The eastern portico Complete

ID: 187

Building type: unknown

Context:

monastery

Site:

Inscriptions:

280

Description:

Identified as no. 11 on the plan, the portico on the eastern side serves as a fore-narthex to the chapel. It is set off from the courtyard by a stylobate that carries a central column. Access from the portico to the prayer hall is through a doorway in its eastern wall, and an additional entrance leads to the large Room 24. The flooring consists of a thick white mosaic that matches the courtyard pavement. Inserted into this surface, within a tabula ansata oriented toward the prayer hall doorway, is a commemorative inscription reading: †For the salvation of Abba Thomas and of [so-and-so] who made this work. Amen. The portico’s dimensions are 7.00 × 3.00 m. Bibliography: Magen, Y., Har-Even, B. and Sharukh, I., "A Roman Tower and a Byzantine Monastery at Khirbet El-Qasr", in: Christians and Christianity IV- Churches and Monasteries in Judea, edited by Carmin, N., Jerusalem, 2012: 247-298. Di Segni, L., "Greek Inscriptions from the Monastery at Khirbet el-Qaṣr", in: Christians and Christianity IV: Churches and Monasteries in Judea, edited by Carmin, N., Jerusalem, 2012: 299-302.