DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45603#0024
Babiska
I can think of no other position than the tops of two parotids flanking the steps of a small
temple; for exactly similar blocks appear in such positions in the second-century temples
of Kanawat and Mushennef in the Hauran. I have therefore tentatively represented them
in that position, upon parotids of conjectured height, flanking steps of unknown number
and width. The ruins of Babiska have thus far disclosed no other fragments of archi-
tecture, or of inscriptions, that may with any certainty be assigned to the second century,
and there are no ruins in neighbouring towns from which they might have been transported.
East Church. Dates: 390, 401—480 A.D. The larger of the two churches in
Babiska, which we have sometimes called the “Church of Markianos” from a name
which occurs in two of the inscriptions, was published by the American Expedition
with a ground plan and five photographs.1 It is in a sadly ruined state, so far as its
nave is concerned ; yet the lower portions of the apse and the lower story of its west
wall serve to give the main dimensions, and the ecclesiastical buildings beside it are
BABISKA
FRAGMENTS
OF PAD0TLD5
DATE: 143AD-
LN3C1092.
ill. 176.
in some particulars almost intact. The east wall of the church is not flat (Ill. 177),
as is the case in most of the apsidal churches of the region; but a part of the outer
curve of the apse is revealed between the straight walls of the side chambers which
stand on a line tangent to the semi-circle of the apse. The central nave was broad,
and was flanked by aisles of unequal width. The chancel arch was high and moulded,
and the columns of the arcades, which lie in the nave, were tall and well proportioned.
There were two entrances in the south wall, opening upon an enclosed court, or atrium;
the north and west walls were devoid of entrances, though an unevenness in the.cours-
ing of the middle of the solid west wall may indicate that an opening in the original
wall was subsequently blocked up. The huge mass of fallen building stones at the
southeast angle of the church suggested the tower above the diaconicum that I have
shown in the restoration (Ill. 177, Sect. A—B). The date of the inscription 3 on the
more easterly of the two south portals (N) gives the date 401 A.D. A fallen window-
head 3 now lying in the nave, is dated in the year 403, and a block of stone in the
west wall bears an inverted inscription 4 of the year 407.
On the east side of the atrium stands an oblong building (7.40 X 11.70 m.) with a
richly ornamented portal (O) in its end which faces upon the atrium; the purpose of
this building was not definitely determined; but I have called it a baptistery. Next
1 A.A.E.S. II, pp. 131 —135. 2 Div. Ill, insc. 1096.
3 Ibid., insc. 1097. 4 Ibid., insc. 1098.
Publications of the Princeton University Archaeological Expedition to Syria, Div. II, Sec. B, Pt. 4.
22
I can think of no other position than the tops of two parotids flanking the steps of a small
temple; for exactly similar blocks appear in such positions in the second-century temples
of Kanawat and Mushennef in the Hauran. I have therefore tentatively represented them
in that position, upon parotids of conjectured height, flanking steps of unknown number
and width. The ruins of Babiska have thus far disclosed no other fragments of archi-
tecture, or of inscriptions, that may with any certainty be assigned to the second century,
and there are no ruins in neighbouring towns from which they might have been transported.
East Church. Dates: 390, 401—480 A.D. The larger of the two churches in
Babiska, which we have sometimes called the “Church of Markianos” from a name
which occurs in two of the inscriptions, was published by the American Expedition
with a ground plan and five photographs.1 It is in a sadly ruined state, so far as its
nave is concerned ; yet the lower portions of the apse and the lower story of its west
wall serve to give the main dimensions, and the ecclesiastical buildings beside it are
BABISKA
FRAGMENTS
OF PAD0TLD5
DATE: 143AD-
LN3C1092.
ill. 176.
in some particulars almost intact. The east wall of the church is not flat (Ill. 177),
as is the case in most of the apsidal churches of the region; but a part of the outer
curve of the apse is revealed between the straight walls of the side chambers which
stand on a line tangent to the semi-circle of the apse. The central nave was broad,
and was flanked by aisles of unequal width. The chancel arch was high and moulded,
and the columns of the arcades, which lie in the nave, were tall and well proportioned.
There were two entrances in the south wall, opening upon an enclosed court, or atrium;
the north and west walls were devoid of entrances, though an unevenness in the.cours-
ing of the middle of the solid west wall may indicate that an opening in the original
wall was subsequently blocked up. The huge mass of fallen building stones at the
southeast angle of the church suggested the tower above the diaconicum that I have
shown in the restoration (Ill. 177, Sect. A—B). The date of the inscription 3 on the
more easterly of the two south portals (N) gives the date 401 A.D. A fallen window-
head 3 now lying in the nave, is dated in the year 403, and a block of stone in the
west wall bears an inverted inscription 4 of the year 407.
On the east side of the atrium stands an oblong building (7.40 X 11.70 m.) with a
richly ornamented portal (O) in its end which faces upon the atrium; the purpose of
this building was not definitely determined; but I have called it a baptistery. Next
1 A.A.E.S. II, pp. 131 —135. 2 Div. Ill, insc. 1096.
3 Ibid., insc. 1097. 4 Ibid., insc. 1098.
Publications of the Princeton University Archaeological Expedition to Syria, Div. II, Sec. B, Pt. 4.
22