DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45594#0085
Kasr Ibn Wardan.
45
lower courses which are built of basalt, and the portals which are a part of the
same. The imported craftsmen were as unused to working in basalt as the natives
were in brick, and it is quite certain that workmen from il-Anderin were employed to
dress the blocks of basalt and to set the great lintels, for in that work they had
special skill. It is also evident that native artists designed and executed the ornament
of the five great portals that are still in situ; for these are the only details that bear
the stamp of the province. It is significant that, while the marble string mouldings
and capitals of the church present strange and foreign profiles and designs, the basalt
lintels of all three edifices here have the bands of geometrical patterns, the highly
conventionalized grape-vine ornament, the bands of lettering in relief, and the symbolical
discs, that are most characteristic of the region, and are of one piece with the orna-
mental designs employed in il-Anderin. There is little to be said on the subject of
the date of these buildings. The evidence for the date of the palace, 564 A.D. is
conclusive. The dating of the other buildings is, to all intents and purposes, fixed by
this date; for it is apparent that all three structures belong to one building period.
But there is a dated inscription on the lintel of the great entrance to the barracks.
This inscription 1 has been injured by fire, and it is unfortunately the end of the in-
scription where the date was written that has suffered most, and the reading of the
date is not absolutely certain. Mr. Prentice believes that it is the equivalent of
561 A.D., which would be only three years earlier than the palace. This date would
suit the situation very well; for it would seem natural to have built the barracks first.
The date of the completion of the barracks at il-Anderin is 558, which brings all this
building in brick within the space of six or seven years, and within the latter part of
the reign of the Emperor Justinian.
1 Cf. Div. Ill, insc. 906.
45
lower courses which are built of basalt, and the portals which are a part of the
same. The imported craftsmen were as unused to working in basalt as the natives
were in brick, and it is quite certain that workmen from il-Anderin were employed to
dress the blocks of basalt and to set the great lintels, for in that work they had
special skill. It is also evident that native artists designed and executed the ornament
of the five great portals that are still in situ; for these are the only details that bear
the stamp of the province. It is significant that, while the marble string mouldings
and capitals of the church present strange and foreign profiles and designs, the basalt
lintels of all three edifices here have the bands of geometrical patterns, the highly
conventionalized grape-vine ornament, the bands of lettering in relief, and the symbolical
discs, that are most characteristic of the region, and are of one piece with the orna-
mental designs employed in il-Anderin. There is little to be said on the subject of
the date of these buildings. The evidence for the date of the palace, 564 A.D. is
conclusive. The dating of the other buildings is, to all intents and purposes, fixed by
this date; for it is apparent that all three structures belong to one building period.
But there is a dated inscription on the lintel of the great entrance to the barracks.
This inscription 1 has been injured by fire, and it is unfortunately the end of the in-
scription where the date was written that has suffered most, and the reading of the
date is not absolutely certain. Mr. Prentice believes that it is the equivalent of
561 A.D., which would be only three years earlier than the palace. This date would
suit the situation very well; for it would seem natural to have built the barracks first.
The date of the completion of the barracks at il-Anderin is 558, which brings all this
building in brick within the space of six or seven years, and within the latter part of
the reign of the Emperor Justinian.
1 Cf. Div. Ill, insc. 906.