DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45598#0051
Macrata.
87
a deer or a bird, in relief. The lower band is composed of a scroll pattern, like
those seen on the lintels of Kerratin, and a small animal figure occupies the space at
the point where the scrolls begin on either side of the central disc with its square
frame. One of these animals is represented with long curving horns, the other, in the
attitude of galloping, has a long branching horn that extends from the head to the
tail. In the upper angles between the disc and its square frame are two birds with
long drooping tails, peacocks perhaps with their tails lowered; the lower angles are
occupied by scrolls. The disc itself is of the ordinary type, with the A and UJ and -F-,
except that the upper left hand quadrant contains a bird which may be taken for a
dove, symbolizing the Holy Spirit. The lintel must have belonged to a church; its
design suggests patterns well known in mosaic work, and was probably picked out in colours.
34. TDJAIYIZ.
Less than half an hour to the north of Ldjaz is this small ruin where there is
little that is ancient in situ. The place was inhabited in recent times, and probably
also in the middle ages; but it is now deserted. In the northeast quarter of the ruin
there is a fine underground tomb with a tunnel vault in a state of complete preservation.
The tomb was reached by a long flight of steps that descended from the east. The
construction and the stone cutting here are
of the best quality. In the midst of the ruins
is an ancient Mohammedan praying place,
built up, like a platform, of fragments from
still older buildings. One of the slabs of
the floor is decorated with incised carving
(Ill. 96). The slab is 1.53 m. long and 78 cm.
wide. It was probably a panel in a chancel
rail or the front of an altar. The design is
a crude representation of two peacocks facing
a tall vase. Above the tail of one peacock
is a much smaller bird, and below the tail of the other, another small peacock is
represented. Above the peacock on the left hand is a small object shaped like an
hour-glass with the letter I on one side of it and G) on the other. The figures are
not in relief but are drawn in deeply incised lines; the whole monument is poorly and
crudely executed ; the lines being intended probably only as guides for colour or stucco work.
35. macrAta.
Second in size and importance only to Kerratin and il-Anderin, this ruin is one
of the most interesting in the whole region between Aleppo and Selemiyeh. There is
an abundance of water in ancient cisterns here in the spring time; but the place is
deserted. Immediately to the westward are well cultivated and apparently fertile fields,
eastward stretch rolling pastures of thin and scanty herbage that extend beyond Kerratin
and finally merge into the desert. Bedawin tents take the place of built villages in
this district, and the ruins are consequently better preserved than in the cultivated
tract between Ma'rata and the Djebel Riha, where the building of numerous villages
Publications of the Princeton University Archaeological Expedition to Syria, Div. II, Sec. B., Pt. 2. 12
87
a deer or a bird, in relief. The lower band is composed of a scroll pattern, like
those seen on the lintels of Kerratin, and a small animal figure occupies the space at
the point where the scrolls begin on either side of the central disc with its square
frame. One of these animals is represented with long curving horns, the other, in the
attitude of galloping, has a long branching horn that extends from the head to the
tail. In the upper angles between the disc and its square frame are two birds with
long drooping tails, peacocks perhaps with their tails lowered; the lower angles are
occupied by scrolls. The disc itself is of the ordinary type, with the A and UJ and -F-,
except that the upper left hand quadrant contains a bird which may be taken for a
dove, symbolizing the Holy Spirit. The lintel must have belonged to a church; its
design suggests patterns well known in mosaic work, and was probably picked out in colours.
34. TDJAIYIZ.
Less than half an hour to the north of Ldjaz is this small ruin where there is
little that is ancient in situ. The place was inhabited in recent times, and probably
also in the middle ages; but it is now deserted. In the northeast quarter of the ruin
there is a fine underground tomb with a tunnel vault in a state of complete preservation.
The tomb was reached by a long flight of steps that descended from the east. The
construction and the stone cutting here are
of the best quality. In the midst of the ruins
is an ancient Mohammedan praying place,
built up, like a platform, of fragments from
still older buildings. One of the slabs of
the floor is decorated with incised carving
(Ill. 96). The slab is 1.53 m. long and 78 cm.
wide. It was probably a panel in a chancel
rail or the front of an altar. The design is
a crude representation of two peacocks facing
a tall vase. Above the tail of one peacock
is a much smaller bird, and below the tail of the other, another small peacock is
represented. Above the peacock on the left hand is a small object shaped like an
hour-glass with the letter I on one side of it and G) on the other. The figures are
not in relief but are drawn in deeply incised lines; the whole monument is poorly and
crudely executed ; the lines being intended probably only as guides for colour or stucco work.
35. macrAta.
Second in size and importance only to Kerratin and il-Anderin, this ruin is one
of the most interesting in the whole region between Aleppo and Selemiyeh. There is
an abundance of water in ancient cisterns here in the spring time; but the place is
deserted. Immediately to the westward are well cultivated and apparently fertile fields,
eastward stretch rolling pastures of thin and scanty herbage that extend beyond Kerratin
and finally merge into the desert. Bedawin tents take the place of built villages in
this district, and the ruins are consequently better preserved than in the cultivated
tract between Ma'rata and the Djebel Riha, where the building of numerous villages
Publications of the Princeton University Archaeological Expedition to Syria, Div. II, Sec. B., Pt. 2. 12