of the sun-god, and
a bird which seems to be perching upon Mithras’ flying drapery, and in the cor-
responding angle a bust wearing the crescent moon above its head, while, at the left,
near the edge of the stone, is a small human figure clad in armour, wearing a pointed
helmet and holding what appears to be a torch.
BUILDINGS OUTSIDE THE PRECINCT.
Bath. Beside the sacred way, and a few metres above it on the south, are the
ruins of a building which was probably a bath. Its circular central apartment, its thick
walls laid in good Roman mortar, and the earthenware water-pipes embedded in the
walls, are almost certain indices of the purpose of the
building. A great mass of broken stone has rolled
down the hillside, almost completely filling the building,
and much earth has accumulated within it, but the
walls are still traceable, and the outlines of the boun-
dary walls were accurately determined, (Ill. 345).
The divisions of the eastern part of the building,
however, could not be determined without a great
deal of excavating. It would seem as if the structure
might be very well preserved under the debris; for
only the upper part of the arched opening in the
west wall was visible, and only the tops of the two
niches are to be seen. The walls throughout were
built of finely dressed quadrated blocks laid in mortar.
5f-BATH-
Ill. 345.
The circular apartment, which was probably the caldarium, was covered by a dome
of concrete, fragments of which lie within the room. No ornamental details were found,
although a doorway in the east wall is flanked by flat pilasters. This building was, in
all probability, erected during the period of Roman domination in the Hauran.
Tombs. There are, generally speaking, two forms of tomb-structures in Sic; but
there is a single example of a third type. None of these forms resembles the type
of tomb found in other Nabataean centres. The partly underground tombs, so common
in the southern Hauran, with their numerous stelae inscribed with Nabataean letters,
notably those of Umm idj-Djimal, 1 are not represented here, and there are no types
even remotely resembling the rock-hewn tombs of Hegra. Yet it is certain that the
two chief forms of tombs here are of Nabataean origin; both on the evidence of in-
scriptions and of architectural details.
The more common of the two types is the round tower (Ill. 346 A), built of qua-
drated, but unfinished, blocks on the exterior, but having an interior chamber the walls
of which are of highly finished masonry. Each of these towers is entered through a
narrow doorway recessed in a sort of vestibule: in one case this vestibule was arched.
1 cf. Div. II, Sect, a, Part 3, p. 205 et seq.
399
subject of the main relief is the usual representation of Mithras wearing a Phrygian
cap, sitting sideways upon the bull, with his left hand upon the bull’s head and with
his right plunging a knife into the bull’s shoulder. The usual accompanyments are here,
the dog licking the blood, the serpent, and the scorpion; but there are other figures
besides. In the upper left hand angle of the slab is a radiate bust of the sun-god, and
a bird which seems to be perching upon Mithras’ flying drapery, and in the cor-
responding angle a bust wearing the crescent moon above its head, while, at the left,
near the edge of the stone, is a small human figure clad in armour, wearing a pointed
helmet and holding what appears to be a torch.
BUILDINGS OUTSIDE THE PRECINCT.
Bath. Beside the sacred way, and a few metres above it on the south, are the
ruins of a building which was probably a bath. Its circular central apartment, its thick
walls laid in good Roman mortar, and the earthenware water-pipes embedded in the
walls, are almost certain indices of the purpose of the
building. A great mass of broken stone has rolled
down the hillside, almost completely filling the building,
and much earth has accumulated within it, but the
walls are still traceable, and the outlines of the boun-
dary walls were accurately determined, (Ill. 345).
The divisions of the eastern part of the building,
however, could not be determined without a great
deal of excavating. It would seem as if the structure
might be very well preserved under the debris; for
only the upper part of the arched opening in the
west wall was visible, and only the tops of the two
niches are to be seen. The walls throughout were
built of finely dressed quadrated blocks laid in mortar.
5f-BATH-
Ill. 345.
The circular apartment, which was probably the caldarium, was covered by a dome
of concrete, fragments of which lie within the room. No ornamental details were found,
although a doorway in the east wall is flanked by flat pilasters. This building was, in
all probability, erected during the period of Roman domination in the Hauran.
Tombs. There are, generally speaking, two forms of tomb-structures in Sic; but
there is a single example of a third type. None of these forms resembles the type
of tomb found in other Nabataean centres. The partly underground tombs, so common
in the southern Hauran, with their numerous stelae inscribed with Nabataean letters,
notably those of Umm idj-Djimal, 1 are not represented here, and there are no types
even remotely resembling the rock-hewn tombs of Hegra. Yet it is certain that the
two chief forms of tombs here are of Nabataean origin; both on the evidence of in-
scriptions and of architectural details.
The more common of the two types is the round tower (Ill. 346 A), built of qua-
drated, but unfinished, blocks on the exterior, but having an interior chamber the walls
of which are of highly finished masonry. Each of these towers is entered through a
narrow doorway recessed in a sort of vestibule: in one case this vestibule was arched.
1 cf. Div. II, Sect, a, Part 3, p. 205 et seq.