unknown building within a monastic complex in the Wadi Suweinit Complete
ID: 122
Building type: unknown
Context:
monastery
Inscriptions:
Description:
Within Wadi Suweinit, researchers have suggested that the surviving installations constitute a monastic ensemble that can be associated with the laura of St. Firmin mentioned in Byzantine sources. One component of this complex is a severely deteriorated Christian structure, understood to be a church, with a plan measuring about 6.80 by 6.60 m. The interior is uneven in elevation, with the northern sector lower than the southern. In the southern area, surface-level remains of a mosaic pavement are preserved; on the eastern side of this zone, an inscription in Palestinian-Syriac set in mosaic was recorded. Archaeological evaluation dates the construction of the church to the 6th century CE, and the script of the inscription accords with this chronology. References: - CIIP IV 2806 (see also XLVIII. el-῾Aleiliyat, Introduction). - Halloun M. & Rubin R. (1981), Palestinian Syriac Inscription from “En Suweinit”. Liber Annuus 31: 291–298. - Puech E. (2001), Notes d’épigraphie christo-palestinienne cisjordanienne. Revue Biblique 108: 61–72. - R. Hoyland, in: M. Macdonald ed., The Development of Arabic as a Written Language, 2010, 29–45.