DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45605#0009
The Djebel Simcan
263
probability, built in a certain style of polygonal masonry, may be attributed to the
second and third centuries by reference to a building at Brad which bears an inscription
of the year 207—8 after Christ. But here, as elsewhere in Northern Syria, there are
examples of polygonal masonry unlike that for which we now have a definite date, and
still more unlike that which by other dated inscriptions we have known to have been
the work of Christian builders of the fourth century. The walls are of a different
thickness, the stones in them are laid in a different manner, and were apparently
dressed with a different kind of tool. They are certainly not later than the fourth
century, for they have nothing in common with the masonry of the later centuries for
which we have a wealth of dated inscriptions. Therefore it seems reasonable to assume
that this type of polygonal masonry is earlier than the second century, earlier even
than the first, and not improbably coeval with the Hellenistic settlement of Syria under
the Diadochi in the fourth, third and second centuries before Christ, and this would
place the buildings in this type of masonry as the most ancient relics of civilization thus
far discovered in Northern Syria.
The church buildings of the Djebel Sinfian are of the highest importance to the
history of Christian architecture, not only because they include among their number
the most significant Christian edifice built before the erection of Hagia Sophia in
• Constantinople, namely the great Church of St. Simeon Stylites; but for various other
cogent reasons. First, because we find among them, at a place called Fafirtin, the most
ancient Christian church of basilical form that has a date inscribed upon it, and which
has known no alterations or restorations since it was erected. This church is dated in
a. d. 372. Second, because the thirty-two churches and chapels of this region present
an almost unbroken chronological sequence from a period which must be somewhat
earlier than the date of the church at Fafirtin, to the year 602 after Christ. Third,
because these churches, large and small, are on the whole in a far better state of
preservation than any other group of churches in Syria, in addition to having the
advantage, common to all these Syrian churches, of never having been restored, rebuilt,
or altered. In this same connexion it may be added that certain interior features are
preserved in place as they are nowhere else in Syria; while other features appear
which have not been found in churches in any other part of the world. The residential
architecture of this region, that is the private houses, inns, and shops, does not differ
in its essential characteristics from that of the towns in the hills lying immediately to
the west and southwest. There are many hundreds of buildings of this class, in a
better or a worse state of preservation, two-storey structures with a lower and an upper
loggia of rectangular monolithic piers, which reproduce the houses and shops and inns
of the Djebel Halakah and the Djebel Barisha. There are also residences of greater
pretensions in which the upper loggia is composed of colonettes with carved capitals
of considerable beauty; but these also are repetitions of structures very numerous in
regions which have been discussed already in these publications, and it seems unneces-
sary to devote space to plans and descriptions of them. It will be found therefore
that only those residential buildings which have some peculiar feature, or present some
new plan of arrangement, or are otherwise significant as having definite dates, are
published in these pages. Many of the private houses of the region are of more than
common quality both as to dimensions and as to standards of construction and beauty
of ornamental details, indicating a considerable degree of wealth and comparative luxury
263
probability, built in a certain style of polygonal masonry, may be attributed to the
second and third centuries by reference to a building at Brad which bears an inscription
of the year 207—8 after Christ. But here, as elsewhere in Northern Syria, there are
examples of polygonal masonry unlike that for which we now have a definite date, and
still more unlike that which by other dated inscriptions we have known to have been
the work of Christian builders of the fourth century. The walls are of a different
thickness, the stones in them are laid in a different manner, and were apparently
dressed with a different kind of tool. They are certainly not later than the fourth
century, for they have nothing in common with the masonry of the later centuries for
which we have a wealth of dated inscriptions. Therefore it seems reasonable to assume
that this type of polygonal masonry is earlier than the second century, earlier even
than the first, and not improbably coeval with the Hellenistic settlement of Syria under
the Diadochi in the fourth, third and second centuries before Christ, and this would
place the buildings in this type of masonry as the most ancient relics of civilization thus
far discovered in Northern Syria.
The church buildings of the Djebel Sinfian are of the highest importance to the
history of Christian architecture, not only because they include among their number
the most significant Christian edifice built before the erection of Hagia Sophia in
• Constantinople, namely the great Church of St. Simeon Stylites; but for various other
cogent reasons. First, because we find among them, at a place called Fafirtin, the most
ancient Christian church of basilical form that has a date inscribed upon it, and which
has known no alterations or restorations since it was erected. This church is dated in
a. d. 372. Second, because the thirty-two churches and chapels of this region present
an almost unbroken chronological sequence from a period which must be somewhat
earlier than the date of the church at Fafirtin, to the year 602 after Christ. Third,
because these churches, large and small, are on the whole in a far better state of
preservation than any other group of churches in Syria, in addition to having the
advantage, common to all these Syrian churches, of never having been restored, rebuilt,
or altered. In this same connexion it may be added that certain interior features are
preserved in place as they are nowhere else in Syria; while other features appear
which have not been found in churches in any other part of the world. The residential
architecture of this region, that is the private houses, inns, and shops, does not differ
in its essential characteristics from that of the towns in the hills lying immediately to
the west and southwest. There are many hundreds of buildings of this class, in a
better or a worse state of preservation, two-storey structures with a lower and an upper
loggia of rectangular monolithic piers, which reproduce the houses and shops and inns
of the Djebel Halakah and the Djebel Barisha. There are also residences of greater
pretensions in which the upper loggia is composed of colonettes with carved capitals
of considerable beauty; but these also are repetitions of structures very numerous in
regions which have been discussed already in these publications, and it seems unneces-
sary to devote space to plans and descriptions of them. It will be found therefore
that only those residential buildings which have some peculiar feature, or present some
new plan of arrangement, or are otherwise significant as having definite dates, are
published in these pages. Many of the private houses of the region are of more than
common quality both as to dimensions and as to standards of construction and beauty
of ornamental details, indicating a considerable degree of wealth and comparative luxury