DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45603#0045
182
II. B. 4.
Babiska and the larger of the two churches at Ksfedjbeh (Ill. 170), which I believe
were designed by the same hand, or by the same family of architects. Both doorways
are framed in fine sets of mouldings; those of the more easterly portal are richly
carved with varied patterns, and both were provided with hood-mouldings, in the form
of a salient cyma recta, which were carried across the lintel and returned downward
at both ends. The hood-moulding of the east portal is carved with upright acanthus
leaves and scrolls of the same pattern as the carving on the hood-moulding at Ksedjbeh
(Ill. 170, A), but of rather finer technique. This doorway is herewith represented in a
photograph (Ill. 189) of a cast now in the Museum of Historic Art in Princeton Uni-
versity. The profiles of the mouldings, the interlaces carved on the outermost member,
the bay leaf ornament of the mid members, the bead-and-reel, and the treatment of
the hood-moulding, may be compared with the doorways of the other lintels shown in
Ills. 170 and 177, and the similarity between them will be apparent at once. These
three portals, taken together with the portals of the great church at Kasr il-Benat,
only a few miles to the northwest, form a unique group among the portals of
Northern Syria. Their design was imitated, perhaps, in the west portal of the East
Church at Bakirha (Ill. 205), a hundred and twenty years later, and a rather poor
copy may be distinguished in the west portal of the Church of St. Sergius here in
Dar Kita. But the style did not spread beyond the immediate locality, which seems
a strong argument for the independence of local schools of architecture in Northern
Central Syria.
The court on the south side of the church is irregular in shape (Ill. 186); a part
of its south wall is formed by the rear wall of a very ancient private house and a
gateway, just west of the house, mentioned above, with its date 431 A.D. Next to
the gate stands the baptistery which is described below, and west of this, the ground
level suddenly drops almost 2 m., on the line of the west wall of the church, to the
level of the courtyard of the residences on the north wall of the town and west of
the church. Beside the north wall of the church, and apparently not connected with
it in any way, is a rock-hewn tomb, with a large, square, space in front of it also cut
from the solid rock at a depth of over a metre below the natural level at the north
and east. This tomb may be seen on the map of Dar Kita. A narrow doorway with
a high threshold opens into a small square chamber hewn entirely from the rock; its
floor is below the level of the rock-hewn space outside. Three arcosolia, with rock-
hewn sarcophagi under them, occupy the sides of the chamber opposite the doorway
and on either side of it. There are no inscriptions and no ornamental details which
might serve to date the tomb.
Baptistery. Date: 5 15-16 (?) A.D. The baptistery of the Church of St. Paul and
Moses is a small building built independently of the church structure, as was a common
custom in Northern Syria. Independent baptisteries, like those attached to churches,
usually stand near the east end of the churches; but in the present example we find
the baptistery situated on the line of the west wall of the church. This is the only
independent baptistery that I have seen in Syria, which has an apse projecting from
its east wall. The plan of the building is square (Ill. 186) with a fine portal in the
west wall, approached originally by a flight of steps (Ill. 190). On the north is a
smaller doorway, opening toward the church, on the level of the court. The whole
semi-circle of the apse projects from the east wall. This almost cubical structure was
II. B. 4.
Babiska and the larger of the two churches at Ksfedjbeh (Ill. 170), which I believe
were designed by the same hand, or by the same family of architects. Both doorways
are framed in fine sets of mouldings; those of the more easterly portal are richly
carved with varied patterns, and both were provided with hood-mouldings, in the form
of a salient cyma recta, which were carried across the lintel and returned downward
at both ends. The hood-moulding of the east portal is carved with upright acanthus
leaves and scrolls of the same pattern as the carving on the hood-moulding at Ksedjbeh
(Ill. 170, A), but of rather finer technique. This doorway is herewith represented in a
photograph (Ill. 189) of a cast now in the Museum of Historic Art in Princeton Uni-
versity. The profiles of the mouldings, the interlaces carved on the outermost member,
the bay leaf ornament of the mid members, the bead-and-reel, and the treatment of
the hood-moulding, may be compared with the doorways of the other lintels shown in
Ills. 170 and 177, and the similarity between them will be apparent at once. These
three portals, taken together with the portals of the great church at Kasr il-Benat,
only a few miles to the northwest, form a unique group among the portals of
Northern Syria. Their design was imitated, perhaps, in the west portal of the East
Church at Bakirha (Ill. 205), a hundred and twenty years later, and a rather poor
copy may be distinguished in the west portal of the Church of St. Sergius here in
Dar Kita. But the style did not spread beyond the immediate locality, which seems
a strong argument for the independence of local schools of architecture in Northern
Central Syria.
The court on the south side of the church is irregular in shape (Ill. 186); a part
of its south wall is formed by the rear wall of a very ancient private house and a
gateway, just west of the house, mentioned above, with its date 431 A.D. Next to
the gate stands the baptistery which is described below, and west of this, the ground
level suddenly drops almost 2 m., on the line of the west wall of the church, to the
level of the courtyard of the residences on the north wall of the town and west of
the church. Beside the north wall of the church, and apparently not connected with
it in any way, is a rock-hewn tomb, with a large, square, space in front of it also cut
from the solid rock at a depth of over a metre below the natural level at the north
and east. This tomb may be seen on the map of Dar Kita. A narrow doorway with
a high threshold opens into a small square chamber hewn entirely from the rock; its
floor is below the level of the rock-hewn space outside. Three arcosolia, with rock-
hewn sarcophagi under them, occupy the sides of the chamber opposite the doorway
and on either side of it. There are no inscriptions and no ornamental details which
might serve to date the tomb.
Baptistery. Date: 5 15-16 (?) A.D. The baptistery of the Church of St. Paul and
Moses is a small building built independently of the church structure, as was a common
custom in Northern Syria. Independent baptisteries, like those attached to churches,
usually stand near the east end of the churches; but in the present example we find
the baptistery situated on the line of the west wall of the church. This is the only
independent baptistery that I have seen in Syria, which has an apse projecting from
its east wall. The plan of the building is square (Ill. 186) with a fine portal in the
west wall, approached originally by a flight of steps (Ill. 190). On the north is a
smaller doorway, opening toward the church, on the level of the court. The whole
semi-circle of the apse projects from the east wall. This almost cubical structure was