DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45601#0055
Dana
141
shows that the parapet of a loggia was carried along the top of the present west wall.
On the east side, two courses with a simple string moulding are to be seen as part
of a third story in that side (Ill. 164). I have therefore placed a third room over the
main room, with a loggia above the long entrance passage, and have carried up the
south wall to a gable (Pl. XIV, S), so that a double pitched roof covers both the main
roof and the west loggia, and is carried back to cover the north loggia. The west
end of the north loggia has been given a double pitched roof running at right angles
to the main roof, and cutting into it (Pl. XIV, S and W). Some such scheme of
roofing must be devised for this building; for flat roofs of wood were not used in
Northern Syria. There is further evidence that a parapet was carried along the edge
of the roofing slabs of the south loggia, and I have placed a doorway at the end of
the west loggia, giving access to an unroofed terrace on this side (Pl. XIV, S).
In details this building is an example of the plainest and severest style of architecture
in Northern Syria. The loggia at the north and south are composed of simple mono-
lithic piers with trapezoidal caps entirely plain; the architraves are also without mouldings
of any kind. Even the slabs of the parapets are perfectly smooth. All the windows
are plain, and the lintels are without ornament. The projecting chamber on the east
side, however, has a moulded cornice of good profile; this, and the string moulding
of the third story, are the only decorative features that are still in place; yet the
presence of fragments of a very simply moulded cornice lying about the ruin suggests
that the raking cornice of the roof was given a more decorative effect. The construction
and the masonry of this plainest of all plain buildings are perfect; the flat surfaces,
the straight edges and the curved lines, are examples of the very best handicraft of
the ancients.
And now arise the questions: For what purpose was this building erected? Was
it a convent as the name might possibly suggest? The little chamber to the east, with
little windows on three sides and a cruciform window in the gable of its roof, might
be. taken for a chapel opening out from the chief room of the building, or for a pres-
byterium of a church the nave of which was the main room. But this theory would
place the building in a class by itself; there are many convents and monasteries in
Northern Syria, of all sizes and of many different plans; but nowhere will there be
found an example in which the chapel is as small as the present one, or in which a
portion of the chapel is one of the rooms of a house, with rooms over it and a cistern
below it. In all instances that are known, the chapel is a building by itself, oftentimes
joined to other buildings, but always distinctively separated. There is, furthermore, no
cloister here, no garden even, only a great number of airy loggie, places for luxury,
not for retirement and prayer. One must look, I think, for some other explanation
of the purpose of this building; a purpose must be sought which requires a multipli-
cation of stories, and demands the luxury of spacious porticos and loggie. The location,
directly beside a highroad, first suggested to me the theory that this is an ancient
tavern, an inn, or jrayth/ffov as an inscription1 of the country has it, a place of rest
for the traveller on his journey, and of recreation for the inhabitants of neighbouring
towns. A bath it could not be, for its plan is not suitable, and I think we should
search in vain for a better explanation. There are many buildings at Der Sin-fan3 that
1 A.A.E.S. Ill, insc. 121.
2 II. B. 6 and S.C. Pls. 109, 114.
141
shows that the parapet of a loggia was carried along the top of the present west wall.
On the east side, two courses with a simple string moulding are to be seen as part
of a third story in that side (Ill. 164). I have therefore placed a third room over the
main room, with a loggia above the long entrance passage, and have carried up the
south wall to a gable (Pl. XIV, S), so that a double pitched roof covers both the main
roof and the west loggia, and is carried back to cover the north loggia. The west
end of the north loggia has been given a double pitched roof running at right angles
to the main roof, and cutting into it (Pl. XIV, S and W). Some such scheme of
roofing must be devised for this building; for flat roofs of wood were not used in
Northern Syria. There is further evidence that a parapet was carried along the edge
of the roofing slabs of the south loggia, and I have placed a doorway at the end of
the west loggia, giving access to an unroofed terrace on this side (Pl. XIV, S).
In details this building is an example of the plainest and severest style of architecture
in Northern Syria. The loggia at the north and south are composed of simple mono-
lithic piers with trapezoidal caps entirely plain; the architraves are also without mouldings
of any kind. Even the slabs of the parapets are perfectly smooth. All the windows
are plain, and the lintels are without ornament. The projecting chamber on the east
side, however, has a moulded cornice of good profile; this, and the string moulding
of the third story, are the only decorative features that are still in place; yet the
presence of fragments of a very simply moulded cornice lying about the ruin suggests
that the raking cornice of the roof was given a more decorative effect. The construction
and the masonry of this plainest of all plain buildings are perfect; the flat surfaces,
the straight edges and the curved lines, are examples of the very best handicraft of
the ancients.
And now arise the questions: For what purpose was this building erected? Was
it a convent as the name might possibly suggest? The little chamber to the east, with
little windows on three sides and a cruciform window in the gable of its roof, might
be. taken for a chapel opening out from the chief room of the building, or for a pres-
byterium of a church the nave of which was the main room. But this theory would
place the building in a class by itself; there are many convents and monasteries in
Northern Syria, of all sizes and of many different plans; but nowhere will there be
found an example in which the chapel is as small as the present one, or in which a
portion of the chapel is one of the rooms of a house, with rooms over it and a cistern
below it. In all instances that are known, the chapel is a building by itself, oftentimes
joined to other buildings, but always distinctively separated. There is, furthermore, no
cloister here, no garden even, only a great number of airy loggie, places for luxury,
not for retirement and prayer. One must look, I think, for some other explanation
of the purpose of this building; a purpose must be sought which requires a multipli-
cation of stories, and demands the luxury of spacious porticos and loggie. The location,
directly beside a highroad, first suggested to me the theory that this is an ancient
tavern, an inn, or jrayth/ffov as an inscription1 of the country has it, a place of rest
for the traveller on his journey, and of recreation for the inhabitants of neighbouring
towns. A bath it could not be, for its plan is not suitable, and I think we should
search in vain for a better explanation. There are many buildings at Der Sin-fan3 that
1 A.A.E.S. Ill, insc. 121.
2 II. B. 6 and S.C. Pls. 109, 114.