DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45601#0048
Kokaba
137
47. KOKABA.
This town is in a sadly ruined state; only one private house and a detached tower
are well preserved. On the steep slope of the hillside there is the ruin of a private
residence with a large rock-hewn tomb below it. The entrance to the house is upon
the upper side, that to the tomb is on the lower. The tomb is a square chamber with
arcosolia hewn in the rock on three sides; it is covered with a good tunnel vault of
cut stone. It is unusual to find a tomb within, or, as in this case, below, a house;
there is one other example which I remember; that is in Khirbit Hass, in a building
published by M. de Vogue as a villa, with several tombs in a rockhewn basement,
entirely below the surface.1 To my mind there is a question as to whether this was
a villa or a small monastery. There seems to be little doubt, however, about this
case in Kokaba. The monument of chief interest in Kokaba is a double house situated
upon the slope, and partly excavated in the natural rock (Ill. 158). Neither of the
rooms is arched, and, although there are doorways in the upper story of the fagade,
there is no evidence that a colonnade ever existed. The entrance to the house is in
the north wall at its east end where there is a doorway opening into a narrow passage
which gives upon the courtyard without doorway or arch (Ill. 159). The passage was
ill. 159.
roofed with stone. The two divisions of the house are set upon different levels and
belong to different periods. The western half of the house stands on the higher level;
its north and west walls are cut in the living rock to a height of 2 m. or more at
the west, diminishing toward the east. Its front wall is in a different style from the
rest of the houses and appears to be much earlier; the simple door-caps and window-
caps indicating the latter half of the fourth century. The eastern half of the house
is set a full metre below the other, yet the cornice of its roof is about 20 cm. higher.
The room in the upper story extends over the passage beside the lower room. A much
later style is illustrated in the fagade. The lower doorway has deep frame mouldings
and a richly carved door-cap adorned with upright acanthus leaves. Beside the portal
is a round-topped window framed in deep mouldings. In the upper story are a door-
way and two windows; the former has frame mouldings and a moulded cap, the latter
are rectangular with mouldings that are drawn in semi-circles above the openings. The
1 s.c. Pl. 54.
Publications of the Princeton University Archaeological Expedition to Syria, Div. II, Sec. B, Pt. 3.
18
137
47. KOKABA.
This town is in a sadly ruined state; only one private house and a detached tower
are well preserved. On the steep slope of the hillside there is the ruin of a private
residence with a large rock-hewn tomb below it. The entrance to the house is upon
the upper side, that to the tomb is on the lower. The tomb is a square chamber with
arcosolia hewn in the rock on three sides; it is covered with a good tunnel vault of
cut stone. It is unusual to find a tomb within, or, as in this case, below, a house;
there is one other example which I remember; that is in Khirbit Hass, in a building
published by M. de Vogue as a villa, with several tombs in a rockhewn basement,
entirely below the surface.1 To my mind there is a question as to whether this was
a villa or a small monastery. There seems to be little doubt, however, about this
case in Kokaba. The monument of chief interest in Kokaba is a double house situated
upon the slope, and partly excavated in the natural rock (Ill. 158). Neither of the
rooms is arched, and, although there are doorways in the upper story of the fagade,
there is no evidence that a colonnade ever existed. The entrance to the house is in
the north wall at its east end where there is a doorway opening into a narrow passage
which gives upon the courtyard without doorway or arch (Ill. 159). The passage was
ill. 159.
roofed with stone. The two divisions of the house are set upon different levels and
belong to different periods. The western half of the house stands on the higher level;
its north and west walls are cut in the living rock to a height of 2 m. or more at
the west, diminishing toward the east. Its front wall is in a different style from the
rest of the houses and appears to be much earlier; the simple door-caps and window-
caps indicating the latter half of the fourth century. The eastern half of the house
is set a full metre below the other, yet the cornice of its roof is about 20 cm. higher.
The room in the upper story extends over the passage beside the lower room. A much
later style is illustrated in the fagade. The lower doorway has deep frame mouldings
and a richly carved door-cap adorned with upright acanthus leaves. Beside the portal
is a round-topped window framed in deep mouldings. In the upper story are a door-
way and two windows; the former has frame mouldings and a moulded cap, the latter
are rectangular with mouldings that are drawn in semi-circles above the openings. The
1 s.c. Pl. 54.
Publications of the Princeton University Archaeological Expedition to Syria, Div. II, Sec. B, Pt. 3.
18