Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

EARLY CHRISTIAN WORK IN CENTRAL SYRIA

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 391 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

EARLY See also:CHRISTIAN See also:WORK IN CENTRAL See also:SYRIA Contemporaneously with the early developments of the Christian churches just described, another See also:line of treatment was being evolved in central Syria, which would seem to have been quite See also:independent of the others, though at first sight it hears considerable resemblance to the See also:Byzantine See also:style, and for that See also:reason was probably classedand described under that See also:head by See also:Fergusson. But the leading characteristic of the Byzantine style is the See also:dome over the centre of the See also:church See also:round which all other features are grouped, whereas in central Syria, with the exception of two examples—one a circular, the other a polygonal church—there are no domes. There is considerable See also:Greek feeling in the See also:mouldings and carvings of the capitals, but that is probably due to the fact that the masons were originally of Greek extraction. A comparison, for instance, of the See also:design and See also:carving of the largest church in central Syria, the famous See also:building erected round the See also:column of St See also:Simeon Stylites at See also:Kalat-Seman, dating from the 6th See also:century, with any Byzantine church of the same date, shows very little resemblance, because the former was inspired more or less directly by the See also:Roman remains in the See also:country. A similar See also:inspiration is found in the churches of St Trophime at See also:Arles and St Gilles in the See also:south of See also:France, and at See also:Autun and See also:Langres in See also:Burgundy. Both were founded on Roman work, and the mouldings of the pediments and archivolts and the fluting of the pilasters at Kalat-Seman, of the 6th century, are identical with what is found, quite independently, in See also:Provence and Burgundy in the iith and 12th centuries. There is, however, another See also:special characteristic found in the See also:masonry of the churches in central Syria, which is See also:peculiar to the whole of See also:Palestine, and is found in the earliest remains there, as also in Roman work, and to a certain extent in much of the See also:Mahommedan construction and in that of the Crusaders, viz. its megalithic qualities. Instead of building an See also:arch in several voussoirs, they preferred to do it in three or five only, and sometimes would cut the whole arch out of a single See also:vertical slab. If they employed voussoirs, they were not content with See also:ordinary See also:depth, shown by the See also:archivolt mouldings, but made them three or four times as deep. The masons, in fact, would seem to have retained the traditional Phoenician See also:custom of the country to employ the largest stones they were able to See also:quarry, transport and raise on the building. Subsequently, in working down the masonry, they reproduced the architectural features they found in Roman buildings; this was done, however, without any knowledge as to their constructional origin or meaning; thus, in copying a Roman See also:pilaster, the See also:capital and See also:part of the See also:shaft would be worked out of one See also:stone, and the See also:lower part of the shaft and the See also:base out of another. It is only from this point of view that we can See also:account for the peculiar development given to the decoration of their later work, where archivolts, See also:wood mouldings and window dressings are looked upon as simply See also:surface decoration to be applied round doorways and windows, without any reference to the jointing of the masonry.

The immense See also:

series of monuments, See also:civil as well as religious existing throughout central Syria, were almost entirely unknown before the publication of the See also:marquis of See also:Vogue's work, La Syrie centrale, in 1865-1867. This work, illustrated with measured plans, sections and elevations, with See also:perspective views, and accompanied by detailed descriptions of the various buildings, forms an invaluable See also:record of an architectural style, more or less completely See also:developed, which flourished from the 3rd to the beginning of the 7th century. An See also:American archaeological expedition made further investigations in 1899-1900, and its See also:report, written by Mr H. C. See also:Butler, contains additional plans and a large number of photogravures, which See also:bear testimony to the truth and accuracy of the engraved plates of the marquis de Vogue. The preservation of these central Syrian remains, more or less intact, is considered to have been due either to the See also:desertion of all the towns in which they were situated by the in-habitants at the See also:time of the Mahommedan invasion, or, according to Mr H. C. Butler, to the deforesting of the whole country about the commencement of the 7th century. The monuments and buildings illustrated may be divided into three classes,—ecclesiastical, including monasteries; civil and domestic; and tombs. It is in the two first that the See also:principal See also:interest is centred. Churches.—The earliest of these date from the end of the 4th century, and the latest inscription on a church is 609, so that a little over 200 years includes the whole series. With one or two small exceptions all the churches follow the basilican See also:plan, with See also:nave and aisles separated by arcades, the See also:arches of which are carried by columns, four arches on each See also:side in the smaller churches, ten in the largest.

The churches are all orientated, and have generally a semi-circular See also:

apse, and occasionally a square or rectangular See also:sanctuary at the See also:east end, on either side of which are square See also:chambers,—the See also:diaconicon, reserved for the priests, on the south side, and the See also:prothesis, on the See also:north side, in which the offerings of the faithful were deposited. Except in the earliest churches, the entrance was generally at the See also:west end, and was sometimes preceded by a See also:porch. In addition to the west entrance, there were sometimes doorways leading See also:direct into the north and south aisles, with projecting porticoes. About the See also:middle of the 6th century a See also:change was made in the design of the arcades in the nave, and rectangular piers with arches of wide span were substituted for the ordinary See also:arcade with columns. The effect as shown in the engravings and photogravures is so See also:fine that it is See also:strange that the See also:scheme was never adopted in the earlier Romanesque churches of See also:Europe. The two more important examples are at See also:Kalb-Lauzeh (fig. 31) and Ruweiha, but three or four others are known, and this plan was adopted in the See also:basilica erected in the See also:great See also:court of the See also:temple at See also:Baalbek. All the churches are built in fine See also:ashlar masonry, with moulded archivolts and architraves to doorways and windows, and moulded See also:string courses and cornices of See also:simple design. The principal decoration externally is found in the See also:hood-See also:mould or See also:label round the windows, continued as a string-course and carried round other windows, and sometimes terminating in a disk with See also:cross in centre. These hood-moulds are occasionally richly carved. All the churches in central Syria had open See also:timber See also:roofs which have now disappeared; this is proved by the sinkings in the end walls to receive the purlins, and the corbels provided to carry the tie beams. The apses were always covered with semi-domes.

The three most important churches were those of Turmanin, Kalb-Lauzeh and Kalat-Seman. The plans of the two first are similar, except that in Turmanin the nave arcade is of the ordinary type, with seven arches carried on columns, while in Kalb-Lauzeh (fig. 32) there are three wide arches on each side carried on two rectangular piers and responds. Both have entrance porches (fig. 33), which are flanked by See also:

angle buildings carried up as towers in three storeys; these probably contained wooden See also:stair-cases to ascend to an open See also:gallery, which consisted of four columns in-antis between the angle towers above the porch. The north and south walls were quite See also:plain, except for window and See also:door dressings and string courses; the apse was richly decorated, with See also:wall shafts superimposed between the windows, and carrying a projecting See also:cornice with alternate corbels. The church at Ruweiha has a similar plan to that at Kalb-Lauzeh, but two transverse arches in stone are thrown across the nave, resting on abutments attached to the nave piers. The most remarkable example and by far the largest is the great basilica at Kalat-Seman (fig. 34), which was erected round the See also:pillar on which St Simeon Stylites spent See also:thirty years of his See also:life. The base of the pillar stands in the centre of an immense octagonal court open to the See also:sky. The plan consists of nave, See also:transept and See also:choir, all with side aisles, separated in the centre by the octagonal court which constitutes the See also:crossing. The nave built on the side of a See also:hill is raised on a See also:crypt, and the principal entrance would seem to have been through the porch of the north transept, which occupies the full width of transept and aisles.

There were, however, in addition two doorways with porches to each See also:

aisle, as well as See also:portico and doors to the north transept. At the eastern end were three apses, the two See also:outer ones, facing the aisles, being additions in the second See also:half of the 6th century. St Simeon died in 459, and the church was probably begun shortly afterwards, but not completed till the 6th century. The archivolts of the great arches on each side of the octagonal court consist of See also:architrave, See also:frieze and cornice, copied from the arch of the See also:propylaea at Baalbek or other Roman work. Here, as in the great See also:southern porch, the classic nature of the detail9 is remarkable, the pilasters are all fluted, and the See also:modillion and See also:dentil, derived from Roman See also:models, exist throughout. On the other See also:hand, the carving of the foliage was certainly executed by Greek artists, and the well-known Byzantine capital, with the leaves bending under the See also:influence of the See also:wind, is here reproduced. The great apse externally retains its decoration with superimposed shafts and cornice, as in Turmanin and Kalb-Lauzeh. The monastery of Kalat-Seman was built on the south side of the great church, and many of the rooms had roofs of slabs of stone carried on arches across the See also:room, a method of construction universally found in the Hauran, where the See also:absence of timber necessitated this more permanent method of construction. The monasteries differ from the domestic work in being much plainer, and, instead of columns in the porticoes, having invariably square piers of stone. Among circular churches, the walls of the See also:cathedral at Bozra are gone, so that the conjectural restoration shown in de Vogue's work is purely speculative, but in the church at See also:Ezra (51o) the central octagon is covered by a high dome of elliptical See also:section. An aisle is carried round the octagon with similar recesses on the See also:diagonal lines; of Kalb-Lauzeh. the whole being enclosed in a square; in the apse at the east end the seats of the See also:tribune are still preserved.

Domestic Work.—The domestic work in central Syria is, in a way, even more remarkable than the ecclesiastical. Broadly speaking, there are two types of plan—those found in the towns and grouped together, and those which, with increased See also:

area, constituted a See also:villa. At El Barah the See also:average See also:house occupied a site of about 8o ft. by 6o ft., of which about 30 ft. in width was occupied by an open court; facing this court, which was enclosed with high walls, is an open See also:colonnade on two floors, which always faces south, occupies the whole front (8o ft.) of the house, and is the only means of approach to the rooms in the See also:rear, three on each See also:floor, side by side. In the centre of these rooms, 14 ft. wide each, an arch is thrown across on each floor. which carries slabs of stone covering the first floor and the roof ; the upper See also:storey was reached probably by a timber See also:staircase, now gone, but in poorer dwellings an See also:external See also:flight of steps in stone led to an upper floor. All the houses See also:face the same way. The colonnade of the house consisted of about fifteen columns on each storey. Each column, including its capital and base, was cut out of a single stone; on the upper storey, between the columns, are stone vertical slabs forming a See also:balustrade; the houses are all built in fine ashlar masonry with architraves and cornices to doors and windows, a luxury which in See also:England could rarely be indulged in for ordinary houses. At El Barah, in an area of about 250 ft. by 15o ft. as shown by de Vogue, there are about See also:loo monolith columns, 12 ft. high, on the ground storey alone. In a villa at El Barah the open court is surrounded on three sides by buildings, those at the east end of considerable extent and in three storeys. A smaller example at Mujeleia has two courts, one of them being for stables and other services; otherwise the See also:residence of the proprietor is similar to the one above described. Here and there the fantasy of the artist has been allowed to revel in the carving of the balustrades, door lintels, &c. The capitals are of endless design, and show interpretations of Ionic and Corinthian capitals, in some cases not dissimilar to the Byzantine versions in St See also:Mark's at See also:Venice.

Hostelries and public See also:

baths are amongst other civil buildings which are recognizable, the hostelries in some cases being attached to the monasteries. Tombs.—The principal tombs are either excavated in the See also:rock, with an open court in front and an entrance portico, like the tombs of the See also:kings at See also:Jerusalem, and sometimes a superstructure of columns or a See also:podium raised above them; or again they are built in masonry, and take the See also:form of sepulchral chapels; in the latter See also:case, if many sarcophagi have to be deposited, and the See also:chapel is of great length, arches are thrown across, about 6 ft. centre to centre, to support the slabs of stone with which they are covered. This carries on the traditional custom of the Roman temples in Syria, the roofs of which, in stone, were similarly supported. Sometimes there will be two storeys, the upper one covered with a dome. Those which are peculiar to the country are square tombs, with a pyramidal stone roof all built in See also:horizontal courses, and either enclosed with a See also:peristyle all round, on one or two storeys, or having a portico in front with See also:flat stone roof. The cornices, string courses and lintels of the doors of these tombs of the 4th and 5th centuries, are enriched with carving, showing strong Byzantine influence, though probably due to the employment of Greek artists. (R. P.

End of Article: EARLY CHRISTIAN WORK IN CENTRAL SYRIA

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
EARLY CHRISTIAN 		[next]
EARLY ENGLISH PERIOD

Site © 2006 - Net Industries