Mark Schuler (administrator)

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Completing the data set with Syria and Phoenicia

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Completing the data set with Syria and Phoenicia

With the addition of church sites from the Syrian Hauran and from Southern Phoenicia, the dataset for the project is now complete. When I went to the Albright in the spring of 2023, my goal was to develop a regional dataset of basilical churches through the comparative study of which I hoped to understand more fully the diversity of floor plans and annexes in the churches at Hippos. By the time I left Jerusalem in May, I had an initial list of 104 churches, mostly basilicas, which would form the dataset for my comparative analysis. I had also gathered preliminary and/or final excavations reports on each and had begun to summarize them in a common format.

Subsequently, I have worked through all the materials (translating as needed) and have summarized them on a map with links to web pages for each church. Of the initial group, 97 different structures are in the dataset all within 100 km of Hippos. Phase 1 of the project is complete.

After a literature review of theories about the development of the forms of Late Antique churches, I will collate all this data into charts and from those charts seek to develop an analytical protocol for understanding the particular layout of a church within the regional context defined by the dataset.

It had been my intent to do the rest of this work at the Albright in Jerusalem starting next week. However, the security situation is such that I have cancelled the trip. Instead, I will do the work here in the states over the next months and propose a paper outlining my conclusions for the next meeting of ASOR in November of 2024.

The Churches at Umm al-Jimal (el-Jimal)

The Churches at Umm al-Jimal (el-Jimal)

There are fifty-five churches in the northern part of the province of Arabia that are part of the dataset of this project. Of particular interest are churches clustered in urban areas. I have just posted the materials for Umm al-Jimal (el-Jimal). There are twelve churches. They are numbers A2 to A13 in the menu for Arabia. Many are Syrian in style. But some have one protruding apse and are either basilicas or hall churches/chapels. The northeast church at Hippos is of similar form. Although Mulholland has a category for such churches (Constantinopolitan), there are significant differences with those at Umm al-Jimal. Entrances flanking the apse do not occur at Umm Al-Jimal, not to mention the regional nature of the Constantinopolitan group. Another category is necessary for discussing mono-apsidal churches with a protruding apse. Tracing the originals and practices in them will be important.

Into Arabia (quickly)

Into Arabia (quickly)

The initial collection of churches for this month is from the northern part of the Roman province of Arabia. There are forth-three potential structures. A different factor in this area is that many come in clusters. At Umm al-Jimal there are twelve; at Khirbah As Samra there are five; Rihab has seven possibilities; and Madaba has six. This speeds up the research, as much of the material is published together. As a result, after one week, I am about half way through the collection.

arabia churches

New features are showing up in this group. At Umm al-Jimal, the vast majority of the basilical churches (and even the chapels) are private installations with little or no public access. Also, I am noticing more appearances of the Syrian form and fewer indications of modifications of it in the sixth century.  As some of these areas held to monophysite theology (and some still do), the hypothesis would expect such a result. But the picture could also change, as I work through the site reports. That is part of the adventure of research.

After one month

After one month

I have been at the Albright for a month and am happy to report that my project is on schedule.

My goal is to add some eighty basilical churches to the original collection of forty-seven churches used by Mulholland to construct his analytical protocol.  I am concentrating in areas adjacent to Hippos Palaestinēs in Palaestina Secunda, the northern part of Arabia, and the Syrian Hauran. I was planning to devote a month to each grouping. In March, I finished gathering excavation reports and finalized the collection of the churches from Palaestina Secunda for inclusion in the project.

secunda churches

Although it is too early to be conclusive, a shift from the Syrian style to the western tri-apsidal style in the sixth century is gaining statistical support.

Annexes to the Northeast Church

Annexes to the Northeast Church

As part of my research at the Albright, I read an article by Joseph Patrich, “The Transfer of Gifts in the Early Christian Churches of Palestine: Archaeological and Literary Evidence for the Evolution of the ‘Great Entrance'” (Pèlerinages et lieux saints dans l’Antiquité et le Moyen Âge : mélanges offerts à Pierre Maraval, Paris: 2006, pp. 341-393). In discussing annexes to 5th/6th century churches, Partich writes about “the diakonikon of the Testamentum Domini and the rooms located in an immediate proximity to it – the house of the offerings, and the treasury (= gazophylakion); a complex that served as a sacristy for the sacred vessels, the storing of the gifts of the faithful, and the display of the Eucharistic gifts” (p. 350). The Testamentum Domini is a document of church regulations including instructions for building a church. It comes from Syria in the mid-fifth century.

Patrich continues, “According to the Testamentum Domini the church should have three entrances and the Diakonikon … should be located to the right of the right entrance…. The Diakonikon, accessible from a forecourt, thus formed a southern annex to the church” (p. 351).

I initially identified the annexes of the Northeast Church as follows:

original labelling of annexes

I didn’t know quite what to make of the south building, as its entrance foyer was just outside the main doorway to portico of the church and it had three rooms. Subsequently, the identification of the diakonikon changed as more evidence came to light that it served as a healing center connected to the cult of the elderly woman buried next to it in the chancel. The description of the diakonikon in the Testamentum Domini seems to fit the south building.

When I checked the logs of the excavation of those spaces, the larger room had significant quantities of domestic pottery sherds at or near floor level, as one would expect in a space to which people brought their gifts.

If this analysis is correct, the south annexes of of the church would be labelled as follows:

Reitentified annexes

My work at the Albright is currently focused elsewhere, but such potential insight into previous work does pop up … a tangential benefit of being at the Albright.

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