#2 ce

[classicalmonuments]

South Temple of Atil

Atil, Hauran, Syria

151 CE

This small town contains two almost identically designed Roman temples, delicately fashioned from the local basalt stone. The south Temple stems from the Antonine period (151 CE) the second or North Temple (probably dedicated to the Nabataean deity, Theandrites) was built in 211–212 CE. The southern temple is better preserved, while the northern temple has been incorporated into a modern house and tomb. Both have attractively decorated facades with fine detail.

Closeup of the Greek inscription at Atil, Syria. The inscription dates the construction of the temple to the 14th year of the reign of Antoninius Pius (151 CE).

Sources: 1, 2

[classicalmonuments]

Khirbet et-Tannur

Jordan

2nd century BCE - 4th century CE

The Nabataean temple ruins atop of Jabal et-Tannur overlook the confluence of Wadi al-Hasa and Wadi La‘aban north of the modern town of Tafila. From the 2nd century BC through to the middle of the 4th century CE the sanctuary was an important pilgrimage place for the Nabataeans to worship, and celebrate seasonal rituals and banquets. With no spring for water supply, it was not a permanent settlement. It functioned in connection with the neighboring village and temple of Khirbet edh-Dharih, some 7 km south on the old caravan route coming from the capital city of Petra.

The sanctuary consisted of a temenos (temple enclosure), with a forecourt and roofed colonnaded walkways on the north and south sides connecting to rooms equipped with benches on three sides, called triclinium for resting and ritual banqueting.

The eastern façade of the inner temenos was also richly decorated. The famous relief known as the Vegetation Goddess, veiled by leaves and framed by flowers with an eagle above her comes from a semi-circular pediment over the main portal. Both sculptures are today on display at the Jordan Museum in Amman. Scholars suggest to see in her the goddess of the nearby spring of La‘aban. An inscription found on site dated 8 or 7 BC mentions building works dedicated by the guardian of this spring. After 2000 years, this name lives on in the name Wadi La‘aban, the river bed connecting Khirbet et-Tannur and Khirbet edh-Dharih.

The inner temenos (sacred area) was an unroofed square enclosure (ca. 10 x 10 m) with an altar platform in the center that had a frontal niche to host the cult statues of the main god and goddess. A male cult figure holding a lightning bolt and flanked by bull calves was found during excavations, probably the supreme god Dushara with attributes and iconography adopted by the Nabataeans from neighbor cultures. From the goddess Allat only one foot and a part of her lion throne were found. Placed between them might have been the zodiac ring encircling a bust of a Tyche, carried by a winged Victory (Nike), another one of the famous discoveries at Khirbet et-Tannur. The upper zodiac piece is in the collection of the Cincinnati Art Museum, USA, together with the main cult statues. The sculptures date from the main construction phase of the first half of the 2nd century CE. The altar niche was surrounded by an elaborate decoration including busts also representing zodiac signs, from which two have survived: the personification of Pisces (in Amman) and Virgo (in Cincinnati).

A staircase led to the altar's roof, where a sacred flame was lit and animal sacrifices were burnt. Incense, grains and offering cakes were burnt as offerings on either side of the altar niche, and on smaller free-standing altars scattered around the site as well.

The east-west axis alignment of the sanctuary ensured that the rising sun would illuminate the altar niche during the spring and autumn equinoxes, when special rituals and celebrations took place to ensure agricultural abundance. The remains of ceramic lamps with nozzles on several levels suggest night-time processions and rituals to worship zodiacal deities appearing in the starry sky.

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

[classicalmonuments]

Theatre of Palmyra

Palmyra (Tadmor), Syria

2nd century CE

The second-century CE theatre was built in the center of a semicircular colonnaded piazza which opens up to the South Gate of Palmyra. 

The seating area is ninety-two meters in diameter, but only the lowest section of twelve rows survive. It is argued that additional rows of seating would have been constructed from wood, and were therefore not preserved. The seating faces north-northeast. The stage of the theater is particularly impressive, with a beautifully decorated façade. The stage measures forty-five and a half by ten and a half meters. It features three doorways in its façade, with one additional doorway on each end. The columns on the stage are decorated with Corinthian capitals. Emperor Nero is known to have placed his statue in the niche above the main entrance of the stage. 

The 82-by-104-metre piazza was located to the south-west of the main colonnaded street. The unfinished cavea is 92 metres in diameter and consists only of an ima cavea, the lowest section of the cavea, directly surrounding the orchestra. The ima cavea is organized into eleven cunei of twelve rows each[3] and faces north-northeast towards the cardo maximus. The theatre's aditus maximi, its main entrances, are 3.5 metres in width, and lead to a stone-paved orchestra with a diameter of 23.5 metres. The orchestra is bounded by a circular wall with a diameter of 20.3 metres. 

The proscenium wall is decorated with ten curved and nine rectangular niches placed alternately. The stage measures 45.5 by 10.5 metres and is accessed by two staircases. The scaenae frons had five doors: the main entrance, or valve regia, built into a broad curved niche; two guest doors on either side of the valve regia, or valve hospitalis, built into shallow rectangular niches; and two extra doors, at either end of the stage.

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

The theater was harmed by Islamic Terrorist organization ISIS after being used to execute soldiers in 2016.

[classicalmonuments]

Temple of Bel  (3D)

Palmyra (Tadmor), Syria

32 CE

Part I (exterior) || Part II (interior) || Part III (surrounding precinct)

The Temple of Bel (Baal) was a temple located in Palmyra, and consecrated to the Mesopotamian god Bel, worshipped at Palmyra in triad with the lunar god Aglibol and the sun god Yarhibol, who together formed the center of religious life in Palmyra.

The temple was built on a tell with stratification indicating human occupation that goes back to the third millennium BCE. The area was occupied in pre-Roman periods with a former temple that is usually referred to as "the first temple of Bel" and "the Hellenistic temple". The walls of the temenos and propylaea were constructed in the late first and the first half of the second century CE. The names of three Greeks who worked on the construction of the temple of Bel are known through inscriptions, including a probably Greek architect named Alexandras (Greek: Αλεξάνδρας). However, many Palmyrenes adopted Greco-Roman names and native citizens with the name Alexander are attested in the city.

A discussion of its architectural features demonstrates both the plurality of artistic and architectural styles in the ancient Mediterranean, and the numerous cultures that frequently overlapped and inter-mixed there. Although an inscription attests to the temple’s dedication in 32 CE, its completion was gradual with major architectural elements added over the course of the first and second centuries. 

The organization of the temple's ground plan derive from the traditions of eastern ritual architecture, including independent shrines for distinct divinities and, notably, the bent-axis approach to the cult (i.e. the architecture requires the celebrant to enter the temple and turn 90 degrees in order to view the offering table and cult area). The architectural elements employed in the temple's elevation however, derive from the Graeco-Roman canon, including the use of the Corinthian order as well as various architectural elements of that adorn the frieze course and roofline.In its outward appearance, the temple seems to derive from the canon of Hellenistic Greek architecture.The temple itself sits within a bounded, architectural precinct measuring approximately 205 meters per side. This precinct, surrounded by a portico (a colonnaded entryway), encloses the temple of Bel as well as other cult buildings. The temple itself has a very deep foundation that supports a stepped platform. At the level of the stylobate (the platform atop the steps) the area measures 55 x 30 meters and the cella (the inner chamber of the temple that held the cult statue), stands over 14 meters in height and measures 39.45 x 13.86 meters.

The cella was lit by two pairs of windows cut high in the two long walls. In three corners of the building stairwells could be found that led up to rooftop terraces. In the court there were the remains of a basin, an altar, a dining hall, and a building with niches. And in the northwest corner lay a ramp along which sacrificial animals were led into the temple area. There were three monumental gateways, of which the entry was through the west gate.

Palmyra's remarkable 2,000-year-old Temple of Bel was demolished in an atrocious crime against mankind and history in August 2015 by the Islamic militant group ISIS.  (post-destruction 3D)

Sources: 1, 2, 3

Main gate

North side

Art from the sanctuary

[classicalmonuments]

Temple of Bel  (3D)

Palmyra (Tadmor), Syria

32 CE

Part I (exterior) || Part II (interior) || Part III (surrounding precinct)

The Temple of Bel (Baal) was a temple located in Palmyra, and consecrated to the Mesopotamian god Bel, worshipped at Palmyra in triad with the lunar god Aglibol and the sun god Yarhibol, who together formed the center of religious life in Palmyra.

The temple was built on a tell with stratification indicating human occupation that goes back to the third millennium BCE. The area was occupied in pre-Roman periods with a former temple that is usually referred to as "the first temple of Bel" and "the Hellenistic temple". The walls of the temenos and propylaea were constructed in the late first and the first half of the second century CE. The names of three Greeks who worked on the construction of the temple of Bel are known through inscriptions, including a probably Greek architect named Alexandras (Greek: Αλεξάνδρας). However, many Palmyrenes adopted Greco-Roman names and native citizens with the name Alexander are attested in the city.

A discussion of its architectural features demonstrates both the plurality of artistic and architectural styles in the ancient Mediterranean, and the numerous cultures that frequently overlapped and inter-mixed there. Although an inscription attests to the temple’s dedication in 32 CE, its completion was gradual with major architectural elements added over the course of the first and second centuries.

The organization of the temple's ground plan derive from the traditions of eastern ritual architecture, including independent shrines for distinct divinities and, notably, the bent-axis approach to the cult (i.e. the architecture requires the celebrant to enter the temple and turn 90 degrees in order to view the offering table and cult area). The architectural elements employed in the temple's elevation however, derive from the Graeco-Roman canon, including the use of the Corinthian order as well as various architectural elements of that adorn the frieze course and roofline .In its outward appearance, the temple seems to derive from the canon of Hellenistic Greek architecture .The temple itself sits within a bounded, architectural precinct measuring approximately 205 meters per side. This precinct, surrounded by a portico (a colonnaded entryway), encloses the temple of Bel as well as other cult buildings. The temple itself has a very deep foundation that supports a stepped platform. At the level of the stylobate (the platform atop the steps) the area measures 55 x 30 meters and the cella (the inner chamber of the temple that held the cult statue), stands over 14 meters in height and measures 39.45 x 13.86 meters.

Palmyra's remarkable 2,000-year-old Temple of Bel was demolished in an atrocious crime against mankind and history in August 2015 by the Islamic militant group ISIS. (post-destruction 3D)

Fragments in the courtyard

Sources: 1, 2, 3

[classicalmonuments]

Tetrapylon of Aphrodisias

Aphrodisias, Asia minor (Turkey)

2nd century CE

The Tetrapylon was the monumental columnar entrance to the sanctuary of Aphrodite. It has sixteen columns (4 X 4) supporting elaborate pediments on each side. A complete stone-for-stone reconstruction or anastylosis of the structure, using 85% original blocks, was completed in 1991. It is a richly ornamented prestige building in the style of the Antonine period (mid-later second century CE). One entered on the east side, from a major north-south street, and passed through the gate into a large open forecourt before the sanctuary proper. Looking back from the inside at the west façade of the gate, the visitor would see an even richer elaboration of the architecture that marked this as the interior. One moved through the gate from the public space of the street to the space of Aphrodite. The broken-recessed west pediment is decorated with high-quality relief work of Erotes hunting in acanthus foliage and with deeply carved architectural ornament in an encrusted imperial style that represented majesty and grandeur. A figure of Aphrodite framed in an acanthus calyx in the central lunette was erased in the Christian period and replaced with a crudely engraved cross.

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

[classicalmonuments]

Olympieon (Temple of Olympian Zeus)

Athens, Greece

124-131 CE

Temple of Olympian Zeus was a Corinthian Octastyle Dipteral Temple deciated to "Olympian" Zeus, a name originating from his position as head of the Olympian gods. During the Roman period the temple, which included 104 colossal columns, was renowned as the largest temple in Greece and housed one of the largest cult statues in the ancient world. 

The construction of the Temple of Zeus Olympios began in the archaic period by Peisistratus and his descendants (520 BCE). It was designed to look like the huge temples of Asia Minor. It would be a Doric temple with a foundation size of 41m x 108m. It would have eight columns in two rows in the narrow sides and 21 in the long ones. However, with the arrival of  Democracy, it was considered as a symbol of tyranny and the construction stopped.

In the Hellenistic years, the king of the Seleucid Empire, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, ordered in 174 BCE the reconstruction of temple. The assigned architect was the Roman Cossutius who modified the initial plan of the building. The temple would now be of Corinthian order. In the narrow sides it would have three rows of 8 columns each, while in the long ones, there would be two rows of 20. It would have 104 columns in total. However, the works stopped again after the death of Antiochus, in 164 BCE.

In 86 BCE, when the Romans besieged Athens, general Sylla took two columns of the unfinished temple to decorate the temple of Jupiter in Campidoglio, in Rome. A third effort for the completion of the temple made by Augustus, was unsuccessful.

Finally, the emperor Hadrian accomplished the project in 131 CE. He respected the initial plan of Cossutius even keeping some of his columns which still stood. The columns were 17 metres high and had a diameter of 2m. A wall was built around the temple along which, dozens of his portraits were placed as offerings by all the cities of Greece. In the interior of temple there was one gold and ivory statue of Zeus and one of Hadrian himself.

The temple was deserted after suffering serious damage from their Heruli invasion in 267 CE. Afterwards it was used as a quarry, as the marble was used to manufacture lime.

The ancient writer and traveler Pausanias visited the Olympieion a few years after its completion and described it:

“Hadrian the Roman emperor dedicated the temple and the statue, one worth seeing, which in size exceeds all other statues save the colossi at Rhodes and Rome, and is made of ivory and gold with an artistic skill which is remarkable when the size is taken into account

Before the entrance to the sanctuary of Olympian Zeus, stand statues of Hadrian, two of Thasian stone, two of Egyptian.

Before the pillars stand bronze statues which the Athenians call “colonies.” The whole circumference of the precinct is about four stades, and they are full of statues; for every city has dedicated a likeness of the emperor Hadrian, and the Athenians have surpassed them in dedicating, behind the temple, the remarkable colossus.

On a pillar is a statue of Isocrates (…) there are also statues in Phrygian marble of Persians supporting a bronze tripod; both the figures and the tripod are worth seeing.”

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

[classicalmonuments]

Theater of Bosra

Bostra (Bosra), Arabia, Syria

2nd century CE

15,000 Spectators

It was built in either the second quarter or the second half of the second century CE and is constructed of black basalt. It is likely that the theatre was built during the reign of Trajan. The theatre was originally built outside the walls of the town, but was later completely enclosed by an Ayyūbid fortress. 

The theatre is 102 metres across and has seating for about 15,000 people; it is thus among the largest of the Ancient Roman civilisation. It served a city that once had 80,000 inhabitants. It is also one of the best preserved both in Syria and across the Roman empire. It was substantially restored between 1947 and 1970, before which it contained large quantities of sand, which may have helped to protect the interior.

In accordance with the local topography, it had to be built in purely flat terrain and it forms a uniform structure consisting of an auditorium and a stage building. The shape of the façade of the auditorium is difficult to imagine today because the building was later framed by an Arab fortress, which is the real reason that the theater has been preserved so extraordinarily well. From the outside, entrances led through 29 arches in the outer wall of the auditorium. one of the entrances was in its central axis. 

Overall, the façade consists of a double-storey row of arches and a row of rectangular windows above. Individual consoles for holding the “sun sails” have been preserved. The normal spectators reached their seats through these arcades. There were 13 staircases available to them, which they could reach from an inner corridor behind the outer façade. The outer entrances or those in the 180° axis of the theater led as aditus maximi under the east and west stands into the orchestra. The others led to a further inner contact, from which stairs to the auditorium lead directly to the praecinctio, i.e. directed the corridor between ima and media cavea. This approach could also be reached from the aditus maximi, where corridors branched off to the side. 

Here you had the choice of going down to the better ranks or up to the worse ranks or the media cavea. The access to the cavea was the more convenient, as it was at ground level. The top row of the cavea consisted of a continuous row of seats with backrests, which is why one would assume that there were places for higher-ranking personalities. there were 6 stairs in between that led to the lower places of the 5 kerkides. Only from the middle wedge did a double staircase lead down to the orchestra. There are no other levels of honor for seats of honor or bisellia in the orchestra. 

The passage from the praecinctio into the media cavea was less comfortable: To do this, one had to climb again narrow stairs leading to the side and now reached the 6 stairs, which opened up the next higher 5 kerkides. Another approach (praecinctio) lies between media and summa cavea. This can be reached via the inner staircase system, until you finally step outside at ground level and, bending to the side, reached the top tier of seats via further double staircases behind the balteus of the praecinctio. Above this there is finally a round portico, the porticus in summa cavea, of which some of the columns are still preserved in situ. It is this detail that sets the Bosra Theater apart as actually the best preserved in the ancient world.

At the ends of both praecinctiones are small doors that lead to the higher floors of the two basilicas. The walls of the basilicas facing the auditorium are decorated at the top with a series of pilasters and 3 small wall niches underneath. The tribunalia via the aditus maximi can be reached from the lower praecinctio. From there, there was the best view of the stage and the auditorium. The stage or the pulpitum can be entered via the side basilicas. The front of the stage is structured by the usual sequence of half and rectangular niches. At the back of the stage is the scaenae frons, here consisting of two round niches on the side and a round niche pulled apart in the middle. It has three floors, which can still be clearly seen in the rear wall of the stage. The lower column position has been rebuilt. In contrast to the dark basalt, it consists of light limestone. The lower order is Corinthian, above which Ionic and Tuscan columns are assumed. Behind the scaenae frons is the perfectly preserved space of the postscaenium. The theater is dated differently in the scientific literature: General urbanistic reasons speak in favor of placing the building in the founding period of the Roman Bosra, but an analysis of the architectural ornamentation of the theater led to it being dated to the early Severe period around 200 CE.

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6