DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45604#0016
Kasr il-Benat 219
ndicated, in the latter the general disposition of levels is shown, while the photograph
(Ill. 221) serves to corroborate both. It will be noticed in the photograph that the
base of the northern pier of the apse is set just below the level of the lintel of the
doorway leading into the side-chamber. The figure beside the pier is standing on a
solid floor of stone. We were unable to excavate at this point, and I am therefore
unable to say definitely whether this floor is natural rock or a pavement; but, in any
event, we have the height of the bema above the floor of the nave, and this necessi-
tates a long flight of steps as I have shown in Plate XX. The arch of the apse,
with its fascias, its cavettos and ovolo mouldings, all under a fine, deep, cymatium en-
riched with anthemions and honeysuckles, recalls the arched architraves of Roman
buildings in Syria, and spans one of the broadest chancels in all this region. In the
cross section, as in the longitudinal, the height of the clearstorey, the design of the
gable end, and the timbering of the roof, are conjectural, and, though the measure-
ments of the arcuated lintels, and of other details of the clearstorey, give the results
presented in these drawings, I am inclined to believe that the proportion of height
to width was greater in the original building than these measurements suggest. The
ornament of the church is restrained and beautiful, and strictly within the rules that
seem to have obtained throughout Northern Syria during the first quarter of the fifth
century, and which characterize the work of the architect of this building. The caps
of the piers of the apse are adorned with richly carved, and crisp, erect acanthus
leaves, with curling tops; the moulding that marks the springing of the semi-dome is
plain by contrast, being made up of two narrow bands surmounted by a heavy cy-
matium. The same motive, enriched by the addition of an ovolo below the cymatium,
is employed for the responds of the nave arcades. The mouldings of the apse arch
have been described above. The six capitals on the north side of the nave, and five
of those on the south, are all apparently of one kind, the type illustrated in Ill. 222 x,
a somewhat severe style of uncarved Corinthian, with small angle volutes and an extra
leaf under each volute caught up, together with the regular leaf below it, by a
garland of delicate leaves which is hung from the middle of each face of the capital,
just below the thin abacus. The twelfth capital, that next to the apse on the south
side, is a more faithful reproduction of the Classic Corinthian type, though, like all
capitals of this style in the Christian architecture of Syria, its height is out of pro-
portion to its width, giving a squat effect. But this capital was wrought with special
care (Ill. 222 y), and on one of its faces is a large circular placque, or medallion,
framed in a double row of beading, and containing a memorial inscription 1 of Kyrios,
the architect of the church, whose tomb, so the inscription says, is in the apsis. A
photograph of this capital appears in A.A.£.S. Ill, p. 93. The sole remaining or-
namental features of the church are the doorways. The main west portal is plainer
than the others, being framed in simple mouldings, and crowned with a heavy, plain,
ovolo door-cap, and was probably added after the completion of the edifice; the door-
ways on the south side are set with more elaborate frame mouldings, and are capped
with a heavy cymatium carved with erect acanthus leaves; but the north portals,
opening upon the court, which were the chief entrances to the basilica, are richly de-
corated (Ill. 223), like the finest portals in the Djebel Barisha. The lowest, or in-
1 A.A.E.S. Ill, insc. 76.
Publications of the Princeton Uni Jty Archaeological Expeditions to Syria, Div. II, Sec. B, Pt. 5.
29
ndicated, in the latter the general disposition of levels is shown, while the photograph
(Ill. 221) serves to corroborate both. It will be noticed in the photograph that the
base of the northern pier of the apse is set just below the level of the lintel of the
doorway leading into the side-chamber. The figure beside the pier is standing on a
solid floor of stone. We were unable to excavate at this point, and I am therefore
unable to say definitely whether this floor is natural rock or a pavement; but, in any
event, we have the height of the bema above the floor of the nave, and this necessi-
tates a long flight of steps as I have shown in Plate XX. The arch of the apse,
with its fascias, its cavettos and ovolo mouldings, all under a fine, deep, cymatium en-
riched with anthemions and honeysuckles, recalls the arched architraves of Roman
buildings in Syria, and spans one of the broadest chancels in all this region. In the
cross section, as in the longitudinal, the height of the clearstorey, the design of the
gable end, and the timbering of the roof, are conjectural, and, though the measure-
ments of the arcuated lintels, and of other details of the clearstorey, give the results
presented in these drawings, I am inclined to believe that the proportion of height
to width was greater in the original building than these measurements suggest. The
ornament of the church is restrained and beautiful, and strictly within the rules that
seem to have obtained throughout Northern Syria during the first quarter of the fifth
century, and which characterize the work of the architect of this building. The caps
of the piers of the apse are adorned with richly carved, and crisp, erect acanthus
leaves, with curling tops; the moulding that marks the springing of the semi-dome is
plain by contrast, being made up of two narrow bands surmounted by a heavy cy-
matium. The same motive, enriched by the addition of an ovolo below the cymatium,
is employed for the responds of the nave arcades. The mouldings of the apse arch
have been described above. The six capitals on the north side of the nave, and five
of those on the south, are all apparently of one kind, the type illustrated in Ill. 222 x,
a somewhat severe style of uncarved Corinthian, with small angle volutes and an extra
leaf under each volute caught up, together with the regular leaf below it, by a
garland of delicate leaves which is hung from the middle of each face of the capital,
just below the thin abacus. The twelfth capital, that next to the apse on the south
side, is a more faithful reproduction of the Classic Corinthian type, though, like all
capitals of this style in the Christian architecture of Syria, its height is out of pro-
portion to its width, giving a squat effect. But this capital was wrought with special
care (Ill. 222 y), and on one of its faces is a large circular placque, or medallion,
framed in a double row of beading, and containing a memorial inscription 1 of Kyrios,
the architect of the church, whose tomb, so the inscription says, is in the apsis. A
photograph of this capital appears in A.A.£.S. Ill, p. 93. The sole remaining or-
namental features of the church are the doorways. The main west portal is plainer
than the others, being framed in simple mouldings, and crowned with a heavy, plain,
ovolo door-cap, and was probably added after the completion of the edifice; the door-
ways on the south side are set with more elaborate frame mouldings, and are capped
with a heavy cymatium carved with erect acanthus leaves; but the north portals,
opening upon the court, which were the chief entrances to the basilica, are richly de-
corated (Ill. 223), like the finest portals in the Djebel Barisha. The lowest, or in-
1 A.A.E.S. Ill, insc. 76.
Publications of the Princeton Uni Jty Archaeological Expeditions to Syria, Div. II, Sec. B, Pt. 5.
29