DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45601#0043
134
II. B. 3.
These were probably part of a mechanism for opening the door from above. The
adjoining residence has a large arched room next the vestibule passage of the other,
and another large room without any girder-arch, and, at the east end, a narrow pas-
sage way. The ornament of these two residences is profuse for domestic architecture.
The north wall shows a moulded string-course, at the level of the windows of the upper
story, which is carried up in a semi-circle above each of the windows, all of which are
rectangular; the arch of the vestibule is enriched with deep mouldings, and the two
doorways within the vestibule have broad frame mouldings, and door-caps carved with
rich patterns of vines. All the doorways and windows of the ground story opening
upon the court have frame mouldings and door-caps, and the doorways of the upper
story, which opened upon the roof of the colonnade, are similarly treated. The house
was designed in the best style of the country, and is probably to be classed with the
111. 152.
later edifices of the fifth century.
M. de Vogiie gives a sketch of
the north side of this house, and
a plan of the house which
follows, in the same plate.1
The house to which I have
given the number II is, to my
mind, the most beautiful private
house in Syria, and indeed I know
of no ancient private dwelling
that can compare with it as a
monument of architecture pure
and simple, unadorned with mo-
saics or painted decoration. The
plan (Ill. 153) is that of a large
villa, and it would seem to have
been planned for the use of a
single household. The court is
o
not large; it is longer than it
is deep. At the north is a fine
colonnade with three rooms be-
hind it. The colonnades and
the rooms were built in two stories. Two of the rooms on the ground story have
girder-arches; the other, that on the east, is narrower than the others and has no arch.
All of the rooms, upper and lower, are connected by doorways. In the rear of these
rooms is a long apartment partly hewn from the solid rock. It is reached from the
east room by a door with a high sill of natural rock; it probably served as a cistern,
but it had rooms in an upper story, that were reached by a wooden staircase in the
east room. The west wall of the court runs out at right angles to the colonnade;
but the east wall makes an obtuse angle to the east. These two walls are joined by
a wall running parallel with the front wall of the house, and, in either angle, there
was a square structure of three stories, like a tower. One of the entrances to the
1 S.C. Pl. 39.
II. B. 3.
These were probably part of a mechanism for opening the door from above. The
adjoining residence has a large arched room next the vestibule passage of the other,
and another large room without any girder-arch, and, at the east end, a narrow pas-
sage way. The ornament of these two residences is profuse for domestic architecture.
The north wall shows a moulded string-course, at the level of the windows of the upper
story, which is carried up in a semi-circle above each of the windows, all of which are
rectangular; the arch of the vestibule is enriched with deep mouldings, and the two
doorways within the vestibule have broad frame mouldings, and door-caps carved with
rich patterns of vines. All the doorways and windows of the ground story opening
upon the court have frame mouldings and door-caps, and the doorways of the upper
story, which opened upon the roof of the colonnade, are similarly treated. The house
was designed in the best style of the country, and is probably to be classed with the
111. 152.
later edifices of the fifth century.
M. de Vogiie gives a sketch of
the north side of this house, and
a plan of the house which
follows, in the same plate.1
The house to which I have
given the number II is, to my
mind, the most beautiful private
house in Syria, and indeed I know
of no ancient private dwelling
that can compare with it as a
monument of architecture pure
and simple, unadorned with mo-
saics or painted decoration. The
plan (Ill. 153) is that of a large
villa, and it would seem to have
been planned for the use of a
single household. The court is
o
not large; it is longer than it
is deep. At the north is a fine
colonnade with three rooms be-
hind it. The colonnades and
the rooms were built in two stories. Two of the rooms on the ground story have
girder-arches; the other, that on the east, is narrower than the others and has no arch.
All of the rooms, upper and lower, are connected by doorways. In the rear of these
rooms is a long apartment partly hewn from the solid rock. It is reached from the
east room by a door with a high sill of natural rock; it probably served as a cistern,
but it had rooms in an upper story, that were reached by a wooden staircase in the
east room. The west wall of the court runs out at right angles to the colonnade;
but the east wall makes an obtuse angle to the east. These two walls are joined by
a wall running parallel with the front wall of the house, and, in either angle, there
was a square structure of three stories, like a tower. One of the entrances to the
1 S.C. Pl. 39.