DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45604#0020
Kfellusin
223
but even still more striking is the resemblance between the portal ornament shown in
the illustrations of the lintel at n in Babiska (Ill. 177), the lintel at a in Ksfedjbeh
(Ill. 170) and-the portal from Dar Kita represented in Ill. 189. But the similarity is
perhaps best appreciated by comparing three photographs in three different books,
viz., II, b. 4, Ill. 189., A.A.E.S. II, p. 736, and A.A.E.S. Ill, p. 77. These three
portals might have been executed from the same model, and a fourth, — our lintel at
Kasr il-Benat — shows only slight enrichments of the same design. It cannot have
been possible that names so similar, written in inscriptions upon four similar churches,
were the names of four different men, especially since we know how near together they
are, and that they were built within seventeen years. These Syrians of the fifth cen-
tury were ever better architects than they were scholars of Greek. They may not
have been able to inscribe their names in Greek upon the buildings which they erected;
or to read them after they had been inscribed by others. This man’s name is a
very unusual one in the region, and it is not surprising, after all, that the clerk of
each of these churches should have spelled the name in a different manner, or that
one should have known only his “pet name”, Kyrilla. For my own purposes I have
Latinized the name and given it our modern English form: for me, it is Marcian
Cyrus who lies in his tomb under the ruined apse of the greatest of his creations
which was, and is, one of the finest monuments of early Christianity in Northern Syria.
His work shows that he was not only a good architect, but a man of originality and
independent genius; his doorways and capitals are unique, and, while they were not
derived from older designs, so far as we can judge, they were copied a century and
more later by less competent architects.
64. KFELLUSIN.
It seems unwise to take up the ancient sites of the Djebel Halakah in the order
in which we visited them; for that order was largely conditioned by force of circum-
stances in connection with moving our camp; nor shall I follow the order which would
seem most logical according to the natural disposition of the country, or the direction
of paths, or other conditions of accessibility; but shall take them up in the order which
seems most logical upon the flat surface of our map, and the next site is to be Kfel-
lusin, which lies directly over a high mountain to the northeast of Kasr il-Benat,
though it could be reached from that place only by passing around by way of Ser-
djibleh, or by retracing the Roman road westward, and swinging around northeastwards
by the plain ; for Kfellusin is the most northerly ruin in this particular group, and is
not far from the great plain of il-cAmk.
The ruined town occupies two sides of a sequestered valley among the hills. A
few families of Turkman nomads have built temporary abodes, half tent and half
house, among the ruins. The ancient architectural remains which are scattered over
both slopes, consist of extensive groups of buildings, too much ruined for profitable
study, and, among the better preserved buildings, a chapel on the west side of the
valley, and a completely ruined church, a high tower, a number of good houses, and
a row of rock-hewn tombs on the east side. The three buildings published herewith
are very well preserved, and their situation, overlooking the valley, adds to their charm.
It is a pity that the church is too completely ruined for one to be able to trace even
223
but even still more striking is the resemblance between the portal ornament shown in
the illustrations of the lintel at n in Babiska (Ill. 177), the lintel at a in Ksfedjbeh
(Ill. 170) and-the portal from Dar Kita represented in Ill. 189. But the similarity is
perhaps best appreciated by comparing three photographs in three different books,
viz., II, b. 4, Ill. 189., A.A.E.S. II, p. 736, and A.A.E.S. Ill, p. 77. These three
portals might have been executed from the same model, and a fourth, — our lintel at
Kasr il-Benat — shows only slight enrichments of the same design. It cannot have
been possible that names so similar, written in inscriptions upon four similar churches,
were the names of four different men, especially since we know how near together they
are, and that they were built within seventeen years. These Syrians of the fifth cen-
tury were ever better architects than they were scholars of Greek. They may not
have been able to inscribe their names in Greek upon the buildings which they erected;
or to read them after they had been inscribed by others. This man’s name is a
very unusual one in the region, and it is not surprising, after all, that the clerk of
each of these churches should have spelled the name in a different manner, or that
one should have known only his “pet name”, Kyrilla. For my own purposes I have
Latinized the name and given it our modern English form: for me, it is Marcian
Cyrus who lies in his tomb under the ruined apse of the greatest of his creations
which was, and is, one of the finest monuments of early Christianity in Northern Syria.
His work shows that he was not only a good architect, but a man of originality and
independent genius; his doorways and capitals are unique, and, while they were not
derived from older designs, so far as we can judge, they were copied a century and
more later by less competent architects.
64. KFELLUSIN.
It seems unwise to take up the ancient sites of the Djebel Halakah in the order
in which we visited them; for that order was largely conditioned by force of circum-
stances in connection with moving our camp; nor shall I follow the order which would
seem most logical according to the natural disposition of the country, or the direction
of paths, or other conditions of accessibility; but shall take them up in the order which
seems most logical upon the flat surface of our map, and the next site is to be Kfel-
lusin, which lies directly over a high mountain to the northeast of Kasr il-Benat,
though it could be reached from that place only by passing around by way of Ser-
djibleh, or by retracing the Roman road westward, and swinging around northeastwards
by the plain ; for Kfellusin is the most northerly ruin in this particular group, and is
not far from the great plain of il-cAmk.
The ruined town occupies two sides of a sequestered valley among the hills. A
few families of Turkman nomads have built temporary abodes, half tent and half
house, among the ruins. The ancient architectural remains which are scattered over
both slopes, consist of extensive groups of buildings, too much ruined for profitable
study, and, among the better preserved buildings, a chapel on the west side of the
valley, and a completely ruined church, a high tower, a number of good houses, and
a row of rock-hewn tombs on the east side. The three buildings published herewith
are very well preserved, and their situation, overlooking the valley, adds to their charm.
It is a pity that the church is too completely ruined for one to be able to trace even