DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45598#0065
Faflul.
99
in place, others have been rebuilt since the rise of Islam, as the inscribed voussoirs1
of one arch attest; for they were set up without reference to the order of the lettering,
and it is quite plain that the voussoirs belonged to an arch of wider span. The plan
suggests little; it resembles no plan in all the region. The apse is not the apse of
a church; for it is not properly oriented and' has no side chambers. The irregularity
of the plan and the presence of the apse are suggestive of a bath; but the secret is
probably held beneath the heap of debris that
covers the northeastern section of the building.
The outer walls were high, if one may judge
by the amount of ruin created by their fall.
The portions of walls and the ancient arches
that are still standing appear now like under¬
ground structures amid the mass of surrounding
debris. The original broad arches of the large
apartment with its apse were much higher than
those of the galleries on the east of it, where
there were perhaps two stories, unless the main
part of the building was much loftier than the
lateral portions. Little carved ornament is to
of the arches which were moulded, and the pilaster caps of the arches which are of
simplest profile — a cavetto, an ovolo and a fascia —; but these are all well executed
and highly finished. The marble column-shafts and the capitals to which I have referred
as having been in all probability brought from the church, lie
in the unintelligible mass of debris at the northwest angle
of the complex of walls.
Building in Limestone. On the eastern borders of the
ruined town is a large open court-yard surrounded by walls
of limestone. This seems to be the centre of an extensive
structure; for a number of rooms opened upon the court, and
the walls were high and well built. But the condition of the
ruin forbids the making of a satisfactory plan of any particular
section of it. Certain details appear to have been of basalt.
A colonnade of basalt columns seems to have been carried
around the court, and various carved fragments of the same
material lie within the court; yet it is not possible to know
whether these belonged to the original building, or were brought
here at some comparatively late period. Among the better
preserved of these details is a carved corbel (Ill. 115) with a Greek
inscription 3 upon it. The corbel had a projection of nearly
1 m. from the wall in which it was inserted; its front is ornamented with a receding
series of heavy torus mouldings separated by angle-fillets; its sides are three recessed
fascias surmounted by a flat band; its soffit is carved with a Latin cross in relief
within a cruciform panel; the arms of the cross terminate in round bosses. The fact
that the inscription on one side of the corbel contains a prayer to the Archangel
FALVL-
Boor of Basalt-
111. 116.
•lALVL- CORBEL-
be seen in the ruin
SOFFIT
in. 115.
1 Div. Ill, insc. 1053.
2 Div. Ill, insc. 1052.
99
in place, others have been rebuilt since the rise of Islam, as the inscribed voussoirs1
of one arch attest; for they were set up without reference to the order of the lettering,
and it is quite plain that the voussoirs belonged to an arch of wider span. The plan
suggests little; it resembles no plan in all the region. The apse is not the apse of
a church; for it is not properly oriented and' has no side chambers. The irregularity
of the plan and the presence of the apse are suggestive of a bath; but the secret is
probably held beneath the heap of debris that
covers the northeastern section of the building.
The outer walls were high, if one may judge
by the amount of ruin created by their fall.
The portions of walls and the ancient arches
that are still standing appear now like under¬
ground structures amid the mass of surrounding
debris. The original broad arches of the large
apartment with its apse were much higher than
those of the galleries on the east of it, where
there were perhaps two stories, unless the main
part of the building was much loftier than the
lateral portions. Little carved ornament is to
of the arches which were moulded, and the pilaster caps of the arches which are of
simplest profile — a cavetto, an ovolo and a fascia —; but these are all well executed
and highly finished. The marble column-shafts and the capitals to which I have referred
as having been in all probability brought from the church, lie
in the unintelligible mass of debris at the northwest angle
of the complex of walls.
Building in Limestone. On the eastern borders of the
ruined town is a large open court-yard surrounded by walls
of limestone. This seems to be the centre of an extensive
structure; for a number of rooms opened upon the court, and
the walls were high and well built. But the condition of the
ruin forbids the making of a satisfactory plan of any particular
section of it. Certain details appear to have been of basalt.
A colonnade of basalt columns seems to have been carried
around the court, and various carved fragments of the same
material lie within the court; yet it is not possible to know
whether these belonged to the original building, or were brought
here at some comparatively late period. Among the better
preserved of these details is a carved corbel (Ill. 115) with a Greek
inscription 3 upon it. The corbel had a projection of nearly
1 m. from the wall in which it was inserted; its front is ornamented with a receding
series of heavy torus mouldings separated by angle-fillets; its sides are three recessed
fascias surmounted by a flat band; its soffit is carved with a Latin cross in relief
within a cruciform panel; the arms of the cross terminate in round bosses. The fact
that the inscription on one side of the corbel contains a prayer to the Archangel
FALVL-
Boor of Basalt-
111. 116.
•lALVL- CORBEL-
be seen in the ruin
SOFFIT
in. 115.
1 Div. Ill, insc. 1053.
2 Div. Ill, insc. 1052.