Qalb Lawza; Qalblōze; Qalb Lôzé; Ḳalb Lauzeh; Qalb Lozé; Qalb Loze Complete

Description

A town in Jabal al-Aʿlā registered in TIB 15 on p. 1597 as Qalb Lawza. Also spelt: Qalblōze, Qalb Lôzé, Ḳalb Lauzeh, and Qalb Lozé. The site gained its renown mainly for the very well preserved ruins of a three-aisled basilica with two towers, dating from the mid-fifth century, refurbished in the sixth century. In addition to this exceptional monument, there have been recorded: a tower with an enclosure, two cisterns, four tombs, and oil presses. Some architectural elements were reused in houses of the present-day inhabitants (see the checklist of buildings by Klaus Peter Todt and Bernard Andreas Vest in TIB 15, p. 1597). Literature: Due to its prominence, the site has enjoyed the attention of a number of scholars. For a fuller list of further readings, see the entry in TIB 15 by Klaus Peter Todt and Bernard Andreas Vest. TIB 15 – Todt, K.P., Vest, B.A., Tabula Imperii Byzantini, vol. 15 (Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2014), p. 1597 (with further bibliography); Butler, H.C., Architecture and other Arts (Publications of an American Archaeological Expedition to Syria in 1899–1900 2, New York: Century, 1903), 221–225; Tchalenko, G. (ed.), Villages antiques de la Syrie du Nord: Le Massif du Bélus a l'époque romaine (Paris: P. Geuthner, 1953), vol. 1, 343; vol. 2, Pl. CXXXVI; Tchalenko, G., "Travaux en cours dans la Syrie du Nord", Syria 50 (1973), 128–136; Strube, Ch., "Die Formgebung der Apsisdekoration in Qalbloze und Qalat Siman", Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum 20 (1977), 181–191; Peña, I., Castellana, P., Fernandez, R., Les Reclus Syriens (Jerusalem: Franciscan Printing Press, 1980), 49, 81, 185, 190–192, 221–222, 327; Deichmann, F. W., Qalb Loze und Qalʿat Semʿan: die besondere Entwicklung der nordsyrisch-spatantiken Architektur (Munchen: Verlag der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften; In Kommission bei der C.H. Beck'schen Verlagsbuchhandlung Munchen, 1982); Donceel-Voûte, P., Les pavements des églises byzantines de Syrie et du Liban. Décor, archéologie et liturgie (Publications d’histoire de l’art et d’archéologie de l’Université catholique de Louvain 69, Louvain-La-Neuve: Département d'archéologie et d'histoire de l'art, 1988), 240–243; Strube, Ch., Baudekoration im Nordsyrischen Kalksteingebiet, vol. 1: Kapitell-. Tür- und Gesimsformen des 4. und 5. Jhs. n. Chr. (Mainz: Zabern, 1993), 92–115; Strube, Ch., Baudekoration im Nordsyrischen Kalksteingebiet, vol. 2: Das 6. und frühe 7. Jahrhundert (Mainz: Zabern, 2002), 13–14, 59–60, 98–101; 215–225; Strube, Ch., Die "Toten Städte": Stadt und Land in Nordsyrien während der Spätantike (Mainz: Zabern, 1996), 20, 43, 61–67; Burns, R., Monuments of Syria. An Historical Guide. Revised Edition (London–New York: Bloomsbury, 1999), 194–195. Wolfe, J., Imagining Faith: Images, Scripts, and Texts of Early Christian Inscriptions from the Roman Near East, in: Novel Perspectives on Communication Practices in Antiquity (Leiden, 2022), 131–145. Inscriptions: Syriac inscriptions: AAES IV Syr. 1 = Mouterde, R., Poidebard, A., Le limes de Chalcis. Organisation de la steppe en haute Syrie romaine (Paris: Librairie Orientaliste Paul Geutner, 1945), 227, no. 14 (Syriac inscription: invocation of Trinity by a certain Yōḥannān, son of Zakrōn); Mouterde, R., Poidebard, A., Le limes de Chalcis. Organisation de la steppe en haute Syrie romaine (Paris: Librairie Orientaliste Paul Geutner, 1945), 227, no. 15 (Syriac inscription: names a certain deacon Romans); Greek inscriptions: Waddington, W.H., Inscriptions grecques et latines de la Syrie (Paris: Firmin Didot Frères, Libraires-Éditeurs, 1870), 622, no. 2685 = Jarry, J., “Inscriptions arabes, syriaques et grecques du massif du Bélus en Syrie du nord”, Annales islamologiques 7 (1967), p. 193, no. 126: (Greek inscription, invocation of One God and a request of health for a certain Leonides, dated 561 C.E.); AAES III (Greek and Latin Inscriptions), p. 29, no. 5 = IGLS II 632 = Halkin, F., "Inscriptions grecques relatives à l'hagiographie II", Analecta Bollandiana 67 (1949), 101 = CSLA.E01814 (Greek inscription, names of Michael and Gabriel next to erased busts). http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E01814 Plan after: Tchalenko, G. (ed.), Villages antiques de la Syrie du Nord: Le Massif du Bélus a l'époque romaine (Paris: P. Geuthner, 1953), vol. 2, Pl. CXXXVI.