Church Complete

ID: 6

Building type: one-aisled church

Context:

rural

Site:

Inscriptions:

9

Description:

One-aisled church, now in a ruined condition. Discernible apse, with a Syriac graffito on its wall. Though the building was supposed by the surveyors to date from the second half of the fourth century, the graffito may be of a significantly later date (see also TIB 12, p. 1557 where Johannes Koder gives a date in the second half of the fifth century). During Butler's visit (1903, 91-92), walls were partly standing. He noted the presence of three arched windows, a portal, and an apse. The south wall had a portico with a colonnade. He preferred to term the building a chapel rather than a church. Plan from Butler 1903, 92, Fig. 30. See also [bibliography after TIB 15]: Butler, H.C., Architecture and other Arts (Publications of an American Archaeological Expedition to Syria in 1899–1900, vol. 2, New York: Century, 1903), 44, 91–92; Butler, H., Smith, E.B., Early Churches in Syria: Fourth to Seventh Centuries (Amsterdam : Hakkert, 1969); Tchalenko, G. (ed.), ​​Villages antiques de la Syrie du Nord: Le Massif du Bélus à l’époque romaine (Paris: P. Geuthner, 1953), vol. 1, 326 note 1, 332 note 1, 336, 337 note 2, 384, vol. 2, Abb. XIII.6. Strube, Ch., “Hauskirche und Einschiffige Kirche in Syrien in: Studien zur spätantiken und byzantinischen Kunst”, in: F. Otto (ed.), Studien zur spätantiken und byzantinischen Kunst : Friedrich Wilhelm Deichmann gewidmet, vol. 1 (Bonn: Habelt, 1986), 115–117, 122, Tate, G., Les campagnes de la Syrie du Nord (Beirut: Presses de l’Ifpo, 2013), 87, 117–118, 207, 282, 308, 319; Strube, Ch., Baudekoration im Nordsyrischen Kalksteingebiet, vol. 1: Kapitell-. Tür- und Gesimsformen des 4. und 5. Jhs. n. Chr. (Mainz: Zabern, 1993), 139–140.