churches of byzantine pera

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The Churches of Byzantine Petra Author(s): Patricia Maynor Bikai Source: Near Eastern Archaeology, Vol. 65, No. 4, Petra: A Royal City Unearthed (Dec., 2002), pp. 271-276 Published by: The American Schools of Oriental Research Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3210859 . Accessed: 07/05/2011 15:26 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=asor. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The American Schools of Oriental Research is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Near Eastern Archaeology. http://www.jstor.org

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Page 1: Churches of Byzantine Pera

The Churches of Byzantine PetraAuthor(s): Patricia Maynor BikaiSource: Near Eastern Archaeology, Vol. 65, No. 4, Petra: A Royal City Unearthed (Dec., 2002),pp. 271-276Published by: The American Schools of Oriental ResearchStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3210859 .Accessed: 07/05/2011 15:26

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unlessyou have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and youmay use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.

Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at .http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=asor. .

Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printedpage of such transmission.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

The American Schools of Oriental Research is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extendaccess to Near Eastern Archaeology.

http://www.jstor.org

Page 2: Churches of Byzantine Pera

By Patricia Maynor Bikai

t has long been known that the city of Petra was severely affected by the great earthquake of 363 CE, and it once seemed

that after that earthquake, the city was inhabited by only a very small number of persons, some of whom were Christian. In 1974, Brown- ing wrote that by the Byzantine period the "vitality of the people was being sapped by squalor." He continued: "Without even vain hope, a sort of torpor settled across Petra; life became an existence valued for its own precar- ious self and not for any prospect of achievement" (1974: 58). Although traces of buildings that could be churches had been noted by explorers, the only certain church in Petra was a Nabataean tomb, the Urn Tomb, converted for ecclesiastical use in 446 CE (McKenzie 1990: pl. 97), a conversion that gave the impression that the Christian popu- lation of Petra in this period was so limited and poor that they did not even have the resources to build a church. This was a very bleak picture of Byzantine Petra.

The excavation of three Byzantine churches and the discovery of a cache of Byzantine papyri by the American Center of Oriental Research (ACOR) completely changed that view. Petra has come to seem much more like many other sites in Jordan (Madaba, Jerash and Rihab, for example) and elsewhere in the Byzantine Empire where there are multiple churches.

At Petra, the three churches are located on a slope to the north of the main east-west street of the

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city. In the Roman and Nabataean periods, the area where the churches were later built seems to have contained housing on the lower parts of the slope while the upper areas were probably

A plan of the Ridge Church, the Petra Church and the Blue Chapel Complex. By Chrysanthos Konellopoulos based on a map created by ACOR and Hashemite University

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used by the military. Actual evidence for that is somewhat ephemeral, but mere logic would dictate that the upper area was of military significance. From the highest point on the ridge, there is a 360 degree

view that includes the city center and, more impor- tantly, the main "back entrance" to Petra, the Wadi Abu 'Ullayqa (or Wadi Turkmaniyeh). In addition to a probable

military use, the North Ridge was also used as a cemetery. The bedrock of the upper slope is literally honeycombed with shaft tombs of the Nabataean era. Two of these were excavated by ACOR (see Megan Perry's contribution in this issue).

The earliest of the three churches is the Ridge Church, so-called because of its location on a ridge at the top of the slope. South of that is the Blue Chapel Complex, perhaps the residence of the bishop of Petra. This is a large building on two levels of the slope. The two parts are joined by a staircase. Farther south is what is known as the Petra Church; it has an adjoining structure devoted to the ritual of baptism. All of the churches have a nave and two aisles and a central apse. All three are generally oriented to the east as would be expected but the specific orientation was dictated by extant construction into which the churches had to fit.

Ridge Church Not long after the earthquake of 363 CE, an apse

and two rectangular side rooms were added to an existing building near the top of the slope, creating what is now called the Ridge Church (its original name is not known). As the arid climate and lack of water were major concerns for the peoples of Petra, every opportunity was taken to conserve rainwater. The Ridge Church has a large cistern under the nave; this was apparently fed by rain from the roof that was brought into the building by downspouts and channels leading to the mouth of the cistern. One of the stone channels still runs through the

The Ridge Church is the earliest of the three Byzantine churches

recently excavated by the American Center of Oriental Research at Petra. This painting of its remains, by Ali Jabri, gives a view to the east.

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d0orsill. The church itself has side aisles that are separated frotm the nave by five columns on each side. Only fragments of. these remain. The church had a simple stone floor in the nave and aisles, but may once have had a marble floor in the altar area. The Ridge Church did not have a pulpit nor, seemingly, did it have benches aloing the walls; a pulpit and benches are features in the the other two churches.

By the middle of thce fifth century, the Christian population of Petra had grown substantially, necessitating both the conversion of the Urn Tormb into a church and the construction of a major ecclesiastical complex containing what were probably the cathedral of Petra, an elaborate baptismal complex, and the residence of the bishop (called the Petra Church and the Blue Chapel Complex).

Petra Church When it was built, the Petra Church had, like the Ridge

Church, a single apse flanked by two rectangular rooms. West of the apse was a deep, flat altar area. The apse and adjacent rooms are at the ends of a broad nave and two aisles, which in turn are reached by three double doors opening out to a narthex. The nave of the church was paved with sandstone and there were mosaics in the southern aisle and around the altar area. Of the latter only fragments remain. Whether or not there were mosaics in the north aisle in this period is unknown. West of the church a three-room baptismal complex was built. The center room contained a cross-shaped font under a canopy supported

by" four columns. The two adjoining rooms

were used in the baptismal ritual. It is the best preserved baptistery in the Near East.

Blue Chapel Complex On the slope above the Petra Church was a large building

that may o riginally have been military in nature, perhaps a barracks. At about the same time as the c(onstruction of the Petra Church, that building was converted for use by the Christian community, perhaps as the residence of the bishop. Part )of the rebuilding program also included the creation of the Blue Chapel, named after the four Egyptian blue granite columns that were moved there, presumably from a nearby ruined Nabataean mIonument. In rose-red Petra, these blue columns stand out, as do their beautifully simple limestone capitals.

The columns and capitals of the Ridge Church and the Petra Church were scavenged from a variety of earlier monuments in Petra (see Fiema et al. 2001: 172-73). Such mismatched colonnades are typical of the Byzantine era, not only in Petra but all over the empire. In the Blue Chapel, however, there was an effort to follow a cohesive decorative program. Not only were the blue columns with their white limestone plinths, bases, and two-part capitals moved to the site as a set (and even numbered before they were moved), but also some effort seems to have been made to carry the blue and white program throughout the monument, as the other decoration included white plastered walls and a blue sandstone floor. Later other blue elements were added.

That the Blue Chapel was private is indicated by the fact that it can only be reached via a narrow staircase from the upper part of the building-not a likely public access. Further it is very small; the "proper" (the interior area excluding the apse area) measures only 111 meters square as compared to the Ridge Church at 158 meters square and the Petra Church at 358 meters square. Thus its size and difficulty of access

indicate that the Blue Chapel was not meant for large public gatherings. These factors and the existence of the

A Plan of the early phase of the Petra Church. By Chrysanthos Kanellopoulos and Catherine Alexander.

I The baptistery of the Petra Church is the best-preserved in the Near East. Drawing by Chrysanthos Kanellopoulos.

D Plan of the later phase of the Petra

Church, after renovations in the sixth century. By Chrysanthos Kanellopoulos and Catherine Alexander.

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Ground plan of the Blue Chapel Complex. Its size and difficulty of access indicate that this structure was intended for private rather than public use. Drawing by Patricia M. Bikai, Megan Perry and Chrysanthos Konellopoulos.

base of a bishop's throne behind the altar suggest that the complex may have been the residence of the bishop or, alternatively, of another member of the elite.

To the west of the chapel is a courtyard with an atrium surrounded by a single-story portico. The upper building of the Blue Chapel Complex consists of three sections. The central section has a room with a large door to the west and a courtyard to the east. To the north are a series of small rooms, and to the south is a vaulted room to the west and a portico for the courtyard toward the east. The upper building may have served as the actual residence for the bishop and his retinue.

Renovations In the course of the sixth century, all three churches

underwent renovations. At the Petra Church, the open area between the church itself and the baptistery complex became a formal atrium with a two-story portico around it. In the center of the atrium, a bell-shaped cistern was constructed to conserve rainwater from the surrounding roofs. The bap- tistery was extended to the west to accommodate larger groups. The south room of the baptismal complex ceased to be used in the ritual as it was converted into a staircase to reach the second floor of the atrium. Inside the church itself, the rectangular rooms flanking

Basket of the pulpit of the Blue Chapel, restored. Photo by Patricia M. Bikai.

Axonometric view of the Blue Chapel complex from the southwest. By Chrysanthos Kanellopoulos.

the central apse were converted into additional apses. In the Petra Church, as in the other two churches, the altar area was raised and marble screens were installed around the altar area during these renovations. Finally, an elaborate opus sectile floor of marble and stone was installed in both the raised altar area and in the nave. This type of flooring was very expensive and is found only in the more important churches in the region.

In the Ridge Church, a simple mosaic was laid on the raised altar platform. If there were other modifications, evidence for them no longer exists. Of the three churches, this is the least preserved, mainly because of its exposed location on the ridge. Stones from their own superstructures literally buried the Blue Chapel Complex and the Petra Church, while almost the entire superstructure of the Ridge Church disappeared, presumably down the slopes on either side. When excavated, the fill in most places within the structure consisted of less than thirty centimeters of sand. In some places, the walls were eroded below floor level and in the southeast corner the floor itself had begun to slip. Nevertheless, fragments of the chancel

The altar installation of the south apse of the Petra Church, as restored. Photo by Bronwyn Douglas.

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Section of the mosaics of the south aisle, Petra Church, showing two

Mesopotamian fallow deer.

Eastern end of the mosaics of the north aisle, Petra Church, showing, from top to bottom, rams on either side of a metal bowl, doves on either side of the cone of a stone pine, an African holding a jug and a man with a plate on either side of what could be a jewelry box, pheasants on either side of a variety of fruits, and giraffes (with camel attributes) on either side of a cone-shaped basket.

Detail of the mosaics of the Petra Church, north aisle, showing a crowned crane or

phoenix.

4 Wall mosaic fragment from the Petra Church showing the face of a young man. 18 cm

by 17 cm.

W I Section of the mosaics of the south aisle, Petra Church,

showing on the left side, from top to bottom, a fish, bull, fish, ibis (?),

dolphin, donkey, ray, guinea fowl and fish. These are mirror

imaged on the opposite side of the mosaic. Down the center of the mosaic, from top to bottom, are depicted a personification of summer, a fisherman, a personification of wisdom (sophia), a fowler with a cage on his back, a personification of spring and a

personification of the ocean (he holds a model boat and an oar).

screens and of the chancel itself were found. These likely date to the period of the renovations.

In the Blue Chapel, the excavation uncovered the remains of a rather haphazard marble pavement in the newly raised altar area. Given the care shown in the building of the rest of the structure, this is jarring. Perhaps what is now visible is the result of late repairs of a floor that was originally more elegant. A throne for a bishop was installed behind the altar and benches for the clergy were placed on either side of the altar. The latticework pulpit, perhaps added at this time, is exceptional. The bluish marble used for the pulpit, for the chancel posts and screens, and for a reliquary installed in a niche in the northern apse, continues the decorative program created by the blue columns. Additionally, quantities of blue and white marble fragments were found scattered. These may have once been coverings for the bishop's chair behind the altar and the seats for the clergy on either side of the altar. In the Petra Church, a synthronon, a step-like seating area, probably with a seat for the bishop at the center, was installed in the central apse during the remodelings of the sixth century.

Mosaics The Petra Church had stone

pavement in the nave, but in the rest of the church there were mosaics (see Fiema et al. 2001: 218-305 on a variety of aspects of the floor and wall mosaics). The earliest of these, perhaps dating to the mid-sixth century or earlier, is in the southern aisle. It has a geometric background against which are portrayed animals, birds and fish on each side. Down the center are personifications of the Four Seasons, Wisdom, Earth and the Ocean; there are also two fishermen, a fowler, and a vase with birds. Perhaps at the same time as the renovations, a mosaic showing deer and ostriches was installed in the eastern end of the south aisle. In the north aisle is a somewhat later mosaic that is continuous from the door to the apse. Just inside the door, grape vines emerge from a vase and create rows of three roundels up the aisle. In these are animals and vessels as well as a few human figures.

In both the Ridge Church and the Petra Church, wall mosaics were installed. A few sections of

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View of the Blue Chapel with its four Egyptian blue granite columns with limestone capitals. In rose red Petra the blue columns stand out. Photo by Neal Bierling.

Looters in a ruined Blue Chapel. The floor was lifted to see if there were Nabataean shaft tombs below; note the collapsed and broken pulpit. Cartoon by Chrysanthos Kanellopoulos.

these from the Petra Church show human figures against a background of mosaic cubes with gold leaf. It is possible that the mosaics in these churches were installed by artists from the same workshop that created the great mosaic masterpiece at the Church of Mount St. Catherine's in the Sinai. It is thus sad to see that the wall mosaics from the Petra Church are so fragmentary (Fiema et al. 2001: 300-302). Those of the Ridge Church are too shattered to give even an idea of the composition of the original work.

During the course of the sixth century a group of papyri documenting a variety of transactions of an extended family were deposited in a room adjacent to the Petra Church. From the papyri we can deduce (among other things) that the Petra Church was dedicated to the "Blessed and All-Holy Lady, the most Glorious Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary." The original names of the other two churches on this slope are not known. Judging by the latest certain date in the papyri (593/94 cE), the Petra Church remained in use until the end of the sixth century, after which the Petra Church and the papyri burned (see Marjo Lehtinen's contribution in this issue).

It is unclear whether the Petra Church had been abandoned as an ecclesiastical structure before the fire that totally destroyed it or whether it was still in use but undergoing renovations (Fiema et al. 2001: 80-91), but all three churches may have simply been abandoned, perhaps because of the declining population of Petra. It must be remembered that by

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the end of the sixth century, half a millennium had passed since the heyday of Petra when it was a station on a major trade route. The earthquake of the fourth century caused substantial physical damage to the city, as best illustrated by the fallen columns of the Great Temple. Large public buildings such as the Great Temple, the Qasr al-Bint, and the Temple of the Winged Lions were never rebuilt. Indeed it seems that in the city center, while a few of the shops on the south side of the eastern end of the main road were rebuilt (Fiema 1998; Kanellopoulos 2001), most of the area south of the main street was abandoned after the earthquake. On the north side of the street, current evidence indicates that everything west of the Blue Chapel Complex area was also abandoned. Thus, the Byzantine city center was substantially smaller and clearly less imposing than the "downtown" of the Nabataeans. Nevertheless, for about two centuries, from the earthquake to the final collapse around 600 CE, there was a vibrant Byzantine community.

It is not certain what caused the final decline of the population. Lack of maintenance of the infrastructure that brought water into the city may have been one of the reasons that during the course of the seventh century, the population of Petra declined to almost nothing. Judging by the amount of water available today from the spring in the wadi below the Ridge Church, there were probably no more than a few hundred persons. That remnant population seems to have consisted of small groups whose major activity was the looting of the site. In the upper reaches of the hillside of the North Ridge, their focus was on the Nabataean shaft tombs. Their presence can be documented at least until the earthquake of 748/49 CE, when the columns of the Blue Chapel came down, and perhaps even beyond that time.

Conservation Conservation has been a major element of ACOR's work in

Petra. At the Petra Church, the major issue was protection of the mosaics in the two aisles. Many strategies to create that protection were considered by ACOR and the experts it consulted. In the end, a shelter in the form of a space frame was designed by Rob Shutler and constructed by Starnet in Florida. Conservators stabilized the mosaics themselves, while some drums of the colonnade were restored, a replica of the opus sectile floor was installed, and the walls were built up for security. At the Ridge Church, simple stabilization of the walls was undertaken and a few column drums returned to their original place. Although no mosaics remained in situ, the mortar bedding of the mosaic in the altar area, exposed during excavation, was protected by a built stone box.

Restoration in the Blue Chapel Complex was more extensive. In some cases, walls were unstable and had to be partially dismantled and rebuilt or stabilized by other means such as the insertion of steel pins. Walls were also raised and elements such as door lintels reset in their original places. The maior restoration effort was the re-erection of the four blue granite columns. One of the column's bases was broken and two of the lower sections of the capitals were entirely missing. Replicas of these were manufactured and the complete set of columns

restored. At all three sites, where elements were added, such as in the case of walls being raised, mesh screening was placed within the wall below the restored elements to indicate the restoration. Where this was not possible or would be visually disruptive, a date was carved in the new element, or a modern coin placed in such a way as to be visible to future investigators.

The Petra that is best known is the city of the stunning tomb facades and monumental public buildings. The excavation of the Byzantine churches has given the site another face, a face that is familiar to those who know the Byzantine East, yet it is a face looking back to a glorious past.

Note 1. Pierre Bikai was overall director of the Petra Church Project. Work in the field was led by Zbigniew T. Fiema with co-directors Khairieh Amr and Robert Schick. The North Ridge Project, within which the Ridge Church and Blue Chapel Complex, as well as the two Nabataean tombs were excavated, was directed by Patricia M. Bikai with Virginia Egan as assistant director from 1994 to 1998 and with Megan Perry in that position from 1999 to the present. Chrysanthos Kanellopoulos has served as the architect of all three projects. All of the projects have benefited from the support of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan.

References Browning, I.

1974 Petra. London: Chatto and Windus. Fiema, Z. T.

1998 The Roman Street of the Petra Project, 1997. A Preliminary Report. Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 42: 399-424.

Fiema, Z. T; Kanellopoulos, C.; Waliszewski, T.; and Schick, R. 2001 The Petra Church. American Center of Oriental Research

Publications 3. Amman: American Center of Oriental Research.

Kanellopoulos, C. 2001 The Architecture of the Shops and Colonnaded Street in

Petra. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 324: 9-22.

McKenzie, J. 1990 The Architecture of Petra. British Academy Monographs in

Archaeology 1. New York: Oxford University.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

P

Patricia Bikai

Patricia Bikai is the Associate Director of ACOR in Amman where she has been since 1991. Before working

in. ordan, Bihai wrote extensively on the

Phoenicians, particularly on Phoenician ceramics and chronology, a pursuit that began with her participation as a student in the excavations at Sarepta in Lebanon. She has also worked at Tyre and on Cyprus and has contributed to projects in Egypt and Grece.

276 NEAR EASTERN ARCHAEOLOGY 65:4 (2002)