DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45605#0065
Brad [Barade)
303
which it should carefully be compared. More than half of this building is provided
with vaults of various types while the bath at Serdjilla has no vaults at all excepting
two small half domes both of which are monolithic, their place being taken by roofs
made of stone slabs which were given to only two very small rooms. The bath at
Serdjilla is dated by an inscription of the year 473, and conforms, in its structure, to
the building system employed for churches of the fourth and fifth centuries, which leads
me to believe that the bath at Brad is earlier by at least two centuries. Furthermore,
the ornamental details of the bath at Brad, which consist only in the exterior cornices,
are wholly different from corresponding details in buildings erected between the end of
the third and the beginning of the seventh century. The cornices of all buildings of
these centuries, with only one exception so far as I know, had curved profiles, while the
profile of the cornice of this building is composed of straight lines, like the cornices of
the earlier buildings of Southern Syria. Other public baths in Syria with which this
one may be compared, are found at Babiska,1 Midjleyya,3 and il-Anderin,3 all in Northern
Syria; and at Bosra4 and Sha arah 5 in Southern Syria.
Group of Buildings. Date: 207/8 a. d. We have here a complex of buildings,
east of the centre of the town, which embraces every kind of polygonal and quadrated
masonry known to Northern Syria. Some of the buildings, or parts of buildings, appear
to be much older than others. We find walls of polygonal masonry of massive character,
1.40 m. thick, and having roughly dressed faces, less massive polygonal walls 95 cm.
thick, also roughly dressed on the outer face, and walls of highly dressed polygonal
work, two storeys high and 1 m. thick. In the plan (Ill. 332) I have labelled most
of the walls of these classes, and have written in their thickness. In the photographs
(Ills. 333 and 334) two types of the polygonal masonry are exhibited. The former
shows a view of the small square building on the left in the plan, taken from the
southwest, the latter shows the front, or south, wall of the building at the right of the-
plan with the inscribed lintel in the upper storey giving the date 207/8 A. D. The
whole complex presents plans, and types of architecture, which would be classed in a
general category as domestic, yet most of the ground plans conform to none of the well
known types of residences in Northern Syria. In the upper left hand corner of the
plan (Ill. 332) may be seen one angle of a large enclosure with thick polygonal walls,
without partitions, and having only two very narrow openings. This is probably an
early structure built for the housing and guarding of cattle. It may have had wooden
sheds within around the walls. Below this is a square building (Ill. 333) of lighter
polygonal work, with one small entrance, and having interior walls closing off a small
room in one corner. Within this room is the opening of a well or deep cistern. The
whole structure apparently was built to protect the water. The outer walls have a fine
coping which takes the form of a heavy cyma-recta cornice; its top is cut to two bevels
to shed water, showing that the building had no roof. North of these two structures,
across a narrow street, is a long wall of polygonal masonry, 95 cm. thick, which is
broken in the middle by a handsome arch which I believe to be of later construction.
This arch is shown at the extreme left in Ill. 333. The two sections of this long poly-
gonal wall now serve as the south walls of two buildings which I believe to be of later
construction, as they were built in the best type of quadrated masonry. The western
1 Ibid., p. 170.
4 II, A, 4, p. 260.
2 A. A. E. S. II, p. 264.
5 H, A, 7,
3 II, B, 2, p. 62.
303
which it should carefully be compared. More than half of this building is provided
with vaults of various types while the bath at Serdjilla has no vaults at all excepting
two small half domes both of which are monolithic, their place being taken by roofs
made of stone slabs which were given to only two very small rooms. The bath at
Serdjilla is dated by an inscription of the year 473, and conforms, in its structure, to
the building system employed for churches of the fourth and fifth centuries, which leads
me to believe that the bath at Brad is earlier by at least two centuries. Furthermore,
the ornamental details of the bath at Brad, which consist only in the exterior cornices,
are wholly different from corresponding details in buildings erected between the end of
the third and the beginning of the seventh century. The cornices of all buildings of
these centuries, with only one exception so far as I know, had curved profiles, while the
profile of the cornice of this building is composed of straight lines, like the cornices of
the earlier buildings of Southern Syria. Other public baths in Syria with which this
one may be compared, are found at Babiska,1 Midjleyya,3 and il-Anderin,3 all in Northern
Syria; and at Bosra4 and Sha arah 5 in Southern Syria.
Group of Buildings. Date: 207/8 a. d. We have here a complex of buildings,
east of the centre of the town, which embraces every kind of polygonal and quadrated
masonry known to Northern Syria. Some of the buildings, or parts of buildings, appear
to be much older than others. We find walls of polygonal masonry of massive character,
1.40 m. thick, and having roughly dressed faces, less massive polygonal walls 95 cm.
thick, also roughly dressed on the outer face, and walls of highly dressed polygonal
work, two storeys high and 1 m. thick. In the plan (Ill. 332) I have labelled most
of the walls of these classes, and have written in their thickness. In the photographs
(Ills. 333 and 334) two types of the polygonal masonry are exhibited. The former
shows a view of the small square building on the left in the plan, taken from the
southwest, the latter shows the front, or south, wall of the building at the right of the-
plan with the inscribed lintel in the upper storey giving the date 207/8 A. D. The
whole complex presents plans, and types of architecture, which would be classed in a
general category as domestic, yet most of the ground plans conform to none of the well
known types of residences in Northern Syria. In the upper left hand corner of the
plan (Ill. 332) may be seen one angle of a large enclosure with thick polygonal walls,
without partitions, and having only two very narrow openings. This is probably an
early structure built for the housing and guarding of cattle. It may have had wooden
sheds within around the walls. Below this is a square building (Ill. 333) of lighter
polygonal work, with one small entrance, and having interior walls closing off a small
room in one corner. Within this room is the opening of a well or deep cistern. The
whole structure apparently was built to protect the water. The outer walls have a fine
coping which takes the form of a heavy cyma-recta cornice; its top is cut to two bevels
to shed water, showing that the building had no roof. North of these two structures,
across a narrow street, is a long wall of polygonal masonry, 95 cm. thick, which is
broken in the middle by a handsome arch which I believe to be of later construction.
This arch is shown at the extreme left in Ill. 333. The two sections of this long poly-
gonal wall now serve as the south walls of two buildings which I believe to be of later
construction, as they were built in the best type of quadrated masonry. The western
1 Ibid., p. 170.
4 II, A, 4, p. 260.
2 A. A. E. S. II, p. 264.
5 H, A, 7,
3 II, B, 2, p. 62.