DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45601#0009
II. B. 3.
108
almost entirely to trade. In Southern Syria, as a rule, the towns were even more
closely built up than those to which I have just referred, and buildings of all classes
are usually found in a single place; yet there are a few sites that were practically
groups of villas; these seldom comprised more than six or seven separate villas, how-
ever, and were situated near some large city, like Bosra or Umm idj-Djimal.
In drawing a comparison between the architecture of these towns and that of towns
of the ordinary type, one can say only that the ground plans of the houses cover
more space, there are more, and larger, rooms, more spacious courtyards, and more
pretentious entrances. The systems of planning and constructing these large mansions
are quite the same as for smaller houses. There is no greater intricacy of detail in
the arrangement of the plans; the long series of arched rooms, on one or more sides
of a court, are exactly like those which are to be seen in all the domestic architecture
of the North, in the basalt country to the East, and in the Hauran, in all Syria in
fact; but, with larger rooms, we find higher interior arches and greater effects of spa-
ciousness. It is the use of columns, more than anything else, that gives special dignity
to these residences, in the fine two-story colonnades that face upon one or more sides
of the courtyards. In the ordinary domestic architecture of the North, square piers,
with or without moulded caps, were generally used, with an occasional order of columns
in the second or third story by way of special luxury; while in Southern Syria colon-
nades were not used at all, and the house fronts were extremely plain, as may be
seen in the illustrations 96 and 100 in Part II of Section A.
The conditions of life and the social status of the inhabitants of Serdjilla, Delloza,
Ruweha, or any other of these villa towns, find no analogy in the history of ancient
civilization; at least, there is no other locality in which the architecture shows parallel
conditions. These villas were not like the vast country residences, each a village in
itself, that were scattered over the Roman campagna, or that studded the shores of
the Bay of Naples, and constituted the suburban homes of the great families of the
Imperial City; they have nothing in common with the castles of the countless nobles
that dotted the countries of Europe during the Middle Ages, and I think we should
seek in vain for similar domestic surroundings until comparatively recent times. It be-
tokens a high degree of public order and safety in Syria between the fourth and seventh
centuries, that people could live in the country in small villas with no further defences
than their own doors. And who, one asks, were the people that lived in these villa
towns ? It is easier to say who they were not than who they were. They were not
people of enormous wealth and power with great retinues of slaves, like the owners
of the villas of the compagna; they were not powerful lords of feudal domains with
bands of serfs and soldiery, like the dwellers in the mediaeval castles of Europe, and
yet they were people of more than ordinary means, and a very considerable class, far
more numerous in a given territory than Roman knights and mediaeval barons. A
well-to-do middle class there must have been to which the owners of these villas be-
longed ; for they were citizens with means sufficient not only to build fine houses and
tombs for their own present and future occupancy, but to build edifices of public utility,
like the bath which Julianos and Domna built in Serdjilla; while others erected churches
and monasteries in other towns. Julianos and Domna unquestionably lived in Ser-
djilla ; it is a pity that they left no inscription that has remained to tell us in which of
the villas they spent their lives. They were members of a large class in their own
108
almost entirely to trade. In Southern Syria, as a rule, the towns were even more
closely built up than those to which I have just referred, and buildings of all classes
are usually found in a single place; yet there are a few sites that were practically
groups of villas; these seldom comprised more than six or seven separate villas, how-
ever, and were situated near some large city, like Bosra or Umm idj-Djimal.
In drawing a comparison between the architecture of these towns and that of towns
of the ordinary type, one can say only that the ground plans of the houses cover
more space, there are more, and larger, rooms, more spacious courtyards, and more
pretentious entrances. The systems of planning and constructing these large mansions
are quite the same as for smaller houses. There is no greater intricacy of detail in
the arrangement of the plans; the long series of arched rooms, on one or more sides
of a court, are exactly like those which are to be seen in all the domestic architecture
of the North, in the basalt country to the East, and in the Hauran, in all Syria in
fact; but, with larger rooms, we find higher interior arches and greater effects of spa-
ciousness. It is the use of columns, more than anything else, that gives special dignity
to these residences, in the fine two-story colonnades that face upon one or more sides
of the courtyards. In the ordinary domestic architecture of the North, square piers,
with or without moulded caps, were generally used, with an occasional order of columns
in the second or third story by way of special luxury; while in Southern Syria colon-
nades were not used at all, and the house fronts were extremely plain, as may be
seen in the illustrations 96 and 100 in Part II of Section A.
The conditions of life and the social status of the inhabitants of Serdjilla, Delloza,
Ruweha, or any other of these villa towns, find no analogy in the history of ancient
civilization; at least, there is no other locality in which the architecture shows parallel
conditions. These villas were not like the vast country residences, each a village in
itself, that were scattered over the Roman campagna, or that studded the shores of
the Bay of Naples, and constituted the suburban homes of the great families of the
Imperial City; they have nothing in common with the castles of the countless nobles
that dotted the countries of Europe during the Middle Ages, and I think we should
seek in vain for similar domestic surroundings until comparatively recent times. It be-
tokens a high degree of public order and safety in Syria between the fourth and seventh
centuries, that people could live in the country in small villas with no further defences
than their own doors. And who, one asks, were the people that lived in these villa
towns ? It is easier to say who they were not than who they were. They were not
people of enormous wealth and power with great retinues of slaves, like the owners
of the villas of the compagna; they were not powerful lords of feudal domains with
bands of serfs and soldiery, like the dwellers in the mediaeval castles of Europe, and
yet they were people of more than ordinary means, and a very considerable class, far
more numerous in a given territory than Roman knights and mediaeval barons. A
well-to-do middle class there must have been to which the owners of these villas be-
longed ; for they were citizens with means sufficient not only to build fine houses and
tombs for their own present and future occupancy, but to build edifices of public utility,
like the bath which Julianos and Domna built in Serdjilla; while others erected churches
and monasteries in other towns. Julianos and Domna unquestionably lived in Ser-
djilla ; it is a pity that they left no inscription that has remained to tell us in which of
the villas they spent their lives. They were members of a large class in their own