DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45604#0025
Serdjibleh
227
buildings which are of more than usual importance, and these are given below. The
ancient town, now completely deserted, was among the larger settlements of the region,
and its architecture is of a high class. Two buildings here, both of them stoae, are
dated in the third quarter of the fifth century. The well preserved condition of the
ruins adds much to the beauty and interest of the place.
Church. The church stands a little apart, in the southeastern quarter of the
town. Little of it remains now but the lower two-thirds of its facade and a portion
of its apse wall up to the height of the springing of the dome, and the walls of one
of its side chambers. The buildings on the west side of its cloister court are in a
better state of preservation, having their two storeys still intact. The ground plan,
the west fagade, a cross section, and a longitudinal section of the church, together with
the north end of the cloister building are given in Ill. 230. The plan belongs to a
type common in churches of the early fifth century; it has a broad nave of five bays,
a deep semi-circular apse between side chambers, and a flat east wall. The details
which are important to note are the greatly elongated responds at the east end of
the nave arcades which embrace a projecting bema between them, and the windows
of the apse of which there are three, two of them breaking through the wall at an
angle. The fagade is restored to a certainty, it is one of the simplest in Northern
Syria, having no windows in the ends of the side aisles. The portal, framed in good
mouldings, and crowned by a door-cap which is a simple trapezoid adorned with discs
in flat relief and capped by a broad fascia, belongs to a type common in the earlier
churches of the Djebel Sirnan. The coupled windows, separated by an Ionic half
colonette, were placed over the portal on the level of the interior arches. An interest-
ing feature is the size of the stones employed in the lower storey of the fagade which
is only three courses high. The two sections, A—B and C—D, speak for themselves-, in
general arrangement and proportion they are correct, and only the number of windows
is conjectural. The only ornaments of the interior are the moulding of the apse arch
which are very simple and flat in profile, and the capitals of the columns of the nave
arcades, which are the plainest type of uncarved Corinthian. The long building on
the west side of the cloister is a two-storey structure, with two rows of square mono-
lithic piers in front of the wall, on the ground floor, making a deep double portico
open to the east, and with a ceiling of stone slabs. The upper floor has side walls with
a row of piers between them to carry a roof of stone. The whole structure is a
capital example of the lithic construction of Syria, walls, supports, intermediate floor
and roof all being of cut stone, so well fitted that the building has withstood the earth-
quake shocks of fifteen hundred years.
Chapel. Of a somewhat different style, and of a little later date, is the chapel
on the southwestern outskirts of the town, called Srir, or “little” Serdjibleh, by the
natives of to-day. It is one of the largest of the undivided churches of the region,
and is among the best preserved buildings in Syria. The broad oblong nave (Ill. 231)
had a roofed colonnade along its south wall, like so many of these undivided chapels
which seem to have a side aisle outside instead of inside the building. The sanctuary,
separated from the nave by an arch between two rectangular openings, is now an un-
divided oblong apartment, with its major axis at right angles to that of the nave,
and protruding to the south far beyond the wall of the nave so as to gain a portal
in the end of the portico. The walls of the sanctuary proper are only half as high
Publications of the Princeton University Archaeological Expeditions to Syria, Div. II, Sec. B, Pt. 5. 30
227
buildings which are of more than usual importance, and these are given below. The
ancient town, now completely deserted, was among the larger settlements of the region,
and its architecture is of a high class. Two buildings here, both of them stoae, are
dated in the third quarter of the fifth century. The well preserved condition of the
ruins adds much to the beauty and interest of the place.
Church. The church stands a little apart, in the southeastern quarter of the
town. Little of it remains now but the lower two-thirds of its facade and a portion
of its apse wall up to the height of the springing of the dome, and the walls of one
of its side chambers. The buildings on the west side of its cloister court are in a
better state of preservation, having their two storeys still intact. The ground plan,
the west fagade, a cross section, and a longitudinal section of the church, together with
the north end of the cloister building are given in Ill. 230. The plan belongs to a
type common in churches of the early fifth century; it has a broad nave of five bays,
a deep semi-circular apse between side chambers, and a flat east wall. The details
which are important to note are the greatly elongated responds at the east end of
the nave arcades which embrace a projecting bema between them, and the windows
of the apse of which there are three, two of them breaking through the wall at an
angle. The fagade is restored to a certainty, it is one of the simplest in Northern
Syria, having no windows in the ends of the side aisles. The portal, framed in good
mouldings, and crowned by a door-cap which is a simple trapezoid adorned with discs
in flat relief and capped by a broad fascia, belongs to a type common in the earlier
churches of the Djebel Sirnan. The coupled windows, separated by an Ionic half
colonette, were placed over the portal on the level of the interior arches. An interest-
ing feature is the size of the stones employed in the lower storey of the fagade which
is only three courses high. The two sections, A—B and C—D, speak for themselves-, in
general arrangement and proportion they are correct, and only the number of windows
is conjectural. The only ornaments of the interior are the moulding of the apse arch
which are very simple and flat in profile, and the capitals of the columns of the nave
arcades, which are the plainest type of uncarved Corinthian. The long building on
the west side of the cloister is a two-storey structure, with two rows of square mono-
lithic piers in front of the wall, on the ground floor, making a deep double portico
open to the east, and with a ceiling of stone slabs. The upper floor has side walls with
a row of piers between them to carry a roof of stone. The whole structure is a
capital example of the lithic construction of Syria, walls, supports, intermediate floor
and roof all being of cut stone, so well fitted that the building has withstood the earth-
quake shocks of fifteen hundred years.
Chapel. Of a somewhat different style, and of a little later date, is the chapel
on the southwestern outskirts of the town, called Srir, or “little” Serdjibleh, by the
natives of to-day. It is one of the largest of the undivided churches of the region,
and is among the best preserved buildings in Syria. The broad oblong nave (Ill. 231)
had a roofed colonnade along its south wall, like so many of these undivided chapels
which seem to have a side aisle outside instead of inside the building. The sanctuary,
separated from the nave by an arch between two rectangular openings, is now an un-
divided oblong apartment, with its major axis at right angles to that of the nave,
and protruding to the south far beyond the wall of the nave so as to gain a portal
in the end of the portico. The walls of the sanctuary proper are only half as high
Publications of the Princeton University Archaeological Expeditions to Syria, Div. II, Sec. B, Pt. 5. 30