Roman Gate
Si (Seeia), Hauran, Syria
1st/2nd century CE
The third, or outermost gate, that at the end of the long paved road that leads up from the valley, is one of the two monuments connected with the sacred precinct that show the influence of Roman domination in Si.
The plan and arrangement of this middle arch, with its flanking pilasters and quarter-columns, is substantially correct, but the side openings are much plainer. Here there are only the shorter pilasters which carried the arches, and the terminating members of this face are tall plain pilasters of the Corinthian order. The well preserved piece of the monument shown in a photograph 3 in my earlier publication is presented in a drawing made to scale in this later study, and is marked X in Ill. 342.
The caps of the lower order of pilasters, and the compound caps of the quarter-columns and the taller pilasters were found in the ruins much mutilated. The architrave and cornice, shown in photographs are drawn to scale in the present work. In addition to these, the main cornice was found, and parts of the raking cornice which was placed over a ressaut above the quarter-columns, and shows that there was a gable over the middle arch. The western face of the gateway was treated in a much simpler manner, and in the Ionic order, as is shown in Ill. 342. I found no carved details belonging to this face excepting the pilaster caps (Y in Ill. 342). The lower order of pilasters on this face had simply moulded caps, and the architrave and cornice had plain Ionic mouldings, the frieze apparently being quite plain, and in strong contrast to the over-elaborate decoration of the east face.
This rich carving, shown in the drawing, was applied to the pannels of the pilasters and the three members of the entablature. The former is illustrated in my drawing (Detail of X), where the minor order of pilasters is given panels with an interlacing pattern of grape-vine treated in a very realistic manner, and the major order is treated with similar panels carved with a rinceau which is probably to be taken for acanthus, unless it represents some native plant, and it has large flowers in its spaces. The vine panels compare favourably with work of the early Antonine period in this region, but the other panels are more like some of the carving in the Tychaion at Is-Sanamayn , which is dated in the reign of Commodus; for they show the tendency to employ deep line-incisions and incised triangles, methods of carving which are characteristic of the Christian carving of Northern Syria.
The quarter-columns are not fluted in the ordinary Classical fashion, but reeded, and they have no bases. The carving of the entablature is extravagantly rich. Here the lower band is carved with the large letters of a beautifully wrought inscription; it is separated from the upper band by a row of large beads. The upper band is adorned with a widely spaced maeander with faces and animals in its panels. The cymatium consists of a row of beads, an egg-and-dart, and a cavetto carved with a delicate three-leaved vine. The carving of the frieze is a rinceau which resembles that of the major order of pilasters, its bed-mould is a well wrought egg-and-dart. The cornice consists of a dentil-band and two narrow mouldings below a band of consoles; the soffits of the con- soles are adorned with leaves or honeysuckles, and the lacunae with grotesque faces. Above this, in place of a regular corona and sima, there is flat cavetto, a fillet, and a narrow band. An interesting bit of sculpture belonging to this gate is the figure of Nike which adorned the keystone of the eastern face of the middle arch.
Sources: (text edited from the book) 1, 2 (colorized using playback)