65 Items
Byzantine Reliquaries
The damaged remains of two Byzantine reliquaries were found during the excavations at Dayr Mar Elian. The lid of one replicates a Roman sarcophagus and the other piece is a base of a different size decorated with a motif of ringed circles.
Type: Archaeological Excavation
Tags: Archaeological Excavation, Dayr Mar Elian, Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project, Mar Elian, Mar Elian esh-Sharqi, Monastery, Qaryatayn, Reliquary, Sculpture, Syria, Syrian Civil War
Madrasa Halawiyeh
The madrasa is an Islamic school that was built by Nur al-Din (1118-1174) on the apse of the former Byzantine cathedral of Aleppo. The capitals are very close stylistically to those at Qalat Seman, suggesting that the church was originally built in the second half of the fifth century. Beside the steps down into the madrasa is a large basalt block inscribed with Christian symbols and some Syriac words. Its placement seems designed to underline Islamic supremacy over the former Christian owners of the site.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Aleppo, Architecture, Basalt, Byzantine, C12th, C5th, Capital, Cathedral, Church, Inscription, Madrasa, Madrasa Halawiyeh, Nur al-DIn, Qalat Seman, Sculpture, Syria, Syriac, Syriac Inscription
The Temple of Mercury (also known as the Temple of Bacchus), Baalbek
The temple believed to have been dedicated to Mercury also possesses imagery linked to Bacchus, in addition to the presence of symbols such as the caduceus belonging Mercury. This has led to the temple being referred to in conjunction with both deities.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Architecture, Baalbek, Bacchus, Lebanon, Mercury, Pagan, Roman, Sculpture, Temple
The Temple of Jupiter, Baalbek
These photographs show changes that were made to the temple in order to fortify it in the medieval Islamic era.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Architecture, Baalbek, Islam, Jupiter, Lebanon, Middle Ages, Sculpture, Temple
Bennawi Bema Throne
The church of Bennawi, south of Aleppo, was reported destroyed by the 1950s when Georges Tchalenko undertook his monumental three volume study of the Syrian Limestone Massif. The basalt "bema throne" or pulpit was preserved and is now in the garden of the National Museum in Damascus.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Basalt, Bema, Bennawi, Damascus, Damascus National Museum, Inscription, Pulpit, Sculpture, Syria, Syriac, Syriac Inscription, Throne
Kafar Nabo
Kafar Nabo is on Jebel Seman about halfway between Burj Heidar and Brad and in 1997 it was accessible only by walking. The settlement was sacred to the god Nabo in antiquity and in the C4th a large church was built on the site of the pagan temple. Elements of this temple were incorporated in the church, which also possessed a double-size bema. Scattered around the site were the remains of a ciborium, an earlier Latin inscription, two Roman statues (one male, one female) and a Greek inscription on a door lintel.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Architecture, Bema, C4th, Church, Ciborium, Figure, Greek, Greek Inscription, Jebel Seman, Kafar Nabo, Latin, Latin Inscription, Limestone Massif, Nabo, Pagan, Sculpture, Syria, Temple
Soǧmatar
Soǧmatar (also referred to as Sumatar Harabesi) was the centre of an ancient shrine to a deity known as Marilaha (Lord God). This is known from a number of C2nd AD Syriac inscriptions cut into the summit of a high rock outcrop. The approach to this ritual high place also had reliefs of the sun and moon gods cut into the rock. Nearby is a cave, referred to as the Pognon cave after the first European to record the site, with carved images of gods and a number of Syriac inscriptions that was obviously used for some kind of funerary or cult practice, A large circular building that shows some affinities with Zoroastrian 'towers of silence' completes the grouping of monuments, but the exact function of the last mentioned element has yet to be fully understood. What is clear is that this was not a permanently occupied town, but rather a holy place of pilgrimage where the faithful would gather for key festivals. These would be officiated at by priests, but whether these religious personages lived at Soǧmatar all the time or not is unclear.
Type: Inscription
Tags: C2nd, Caves, Figure, Inscription, Marilaha, Sculpture, Soǧmatar, Sumatar Harabesi, Syriac, Syriac Inscription, Turkey
Ateni Sioni
Ateni Sioni is regarded as the most beautiful church of the "Jvari' type. It is C7th and located in a place of outstanding natural beauty on a rock outcrop above a river in a narrow valley. Its beauty is enhanced by the many reliefs carved into the exterior of the church walls.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Architecture, Ateni Sioni, Church, Figure, Georgia, Sculpture, Shida Kartli, Zion
Nakipari village, Ipari community, Svaneti
The Church of St. George in the village of Nakipari in the Ipari community in Svaneti is C10th and is known for its animal sculptures on the eastern façade of the building as well as for the interior frescoes painted by Tevdoré.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Animal, Architecture, C10th, Church, Fresco, Georgia, Ipari, Nakipari, Sculpture, St. George, Tevdoré, Zemo Svaneti
Nokalakevi
Nokalakevi is the modern name for ancient Archaeopolis or Tsikhekuji in western Georgia. There were many churches in the settlement, but a C5th-C6th basilica now dedicated to the Forty Martyrs and restored by the National Agency for the Cultural Preservation of Georgia is still in use. There are two other basilicas in the immediate vicinity of the Church of Forty Martyrs but only the foundations of these survive. The excavations are being conducted by an Anglo-Georgian team and a museum beside the site houses a number of early Christian artefacts.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Archaeopolis, Architecture, C5th-C6th, Church, Forty Martyrs, Georgia, Lazica, Nokalakevi, Samegrelo, Sculpture, Tsikhekuji