DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45603#0030
I/O
II. B. 4.
above it; but the side walls, the interior arches, and the upper parts of the walls of
the side chambers, have fallen down. Nevertheless it is quite possible to discover, from
the ruins as they lie, where the doors and windows were. One column base is still
in place, and the remains of a transverse arch in the diaconicum are plainly visible.
A plan of this church was published by the American Expedition \ together with a
photograph of its west portal: I now re-publish the plan and present a longitudinal
section of the nave. The heights were easily obtained up to the clearstory, from
measurements of the heights of the standing piers and the fallen columns, together with
the widths of the arches; the clearstory only is conjectural. The ornament was less
profuse than is found in the majority of the later churches in Northern Syria, perhaps
owing to the troublous times in which the church was built. The capitals of the in-
terior arcades are of the simplest Corinthian model composed of plain water plants,
and the caps of the responds are of the same heavy design. In the ornament of the
west portal we find some of the chief characteristics of the decoration of the end of
the sixth century. The mouldings, instead of forming a simple rectangular frame for
the jambs and lintel of the opening, are turned from their ordinary straight lines and
made to describe various curves. The upper mouldings of the lintel are carried up
in a semi-circle to embrace a disc in the middle of the lintel stone, while the whole
set of mouldings is twisted into huge volutes at the ends of the jambs, on either side
of the threshold. This odd manner of treating the terminations of the mouldings of
portals, which is one of the most striking peculiarities of the architecture of Northern
Syria, and is unknown elsewhere, was introduced before the end of the fifth century.
It appears in two churches, both of which are dated in the year 492 A.D., and it
persisted for over a century in all kinds of architectural designs.
Public Baths. On the southern edge of the deserted town is a massive group
of ruins covering a large area, with sections of broken walls towering over 12 metres
above the surrounding levels. When the American Expedition visited this site, in the
autumn of 1899, I noted these huge remains, and took several photographs of them,
one of which I published 3 as the ruins of a great public building, possibly a bath, and
another3 as a separate building. The brevity of our stay in this place at that time,
and the great amount of work to be done on other buildings in better preservation,
prevented a thorough examination of the confused masses of this ruined structure, and
it was not until almost five years later, when the Princeton Expedition visited Babiska,
that I was able to devote a number of hours to extricating a plan from the chaos of
fallen walls. I believe that the plan herewith presented (Ill. 180) is substantially correct
in all of its details that are shown in black. And I am reasonably certain of the
more doubtful parts shown in grey and the conjectural portions shown in white. The
walls rose to so great a height that, in their collapse, the lower portions which are
still standing were almost completely buried (Ills. 181, 182); yet important sections of
the walls are still preserved almost to their original height, so that the elevations and
sections given in Plate IX are correct in regard to their more important details. I now
believe that the whole central group should be taken as a single building, and that
the photographs mentioned above as having been published, should be considered as
different views of the same building. This great central group constituted, almost
1 A.A.E.S. II, p. 217.
2 A.A.E.S. II, p. 164.
3 Ibid. p. 168.
II. B. 4.
above it; but the side walls, the interior arches, and the upper parts of the walls of
the side chambers, have fallen down. Nevertheless it is quite possible to discover, from
the ruins as they lie, where the doors and windows were. One column base is still
in place, and the remains of a transverse arch in the diaconicum are plainly visible.
A plan of this church was published by the American Expedition \ together with a
photograph of its west portal: I now re-publish the plan and present a longitudinal
section of the nave. The heights were easily obtained up to the clearstory, from
measurements of the heights of the standing piers and the fallen columns, together with
the widths of the arches; the clearstory only is conjectural. The ornament was less
profuse than is found in the majority of the later churches in Northern Syria, perhaps
owing to the troublous times in which the church was built. The capitals of the in-
terior arcades are of the simplest Corinthian model composed of plain water plants,
and the caps of the responds are of the same heavy design. In the ornament of the
west portal we find some of the chief characteristics of the decoration of the end of
the sixth century. The mouldings, instead of forming a simple rectangular frame for
the jambs and lintel of the opening, are turned from their ordinary straight lines and
made to describe various curves. The upper mouldings of the lintel are carried up
in a semi-circle to embrace a disc in the middle of the lintel stone, while the whole
set of mouldings is twisted into huge volutes at the ends of the jambs, on either side
of the threshold. This odd manner of treating the terminations of the mouldings of
portals, which is one of the most striking peculiarities of the architecture of Northern
Syria, and is unknown elsewhere, was introduced before the end of the fifth century.
It appears in two churches, both of which are dated in the year 492 A.D., and it
persisted for over a century in all kinds of architectural designs.
Public Baths. On the southern edge of the deserted town is a massive group
of ruins covering a large area, with sections of broken walls towering over 12 metres
above the surrounding levels. When the American Expedition visited this site, in the
autumn of 1899, I noted these huge remains, and took several photographs of them,
one of which I published 3 as the ruins of a great public building, possibly a bath, and
another3 as a separate building. The brevity of our stay in this place at that time,
and the great amount of work to be done on other buildings in better preservation,
prevented a thorough examination of the confused masses of this ruined structure, and
it was not until almost five years later, when the Princeton Expedition visited Babiska,
that I was able to devote a number of hours to extricating a plan from the chaos of
fallen walls. I believe that the plan herewith presented (Ill. 180) is substantially correct
in all of its details that are shown in black. And I am reasonably certain of the
more doubtful parts shown in grey and the conjectural portions shown in white. The
walls rose to so great a height that, in their collapse, the lower portions which are
still standing were almost completely buried (Ills. 181, 182); yet important sections of
the walls are still preserved almost to their original height, so that the elevations and
sections given in Plate IX are correct in regard to their more important details. I now
believe that the whole central group should be taken as a single building, and that
the photographs mentioned above as having been published, should be considered as
different views of the same building. This great central group constituted, almost
1 A.A.E.S. II, p. 217.
2 A.A.E.S. II, p. 164.
3 Ibid. p. 168.