columns and hieroglyphs' magic spolia in medieval islamic architecture of northern syria

5/21/2018 'Columns and Hieroglyphs' Magic Spolia in Medieval Islamic Architecture of Northern Syria

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JULIA GONNELLA

COLUMNS AND HIEROGLYPHS: MAGIC SPOLIAIN MEDIEVALISLAMIC ARCHIECURE OF NORHERN SYRIA

Medieval Islamic architecture in Northern Syria isunthinkable without the use o spolia. Despite theabundance o local building materialthere are amplelimestone quarries in the area and even basalt occur-rences both northwest and south o Alepponumer-ous buildings rom the Zangid (11271183), Ayyubid

(11711260), and also the Mamluk (12601516) periodsexploited older architectural elements to a great extent.In Northern Syria, it is extremely easy to make use oalready existing building materials. Te architecturalheritage o this region, with its numerous ruined andabandoned sites rom not only the early Christian butalso the classical and ancient Near Eastern periods, isexceptionally rich, which must have been very con-venient, especially or the ambitious building projectsundertaken by the Zangid and Ayyubid rulers. Duringtheir reign, entire towns, castles, and city walls werereurbished completely or at least in great part, mosqueswere either renovated or newly constructed, and newbuilding types, such as law schools (sing. madrasa),Su monasteries (sing. khnqh), and hospitals (sing.mristnor bmristn) appeared or the rst time.1Tat architects regularly returned to abandoned siteswithin reach is conrmed both by literary sources andarchitectural studies: the minaret o the Great Mosquein Aleppo was built with stones rom the ormer cathe-dral nearby,2 the Great Mosque in Harran incorpo-rated elements rom the neighboring Sabaean templeo the moon,3and the Great Mosque o Diyarbakr, too,

exploited its predecessor church.4Te new orticationswere especially in need o good-quality stone material:the citadel o Aleppo boasts numerous ancient columnshafs, mainly in the glacis but also in the citadel wall,as well as heavy, monolithic Jewish tombstones, which

were skillully recycled in various parts o the enormousdeense system.5

However, secondhand material was not only cheapand easily availableit was also ofen charged withadditional meaning, and there were many instances inwhich medieval crafsmen clearly reused ancient archi-

tectural ragments on purpose. An important motiveseems to have been the desire to reer to a specicevent or period in the past: Zangid and Ayyubid archi-tecture requently contained historical allusions andcommemorated certain ancient sites: or example, theShuaybiyyamadrasa was built by the Zangid ruler Nural-Din (d. 1174) on the location o the rst Umayyadmosque o Aleppo.6Te stones rom a tower built bythe Umayyad general Maslama b. Abd al-Malik(d. 738), reused in the late Ayyubid Aleppine Qinnas-rin Gate (bb Qinnasrn), are an explicit historical reer-ence to the amous warrior, whose siege o Constanti-nople between 715 and 718 earned him lasting ame. Itwould have been more than appropriate to commemo-rate him by including remnants rom one o his towersin a gate that was to protect the city against the in-del oes.7 In addition, we also nd a large number oCrusader spolia, whose political and ideological impli-cations have recently been reexamined.8Te Crusadercapitals, deliberately turned upside down and ank-ing the mihrab o the Abu l-Fida madrasa in the Nural-Din mosque in Hama,9are well-known examples owar trophies, as is the much more illustrious portico

o the Crusader church o St. Jean dAcre, splendidlyintegrated into the Cairene madrasa o Sultan al-NasirMuhammad.10Tere are plenty o other Crusader spo-lia in Northern Syria, mainly columns and capitalsreused in variousmihrabs in mosques, madrasas, and


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khanqahs, which remain to be studied in detail.11So ar,there has been no serious examination o the origins oall the Crusader spolia in Northern Syria. Some werecertainly taken rom the various Crusader castles: manycolumns and capitals, or example, are missing romthe chapel o Qalat Marqab (Margat). Apart rom their

propagandistic value, they were certainly also selectedor their beauty and precious materialall Crusadercolumns are o extremely good-quality marble, in di-erent colors and shades.12

While the political and symbolic implications oreused architectural elements have increasingly raisedthe interest o Islamic art historians, this paper willexamine another attribute o spolia: their magical qual-ities, a highly underestimated aspect, no doubt becausethe entire subject o magic is generally relegated to theeld o Islamic olklore and popular religion. However,

both ethnographic and medieval literary data stronglysuggest that talismanic and apotropaic spoliawere enor-mously important and also widespread in the MiddleEast. Reading the literary sources, one might even arguethat the presumed magical properties o spoliarepre-sented a major reason or their usage. An entire brancho medieval Islamic literature is dedicated to the topico such talismans (ilasmt), a term o Greek origin thatbasically covers ancient magic inscriptions and g-ural sculptures that are meant to avert danger, ward offdestruction, keep away evil, manipulate natural orces,heal the sick, or simply bring good luck.13As we shall seebelow, special chapters were devoted to such ilasmtinmedieval topographical works. alismanic spoliaare, ina way, xed versions o portable amulets, with exactlythe same magical potential. Like amulets, they were parto the vast network o magical rites and belies prac-ticed and well established in the everyday lie o medie-val Middle Eastern society, despite regularly recurringtheological reservations.

alismanic spolia are not particular to NorthernSyria but have survived in many parts o the Mid-dle East. Viktoria Meinecke-Berg and, more recently,

Dsire Heiden have repeatedly demonstrated the sig-nicance o apotropaic pharaonic spolia or medievalEgyptian architecture,14 and there were and still arenumerous olk tales and popular traditions attached tothem. Finbarr B. Flood has noted the use o talismanic

spolia in Syria, Yemen, Iran, India, and Pakistan.15act, the phenomenon is not restricted to the IslamMiddle East. Magical spoliaseem to have also existed the Byzantine world and in medieval Europe, althougthe subject has hardly been studied systematically either area.16alismanic sculptures, statues, and g

rines were common in the classical world and, o courseven beore then, in the ancient Middle East, althougthere are obviously no examples rom those periods architectural elements being reused or their presumeapotropaic or talismanic qualities such as are under dicussion here.17

Tis article will concentrate on the evidence roNorthern Syria, an area unusually well represented both the literary and ethnographic traditions. It will allook at archaeological evidence, which provides uniquinsights into how spoliawere chosen, a process abowhich very little is otherwise known. Quite a numb

o the talismanic spoliamentioned in historical sourcstill exist today. Tey can be ound in the context religious, domestic, and ortication architecture, aninclude all sorts o building elements, such as ancieinscriptions, stone relies with gural depictions, anreestanding gural sculptures. As or their historcal origin, there seems to have been no preerence any particular era: Syrian talismanic spoliamight be either ancient Near Eastern, classical, or even Byzantiorigin. It will, in act, be argued that the specic histoical origin o the spoliaused is actually irrelevant.

ALISMANS, MIRACLES, AND HOLY SIES:HE LIERARY EVIDENCE

Maybe more than any other area in the Middle EasNorthern Syria is astonishingly well covered in medeval historical and geographical literature. Te Ayyuband Mamluk chroniclers Ibn al-Adim (d. 1262), IbShaddad (d. 1285), Sibt b. al-Ajami (d. 1479), and Ibal-Shihna (d. 1485) in particular are exceptionally ricand valuable sources on the region, providing us wi

detailed inormation on its landscape, history, buildinheritage, and, what is important or us, the use o spolin medieval architecture. In a certain way, it might comas a surprise that architectural spoliawere considerimportant enough to be mentioned in the rst plac


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Indeed, not only are theyreerred to at various pointsthroughout the historical accounts but entire chaptersare even devoted to them, with titles such as alis-mans, Marvels, and Places to Visit (ilasm, karmt,mazrt).18Another important source is the pilgrimageitinerary by Ali b. Abi Bakr al-Harawi (d. 1215), which

lists the principal shrines o his age and also mentionsilasmt.19

Te sources reer to a wide range o spoliain differentlocations. For Aleppo, or example, we nd mention o aGreek inscription on the Ayyubid Gate o Victory (bbal-Nar)20 (g. 1), a Hieroglyphic-Luwian inscription(g. 2) and a Hebrew inscription in the Mamluk mosqueo al-Qayqan in the al-Aqaba quarter,21and a blackcolumn on the no longer extant al-Aris Street thatwas probably made o basalt and hence o pre-Islamicorigin.22We have reerences to serpent talismans in

Mayyaariqin (Silvan),

23

Diyarbakr,

24

Aleppo,

25

andMaarrat al-Numan.26 We do not know what theylooked like. In Harran, they apparently resembled

Fig. 1. he talisman-spolium in the Gate o Victory (bbal-Nar) in Aleppo. he Greek inscription is to the right othe cavities, darkened by use, where the alicted placed theiringers. It is turned vertically and barely recognizable. (Photo:Julia Gonnella)

Fig. 2. he Hieroglyphic-Luwian inscription-spoliumin the Mamluk mosque o al-Qayqan in Aleppo. (Photo: Julia Gonnella)


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jinns with two heads,27and thus remind us o the manydragon effigies known rom various city gates.28

Tese spoliawere valued primarily or their heal-ing qualities, which are surprisingly specic: each oneis depicted as curing a particular malady. Consider,or example, the Hieroglyphic-Luwian inscription

described as a black stone with gureswhich is stillin situand well known among Near Eastern archaeolo-gists: it is an imperial oundation inscription or a tem-ple dating back to the early thirteenth century B.C.29According to medieval historians, it was apparentlyvery efficient at xing dislocated jaws, which could beremedied by coming to the mosque on three successivemornings beore sunrise. Te Hebrew inscription in theal-Qayqan mosque, an epitaph, was said to cure backpains. Te Greek inscription on the Gate o Victory,30again ragments o an epitaph, is still visited today by

those suffering rom hand and ngernail problems: theafflicted person is meant to stick his or her ngers intolittle cavities, now darkened afer years o requent usage(g. 1).31Te black basalt column on Aris Street hasunortunately disappeared. It was described as havingbeen particularly good at curing prostate problems.32Te serpent ilasmtwere effective against snakebites,and there were also numerous scorpion talismansagainst scorpion bites.33Rather curious is a charm, noturther specied, in the Hayyat mosque in Aleppo. Itwas meant to cure wild animals (sing. wash) strickenwith a colic.34Troughout the Islamic Middle East, wild

animals are generally considered unclean and are thusavoided.35Local inhabitants perhaps hoped that theilasm would help them to ward off epidemics. Te Hay-yat mosque was originally a synagogue and the charmwas possibly associated with the Hebrew inscription stillin situ.36

O course, it was not the intention o medieval chron-iclers to provide the reader with a topographical map othe major centers or various cures. Spoliawere part oa whole range o extraordinary, supernatural phenom-enaand there were other non-architectural oddities

described alongside, such as the rather awkward reporto a gentleman who threw a pottery shard into a poolin a place called al-Khannaqiyya outside Aleppo thatwas apparently grabbed by a strange hand appearingout o nowhere rom behind a door under the water.37

Tere were also descriptions o unusual lights aring uat certain locations, such as the one over a village neRawandan.38Very much like the mirabilia in medival Europe, such remarkable phenomena were highregarded in many parts o the Middle East and in abelong to the marvels (ajib) that were collected mo

systematically by Arab geographers rom around thtwelfh century onwards, eventually orming a literagenre o their own, theAjibal-makhlqt(Marvels Creation) by the amous cosmographer and geographZakariyya b. Muhammad al-Qazwini (d. 1283) beinthe most illustrious oeuvre o this kind.39Tese marvstories described curiosities to a certain extent, but weconcerned above all with miracles, wonders, and sigo supernatural power. Tese signs could be positive, described above, but also negative. With respect to thspolia, they might very well be regarded as unpropitio

omens o impending disasters. Such was the case withe basalt lionquite certainly o ancient Near Easteoriginthat appeared in the course o restorations the Great Mosque o Aleppo, making people eel veuneasy about continuing work there.40Another baslion was discovered when the Ayyubid palace on the cadel o Aleppo was being built: it was taken as an omeportending the destruction o the ortication wallsStories like these certainly were recurrent topoi, but we shall later see, there were also some documentereal discoveries, such as the citadel lion, which almocertainly belonged to a predecessor site and was pos

bly even identical with one o the two spolialions thwere integrated into the ountain house near the pala(g. 3).42

It is noteworthy that o all the spolia, literary sourcseem to pay particular attention to ancient inscriptionamong those mentioned are a reused Hebrew inscrition in the town o Qinnasrin, and Greek inscriptioin arsus, Adana, and Nasibin, as well as DamascusRather odd is the reerence to a three-thousand-yeaold Greek inscription on an antique marble altaapparently bearing the Roman emperor Diocletian

name. It was brought rom Apamea to the Hallawiymadrasa in Aleppo by Nur al-Din and became the objeo much admiration.44

One might be tempted to interpret this preoccuption with ancient inscriptions as a maniestation o


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ascination with historythe study o the past being,afer all, an important research category o medievalIslamic scientic literature. Tis concern or the pastalso included an interest in ancient sites, and we knowo several rulers who eagerly investigated archaeolog-ical remains, such as the Ayyubid sultan Salah al-Din(d. 1193), who went to see the pyramids in Cairo andalso paid a visit to Alexandria, the ancient Hellenisticvenue o learning and science.45

But did one really hope to extract historical inorma-tion rom the ancient inscriptions? Instead, the asci-nation with inscriptions seems to have been connectedwith the magical mysteries they supposedly revealed.Te emir Say al-Din Ali b. Qilij, or example, hadsomeone translate a Greek epitaph that came rom acemetery amous or its unusual light phenomena. Tetext, read by one o Aleppos Greek scholars, turned

out to be a religious note proclaiming that this lightwas a present rom God.46Te emir was certainly notinterested in this inscription or its historical value butrather because he hoped to make use o its talismanicproperties. Te beautiul, three-thousand-year-oldaltar, with its white, translucent marble patina, which

was brought to the Hallawiyya madrasa in Aleppo, wasalso not appreciated or its historical signicance alone.It was reused or serving pastries to the jurists residingin the madrasa. Signicantly, the service took place ona specic night, the blessed Laylat al-Qadr, the twenty-seventh night o Ramadan, a particularly propitious datein the Muslim calendar. Te altar was evidently con-sidered to be auspicious.47Above all, the ancient inscrip-tions were obviously cherished because o their closeassociation with magical ormulas and invocations, asone also nds them on portable amulets and handwrit-

ten charms, which ofen made use o pseudo-alphabetsand Kabbalistic lettersseemingly oreign scripts.Letters (ur), like numbers, were generally believed topossess occult properties, and particular religious spe-cialists were cherished or their apparent knowledge osuch secrets and or their presumed expertise in accord-ingly inuencing the supernatural spheres.48Magiciansalso employed oreign scripts to keep their knowledgeo the occult secret; they likewise made use o specialmagical ink.49

HRESHOLDS AND COLUMNS:HE EHNOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE

In examining the use o spolia, it certainly is o valueto study more closely what are ofen labelled as thepopular, local traditions o Islam. Especially in theethnographic accounts o the veneration o saints, onends plenty o practices and belies directly relevant toour subject. Particularly rich are the ascinating reportso the widely travelled Bavarian ethnographers RudolKriss and Hubert Kriss-Heinrich, who in the late 1950s

assembled numerous oral traditions on popular pil-grimages, saints tombs, and amulets in the Balkans,Greece, Syria, urkey, Palestine, Egypt, and Ethiopia.50A great number o the holy places they encounteredhave since disappeared. Others continue to exist and

Fig. 3. wo reused basalt lions in the ountain house near thepalace on the citadel o Aleppo (detail o photo by GertrudeBell in Ernst Herzeld, Inscriptions et monuments dAlep,2 vols., Matriaux pour un Corpus inscriptionum Arabicarum,Deuxime partie, Syrie du Nord (Cairo, 195456), vol. 1,pt. 3, pl. IVe). Both lions no longer exist.


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are still today potent sites o visitation, at least or partso the present populations o these regions.

Many o the so-called olklore customs and beliesdescribed are o great antiquity. Such is the case with theparticular signicance o doors, thresholds, and gate-ways, which represent dangerous, permeable openingsinto sae, domestic spaces and thus need additionalmagical protection through charms, shrines, or talis-manic statues. Assyrians and Hittites used guardiangures, both ull statues o lions, sphinxes, and griffindemons and little terracotta gurines that were buriedunder thresholds, to prevent evil rom entering.51Ste-lae with moon and bull aspects secured entrance gatesin ancient Israel.52In Greece, talismanic statues pro-tected cities and citadels.53

Islamic olklore tradition as well has several potentmagical rites to secure endangered architectural aper-

tures, such as the hanging o special herbs, mounteanimals such as crocodiles, or other charms above tdoorway, and even today numerous houses are saguarded by amulets and other protective measures, boin the countryside and in urban settings.54Such protetive measures were by no means taken only in the co

text o vernacular architecture, as is perectly illustratby the ormidable design o the three heavy Ayyubiron gates o the mighty Aleppo citadel, with its regullayout o horse shoes, an impressive example o a visally satisying, apotropaic decoration making use o aold amulet type still common in Syria and urkey tod(g. 4).55 Ethnographic reports rom nineteenth-cetury Cairo relate that it was still common to guard thentrance to ones residence with hieroglyphic inscritions. Tey also mention herbal and handwritten amlets as well as talismanic spolia.56City gateways were anstill are ofen protected by shrines and talismanstcity wall shielding the inhabitants rom both natural ansupernatural hostile incursions. here are numeroancient traditions and miracles associated with gateFor example, Kriss and Kriss-Heinrich recorded that Zuwayla Gate (bb Zuwayla) in Cairo people usto stick nails in the doors, place teeth in the joints, anbind threads around the nails, all to ind relie roheadaches and toothaches (ig. 5).57In Syria, many these ancient belies and traditions are still very mucalive.58At Aleppos western gate, the Gate o Antak(bb Ankya), one can still admire the large iron can

non ball o Shaykh Maru, who is said to have endeoff the Crusaders.59At the Gate o Victory to the nortboth the shrine o al-Khidr and the aorementioned igernail talisman, the ancient Greek inscription (ig. 1are regularly visited or their healing qualities, as is thmaqm(shrine) o the lying Shaykh al-ayyar at tsoutheastern Gate o Qinnasrin, which was recentrenovated by private initiative. Even Aleppos citadboasts a potent gateway saint, again al-Khidr, in heavily ortied entrance complex, which is still visiteon a regular basis.60

Te magical qualities o the gateways might haalso played a role in how doors themselves came to regarded as a worthy trophy: there is a long record doors having been translocated as booty, not only Islamic but also in Byzantine and medieval Europeacontexts.61Te robbing o doors certainly represen

Fig. 4. Detail o the Ayyubid iron doors with horseshoe deco-ration rom the main entrance gate o the Aleppo citadel.(Photo: Klaus-Peter Kohlmeyer)


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one o the most sophisticated ways to symbolically dis-play victory, leaving behind the deeated enemy, railand unprotected not only physically but also visually.One prominent example is the odyssey o the amousByzantine iron doors o Ammuriyya, which were car-ried off to Samarra by the Abbasid caliph al-Mutasim(r. 83342) afer he captured the Byzantine strongholdin 838. Tey were then brought via al-Raqqa to Aleppo,where the Ayyubid sultan al-Nasir Yusu II (r. 123660)integrated them into the newly restored QinnasrinGate.62Tis conscious statement against his Christian

enemies was urther reinorced by his decision to com-plement the doors with the aorementioned remainsrom the Umayyad tower built by Maslama b. Abd al-Malik, who was remembered not only or his amoussiege o Constantinople but also or deeating the Byz-antine army near Ammuriyya.63Tese doors were thus

certainly charged with a strong political signicance, butone might well assume that they were also believed tohave numinous powers.

Apart rom thresholds, gateways, and doors, ethno-graphic data urther reveal the signicance o stonesand columns, which play a key role on saintly premises(g. 6).64Te attribution o magical qualities to naturalstones, stone blocks, and columns is again a well-knownpre-Islamic phenomenon: they were ofen believed tobe inherently numinous or animated. Stone sanctuaries(Gr. baityloi) were built by the Phoenicians, the Greeks,and the Israelites, as well as the ancient Arabs. Tey

served as either abodes or aniconic images o a deity,and were even sometimes considered divine them-selves.65In his book on the religion o the early paganArabs, the Muslim historian Ibn al-Kalbi (d. ca. 819)describes some o the rites that surrounded such sanc-tuaries: visitors circumambulated the sites, sacricedanimals, and smeared their blood over the stones.66TeGreeks also had sacred columns, which were said tohave allen rom the sky (diopets, lit. allen romZeus), a possible indication o their meteoritic origin.67

In Northern Syria, one encounters columns ancient

and new, some cut rom rock and others ashioned romspolia, as well as pillars and piers. In both literary andoral traditions, there were plenty o columns and pil-lars boasting specic healing abilities. Te remains o acolumn shaf in a cemetery near Jerusalem, or exam-ple, were believed among the locals to cure headaches

Fig. 5. People visiting the Zuwayla Gate (bb Zuwayla) inCairo. (Photo: Rudolph Kriss and Hubert Kriss-Heinrich,Volksglaube im Bereich des Islam, 2 vols. (Wiesbaden, 196062), 1: pl. 18)

Fig. 6. Stone columns and piers at the popular shrine o Sah-wat al-Khadr in the Hawran region o Syria. (Photo: Krissand Kriss-Heinrich, Volksglaube, 1: pl. 104)


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Fig. 7. Column with strings in the Petrus grotto o Akura. (Photo: Kriss and Kriss-Heinrich, Volksglaube, 1: pl. 142)

Fig. 8. Piers with strings in the church o Mar Yuhanna in Jubayl. (Photo: Kriss and Kriss-Heinrich, Volksglaube, 1: pl. 14


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had been wrapped around the piers afer a major chol-era outbreak. Tere were also, and still are, miraclesassociated with columns: a column in a local maqmnear Skopje in the Balkans, or example, is said to havearrived there by ying through the air rom Khorasan.73

Tese magical qualities might indeed account or

the very common practice o reusing column shafs inarchitecture. Fortications in particular make signi-cant use o column shafs in various parts o their deen-sive systems. In most cases, they are vertically set intothe wall constructions as header ties, leaving the roundsection o the columns visible on the outside wall.74While it is commonly argued that column shafs weremainly employed or stability reasonsthe columns aremeant to hold the walls together to protect oundationsagainst sapping75Michael Greenalgh has recentlypointed out that the layout o the shafs within the orti-

cation walls was very ofen too regular and overly dec-orative.76Indeed, many o the shafs are xed on a veryhigh level and are thus hardly unctional or deensivepurposes. Recent architectural studies on the citadel oAleppo and the city walls have urther revealed not onlythe existence o large numbers o reused column shafsbut also ake columns, that is, roundels cut into themasonry as a way to mimic the originals (g. 9). Instead,there seems to be a magical raison d'tre behind theirrequent usage. Tis is certainly strongly suggested bythe wall decoration o the small Mamluk mosque o al-Qayqan in Aleppo, where column shafs are conspicu-

ously displayed on both aade sides, together with theaorementioned talismanic Hebrew and Hittite inscrip-tions and other non-epigraphic spolia(g. 10).77In thiscase, concern or stability most denitely could not havebeen a actor in their inclusion.

It certainly is surprising how many o the smaller,local shaykhs tombs are urnished with columns. Inmost cases, these columns originated rom more ancientconstructions nearby and sometimes even directlyrom predecessor buildings. Muslim shaykhs tombswere ofen built on more ancient holy sites, Christian

churches and/or pagan temples. Te reemploymento older building material created a visual continuityo sacred spaceboth in Northern Syria and in otherplaces as well. In some cases, shaykhs tombs not onlymade use o single spoliumbut were even integratedinto the ruins o the predecessor building, as with the

when circumambulated seven times,68and the sweat-ing column in the Hagia Sophiaalso known amongMuslims as the column o al-Khidrwas, and bysome still is, said to be rather efficacious against eyeproblems and inertility: the afflicted are supposed tostick their thumbs in a small cavity o the shaf.69IbnShaddad mentions a benecent pillar that was visitedby both Muslims and Jews, illustrating perectly thatsuch belies were not conned to one religious com-munity alone.70People came, and still come today, tobind strings around particular columns as a way to con-

rm personal vows (g. 7)71

again a practice knownamong not only Muslims but also local Christiansasis likewise made clear by reports rom the chapel o St.Ananias in Damascus and the church o Mar Yuhannain Jubayl, in present day Lebanon (g. 8).72In the lattercase, Kriss and Kriss-Heinrich were told that the strings

Fig. 9. Fake column shats at the Gate o Victory (bbal-Nar) in Aleppo. (Photo: Julia Gonnella)


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Fig. 10. Reused column shats at the Mamluk mosque o al-Qayqan in Aleppo. (Photo: Julia Gonnella)

Fig. 11. he shrine o Nabi Huri in Cyrrhus. (Photo: Klaus-Peter Kohlmeyer)


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local maqmwithin the Roman temple ruins on Bara-kat mountain, near the amous Byzantine monastery oSt. Simeon, or the maqmo Uriya b. Hannan (NabiHuri) on the antique site o Cyrrhus near the urkish

borderuntil today one o the most important shrinesor local Kurdsin a nearly intact Roman tomb (g.11).78Tis manner o using predecessor buildings is inno way conned to so-called vernacular architecture:the Hallawiyya madrasa in Aleppo preserves part o theancient cathedral, and the cella o the Baal temple inPalmyra was rst turned into a church and then into amosque in the twelfh century, without many changes tothe place.79O course, ancient inscriptions, spolia, andarchaeological ruins emphasize the antiquity o a reli-gious site. Tey imply that the site has always been wor-shipped, evoking a sort o timelessness, as do indeed the

Muslim saints themselves, whose historical personalityhas in general long been orgotten and who are simplyremembered or having lived a long time ago (minzamn). In anthropological terminology, one wouldsay that both saints and shrines were removed rom the

natural circle o lie, and instead belong to a sacred,permanent time.

RECUING SPOLIA:HE CLASSICAL REVIVAL

It would be incredibly ascinating to look at so-calledclassical revival architecture rom a magical perspec-tive. Tis architectural phenomenon, which was ratherunusual or Islamic art, appeared in Northern Syria inthe eleventh and twelfh centuries. It makes deliberateuse o antique orms, including pilasters, pediments,and cornices with different types o moldings.80 Inact, these occurrences o classicisms are restricted tosingle architectural details such as riezes or capitals,

rather than to entire buildings. In a way, one couldsay, thereore, that we are dealing here with architec-tural elements made to look like spolia. A well-knownexample is the ornate entablature o the Shuaybiyyamadrasa in Aleppo, built in 1150 by Nur al-Din, which

Fig. 12. he antique entablature o the Shuaybiyya madrasa in Aleppo. (Photo: Julia Gonnella)


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Jean Sauvaget mistook or recut antique material (g.12).81Te phenomenon o abricating stones allantica,i.e., o abricating ones own spolia, is, o course, alsoknown rom other parts o the world, such as medievalEurope, where one deliberately tried either to nish offa decorative arrangement with already existing antique

elements or to produce new, prominent, antique-look-ing eye-catchers or selected parts o the buildings.82

erry Allen has argued that these classicizing motisin Northern Syria were employed in places that hadappropriatealbeit rather generalantique asso-ciations and where there were already antique mon-uments or remains.83 Te Shuaybiyya madrasa, orexample, commemorated the rst mosque in Aleppoand was built near a now-lost Greek arch that mighthave served as a model, and both the minaret o Aleppoand the mosque o Harran have associations with the

prophet Ibrahim.84

Allen has also pointed out that theseclassical motis seem to have appeared mainly on reli-gious and not on secular buildings,85although this is arather speculative observation, considering how littlesecular architecture has survived rom this period.

It is extremely tempting to theorize that these classi-cal motis, the so-called pseudo-spolia, were also meantto evoke magical associations. I this was the case, theywould have enhanced the sanctity o the respectivebuilding, not unlike the ake saints tomb o the Alepposuq, which was specically installed during the pilgrim-age period in order to attract additional customers.86A

magical association would certainly require us to revisethe traditional interpretation o the classical revival.Te appearance o classical motis on religious build-ings, or example, would then have to be seen as yetanother way o emphasizing the antiquity o the sacredsite rather than the antiquity o the site having been thesource o inspiration or this exquisite workmanship, ashas previously been argued. It would also explain thedifferent antique styles used within the ramework oclassical revival architecture that have always puzzledart historians, making it difficult to interpret this phe-

nomenon as a conscious attempt to recreate a specichistorical period. Spoliawere used to make buildingslook ancient in a very general sense rather than toevoke a specically Byzantine, Umayyad, earlymedieval, or even classical Roman past. O course,

these preceding remarks remain highly theoretical anshould be studied urther.

CHOOSING SPOLIA:ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE

I would like to conclude with archaeological evidenthat not only testies to the signicant magical role spoliaper se, but also provides us with a rare insight inthe process o choosing spolia. Between 1996 and 200Syrian-German excavations at the citadel o Aleppyielded an important Bronze and Iron Age temple dedcated to the storm god, one o the major cultic places the entire Middle East.87Te temple was decorated nonly with various sets o spectacular relies depictinthe storm god himsel and his entourage, but also wian exceptional portrait o King aita, a potent but y

little-known ruler o the eleventh century B.C. Terelies were added to the temple at various stages anare currently dated between 1400 and 900 B.C.

Beore the excavations started, a series o singancient sculptures and relies dispersed on the citadand in the local museum were already important habingers o the uture discovery.88O those, a group ve limestone and basalt blocks is particularly strikinOne o these blocks is reused as a spoliumnext to thentrance gate o the upper Ayyubid mosque (g. 13Te others are presently exhibited as isolated piecin ront o the citadel museum. Tey, too, had appaently been integrated into the same mosque, but weextracted once the mosque was dismantled or restortion during the period o the French Mandate. Teblocks, which are around 85 to 95 centimeters tall an1.5 meters wide, all show a grid- or knot-like pattein two registers. Tey date to the period o the HittiEmpire (ourteenththirteenth century B.C.) and ameant to depict alse windows with carved windogrilles resembling lattice woodwork screens (mashrbiyyas),as corroborated by miniature house models clay.89

Te excavations revealed that these blocks belongto the original decoration o the ormer temple when, 2003 and 2004, the practically intact interior o the easern and southern walls o the temple was exposed, yieling nine urther mashrabiyyablocks still in situ(g. 14


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Fig. 13. A alse window reused in the upper mosque o theAleppo citadel. (Photo: Julia Gonnella)

Fig. 14. he relies o the eastern wall o the temple o the storm god in Aleppo. (Photo: Kay Kohlmeyer)

From this it was clear that the other ve blocks origi-nated rom the western wall, which had been completelydestroyed in the Ayyubid period during the construc-tion o a series o storage rooms. Tese storage roomsstill exist to the east o the lower mosque and nowaferclearingexpose the oundation o the temple wall.

When the Ayyubid workmen had this wall demolished,they evidently removed the decorated stone blocks romtheir original location and incorporated them into theupper mosque, which was completely rebuilt under theAyyubid sultan al-Malik al-Zahir (r. 11861216) aferit burned in a re in 1212.90

Te knot-like patterns o the so-called alse windowsprobably induced the Ayyubid architects and work-men to reuse the Hittite stone blocks as talismanic spo-lianear the mosque entrance. Te moti ts very wellwith Ayyubid apotropaic decoration. Knots are known

or their magical associations: it is an ancient Arab cus-tom to spit on knots, or example, and knotted threadsare thrown upon saints tombs.91Knot motis are com-mon not only on Ayyubid pottery and metalwork92butalso in Ayyubid architecture, the most amous examplebeing the two intertwined dragons sitting over the mainentrance o the Aleppo citadel. Te choice to integratea alse window next to the mosque entrance, there-ore, seems plausible within both the Ayyubid magicaland aesthetic contexts.

Lion gures were also obviously reused on the cita-del, as seen in the aorementioned photograph by Ger-

trude Bell (g. 3).93It shows two basalt lion sculpturesanking the entrance o a building, which can proba-bly be identied as the ountain house next to the Ay-yubid palace. Unortunately, it is impossible to datethis building activity precisely and the lions have since


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disappeared, too. However, the two Ayyubid three-quarter prole lions (the laughing lion and the weep-ing lion) on both sides o the third gateway in the largeentrance complex are clearly conscious reminders o theimportant pre-Islamic tradition associated with this site.

Not all relies rom the ancient temple were equally

appreciated by the Ayyubids. Te amous one previ-ously discovered by the French archaeologist GeorgesPloix de Rotrou in 1929, with two winged genii and asun and moon moti, was reused as an ordinary corner-stone in a medieval oundation, hiding the gural deco-ration.94In the course o repair work by the Aga Khanrust or Culture (AKC) in 2004, the remains o a mas-sive, ancient Middle Eastern sculpture were discoveredas a oundation stone o the second gate in the largeAyyubid entrance complex.95Te sculpture, represent-ing either a sphinx or a griffon, had been turned upsidedown and cut into shape. Its head was missing, mak-ing it difficult to identiy the creature with certainty. Inboth cases, the buried sculpture demonstrates that theAyyubids were seriously concerned about displaying itin public, despite the act that griffons and sphinxes doregularly appear in medieval decorative Islamic art andneither has explicitly negative associations.96

For the nal set o relies, we do not have any actualremains, although one might assume that they alsoended up as oundation material in medieval build-ings. Te original temple decoration discovered in theexcavations shows not only alse windows but also

alternating bullmen with lifed arms. Tese ancientmythical creatures evidently produced strong eelingso anxiety, certainly or their hoos alone, which madethem appear to be jinns. Until today, none o the bull-men, which must have embellished the western wall othe temple, has been recovered. Te excavations on thecitadel, however, demonstrate very well that medievalarchitectural spoliawere chosen with the greatest careand attention.

Museum r Islamische KunstBerlin, Germany

NOES

Authors note: his article is dedicated to the memory o Viktor-ia Meinecke-Berg, who was one o the irst to deal with spolia

in the context o Islamic architecture. An earlier version o thpaper was given at the conerence on Byzantine Spoliain Ismic Monuments, held between October 31 and November2003 at the Skulpturensammlung und Museum r ByzantiniscKunst (SPK) in Berlin. I would like to thank Neslihan AsutaEenberger and Arne Eenberger or having organized this veinspiring event.

1. For general accounts on Zangid and Ayyubid architectureNorthern Syria, see erry Allen,Ayyubid Architecture, 6th (Occidental, Cali., 199699), http://www.sonic.net/~tallepalmtree/ayyront.html, retrieved rom the Internet Archwww.archive.org, December 1, 2009; Yasser abbaa, TArchitectural Patronage o Nur al-Din (11461174) (Phdiss., New York University, 1982); Yasser abbaa, Construtions o Power and Piety in Medieval Aleppo , 2 vols. (Uversity Park, Pa., 1997). Lorenz Korn also remarks upon timportance o spolia: Lorenz Korn,Ayyubidische Architekin gypten und Syrien: Bauttigkeit im Kontext von Poliund Gesellschaf, 564658/11691260, 2 vols. (Heidelbe2004), 2:23436. For the Mamluk buildings in Syria, s

mainly Michael Meinecke, Die mamlukische Architekturgypten und Syrien (648/1250 bis 923/1517), 2 vols.(Glcstadt, 1992). For an overview o the immense orticatiprojects in the entire area during this period, see the vaous contributions in La ortication au temps des croisaded. Nicolas Faucherre, Jean Mesqui, and Nicolas Proute(Rennes, 2004); Muslim Military Architecture in GreaSyria: From the Coming o Islam to the Ottoman Period, eHugh Kennedy (Leiden, 2006); and, more recently, Burgund Stdte der Kreuzzugszeit, ed. Mathias Piana(Petersbe2008).

2. Te historical text actually mentions that the kadi AbuFadl Ibn al-Khashshab

took stones rom a re temple the minaret. Te Aleppo cathedral was originally believ

to have been a re temple beore it was christianized: Ial-Dn Ab Abdallh Muammad Ibn Shaddd, al-Alal-khara dhikr umar al-Shm wal-Jazra= La descrtion dAlep dIbn Shaddd, vol. 1, pt. 1, ed. Dominique Soudel (Damascus, 1953), 34. See also erry Allen,A ClassicRevival in Islamic Architecture(Wiesbaden, 1986), 2324

3. David Storm Rice, From Sn to Saladin: Excavations Harrans Great Mosque, with New Light on the Babynian King Nabonidus and His 104-Year-Old Mother, TIllustrated London News231 (September 21, 1957): 4666and, more recently, Allen, Classical Revival, 4142. Te uo architectural ragments rom the cathedral o St. Sophin the mosque o Harran is discussed in Mattia GuidetTe Byzantine Heritage in the Dr al-Islm: Churches aMosques in al-Ruha between the Sixth and welfh Centries,Muqarnas26 (2009): 13.

4. Max van Berchem and Jose Strzygowski,Amida: Matriapour lpigraphie et lhistoire musulmanes du Diyar-beBeitrge zur Kunstgeschichte des Mittelalters von Nordmes

potamien, Hellas und dem Abendlande (Heidelberg, 191144; Allen, Classical Revival, 3741.


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5. Julia Gonnella, La citadelle dAlep: Les priodes islamiques,Archologie Islamique11 (2001): 18894. Tese historicallyvery interesting tombstones, which probably originaterom a ormer cemetery nearby, were recently publishedby Nathanja Httenmeister, Mittelalterliche jdischeGrabsteine aus Aleppoein Nachtrag, in Memoria-Wege

jdischen Erinnerns: Festschrif r Michael Brocke zum 65.Geburtstag, ed. Birgit E. Klein and Christiane E. Mller (Ber-lin, 2005), 21742.

6. For ull reerences, see n. 80 below.7. According to the literary sources, the stones o the tower

were brought rom al-Naura, a small site between Aleppoand Balis. Ibn Shaddd, La description d'Alep, vol. 1, pt. 1,pp. 920; Muibb al-Dn Abl-Fal Muammad Ibnal-Shina, al-Durr al-muntakhab li-tarkh alab = Les

perles choisies dIbn ach-Chihna, trans. Jean Sauvaget, Mat-riaux pour servir lhistoire de la ville dAlep 1 (Beirut,1933), 3233; Ernst Herzeld, Inscriptions et monumentsdAlep, 2 vols., Matriaux pour un Corpus inscriptionumarabicarum: Deuxime partie, Syrie du Nord (Cairo, 195456), vol. 1, pt. 1, pp. 5965; abbaa, Constructions o Powerand Piety, 2122. See also n. 62 below.

8. Crusader spoliain Muslim architecture have lately been dis-cussed by Carole Hillenbrand, Te Crusades: Islamic Per-spectives(Edinburgh, 1999), 38286, and Finbarr B. Flood,Te Medieval rophy as an Art Historical rope: Copticand Byzantine Altars in Islamic Contexts, Muqarnas18(2001): 4372. Both have stressed the propagandistic valueo the reused Crusader handiwork. Flood also demonstratedthe important regional differences in the cultural associa-tions o spoliaand called or the need to historicize the par-ticular instances o reuse. As such, Crusader spoliahavenot been dealt with systematically, but are only mentionedin the treatment o single buildings, mainly or Palestine(e.g., Robert W. Hamilton, Te Structural History o the

Aqsa Mosque [London, 1949]; Michael Burgoyne,Mamluk

Jerusalem [London, 1987]; Miriam Rosen-Ayalon, Art andArchitecture in Ayyubid Jerusalem, Israel Exploration Jour-nal40, 4 [1990]: 30514) and Egypt (e.g., K. A. C. Creswell,Te Muslim Architecture o Egypt, 2 vols. [Oxord, 1959],1:23440; Viktoria Meinecke-Berg, Spolien in der mittel-alterlichen Architektur von Kairo, ingypten, Dauer undWandel: Symposium anlsslich des 75-jhrigen Bestehens desDeutschen Archologischen Instituts Kairo [Mainz, 1985],141). Ernst Herzeld is really the only one who has studiedreused Crusader material in Syria: Ernst Herzeld, Damas-cus: Studies in ArchitectureII, Ars Islamica 10 (1943):1370, and Herzeld, Inscriptions et monuments dAlep. Seealso Flood, Medieval rophy, 4372, esp. n. 56; FinbarrB. Flood, An Ambiguous Aesthetic: Crusader Spolia in

Ayyubid Jerusalem inAyyubid Jerusalem: Te Holy City inContext, 11871250, ed. Sylvia Auld and Robert Hillenbrand(London, 2009), 20215.

9. Herzeld, Damascus: Studies in ArchitectureII, 4647;Hillenbrand, Crusades: Islamic Perspectives, 384; Flood,Medieval rophy, 5758.

10. See Creswell,Muslim Architecture o Egypt, 1:23440; Mei-necke-Berg, Spolien in der mittelalterlichen Architekturvon Kairo, 141.

11. It would be interesting to nd out whether some spoliawerenot in act reworked copies. In Aleppo, it is very conspicuousthat all the so-called Crusader columns anking the vari-ous Ayyubid and Mamluk mihrabs always appear in pairs.Tey always t perectly in their position, never look cut ordamaged, and also go very well with the rest o the marbledecoration on the mihrabs (e.g., greyish marble columns andgreyish marble decoration in the Aleppine Shadhbakhtiyyamadrasa, greenish marble columns and mihrab decoration inthe Sultaniyya madrasa, red marble in the Farara khanqah,etc.). Tis perect arrangement makes one wonder whetherthe columns were in act not booty but rather consciousreworkings in Crusader style executed together with the resto the prayer niche. Strangely enough, the only dodgy pairo columns is in the Firdaws madrasa, which is otherwisenoted or its superb mihrab. Tese columns do not t invery well in their position, and the color o the marble differsrom the overall decoration. Tey may be later additions.

12. C. Jaroslav Folda, Te Art o the Crusades in the Holy Land,10981187(Cambridge, 1995), 44243, 596.

13. For the literary use o ilasmt, see J. Ruska and B. Carrade Vaux [C.E. Bosworth], Encyclopaedia o Islam, New Edi-tion(henceorth EI2) (Leiden, 19602004), s.v. ilsam;Manred Ullmann, Die Natur- und Geheimwissenschafenim Islam(Leiden, 1972), esp. 362 and 37881. Ullmann alsoexplores the strong Greek tradition in Islamic magic. Forexample, a direct link can be seen between the gure othe magician Balinas, who in magical literature is describedas the master o talismans (ib al-ilasmt), and thephilosopher-magician Apollonios o yana (rst centuryA.D.), who was responsible or the abrication o talismansin ancient Greece. Comparable magical literature alsoexisted in the Byzantine world. See, or example, Richard P.

H. Greeneld, A Contribution to the Study o PalaeologanMagic, in Byzantine Magic, ed. Henry Maguire (Washing-ton, D.C., 1995), esp. 12330, also with reerences to the loreconnected with the name o Apollonius o yana.

14. Meinecke-Berg, Spolien in der mittelalterlichen Archi-tektur von Kairo, 13940; Desire Heiden, PharaonischeBaumaterialien in der ayyubidischen Stadtbeestigung vonKairo, Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archologischen Insti-tuts, Abteilung Kairo57 (2001): 6061. On the magical useo spolia, see also Desire Heiden, Die Beschtzerin derPorten: Zur apotropischen Verwendung pharaonischerSpolien in der Moschee des Utman Katkhuda (1147/1734)in Kairo, Mitteilungen des Deutschen ArchologischenInstituts Abteilung Kairo65 (2009): 191211; Georg Stauth,

gyptische heilige Orte: Konstruktionen, Inszenierungen undLandschafen der Heiligen im Nildelta, vol. 2,Zwischen denSteinen des Pharao und islamischer Moderne: Fuwa - Sa al-Hagar (Sais) (Bieleeld, 2008).

15. Finbarr B. Flood, Image against Nature: Spolia as Apo-tropaia in Byzantium and the Dr al-Islm, Te Medieval


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History Journal9, 1 (2006): 14366. An earlier version o thispaper was presented at the conerence on Byzantine Spoliain Islamic Monuments held in Berlin in November 2003.See also Ullmann, Die Natur- und Geheimwissenschafen,379.

16. See, or example, Richard H. L. Hamann-Maclean, Antiken-studium in der Kunst des Mittelalters,Marburger Jahrbuch

r Kunstwissenschaf15 (194950): 157250; Arnold Esch,Spolien: Zur Wiederverwendung antiker Baustcke undSkulpturen im mittelalterlichen Italien,Archiv r Kulturge-schichte51 (1969): 164.

17. Little research has been conducted on the topic o spoliainclassical and ancient Middle Eastern architecture. For talis-manic statues in ancient Greece, see Christopher A. Faraone,alismans and rojan Horses: Guardian Statues in AncientGreek Myth and Ritual(New York, 1992).

18. See the chapter Les particularits et les talismans, les lieuxmiraculeux dAlep, dans les murs, hors-les-murs, et dans saprovince, in Ab Dharr Amad Sib ibn al-Ajam, Kunzal-dhahab tarkh alab = Les trsors dor de Sib ibnal-Ajam, trans. Jean Sauvaget, Matriaux pour servir lhis-toire de la ville dAlep 2 (Beirut, 1950), 1.

19. Ab l-asan Al b. Ab Bakr al-Haraw, Kitb al-Ishrtil mariat al-ziyrt = Guide des lieux de plerinage, trans.Janine Sourdel-Tomine (Damascus, 1957).

20. Sib ibn al-Ajam, Les trsors dor, 3. See n. 30 below orother reerences.

21. Sib ibn al-Ajam, Les trsors dor,2; Julia Gonnella, Isla-mische Heiligenverehrung im urbanen Kontext am Beispielvon Aleppo (Syrien)(Berlin, 1995), 225. On the mosque, seeHerzeld, Inscriptions et monuments dAlep, vol. 1, pt. 1, pp.4078, g. 132.

22. Ibn Shaddd, La description dAlep,vol. 1, pt. 1, p. 123; Sibibn al-Ajam, Les trsors dor,1; Ibn al-Shina, Les perleschoisies,136; Gonnella, Islamische Heiligenverehrung, 236.

23. al-Haraw, Guide des lieux de plerinage, 145.

24. Van Berchem and Strzygowski,Amida, 82.25. In the burj al-thabn(serpents tower) in Aleppo. See Ibn

Shaddd, La description dAlep,vol. 1, pt. 1, p. 123; Sib ibnal-Ajam, Les trsors dor,2; Ibn al-Shina, Les perleschoisies,13536.

26. Ibn Shaddd, La description dAlep, vol. 1, pt. 1, p. 128.Te antique stone column in Maarrat al-Numan is alsodescribed by Nasir-i Khusraw (d. 1088): see Guy Le Strange,ed. and trans., Palestine under the Moslems: A Description oSyria and the Holy Land rom A.D. 650 to 1500 (orig. pub.Boston and New York, 1890; repr. Beirut, 1965), 495.

27. Sib ibn al-Ajam, Les trsors dor,2; Nikita Elisseff, Nrad-Dn, un grand prince musulman de Syrie au temps desCroisades(511569 h./11181174), 3 vols. (Damascus, 1967),

1:145.28. For various examples o dragon relies in Anatolia and

Mesopotamia, including the amous knotted dragons onthe entrance o the Aleppo citadel, see Joachim Gierlichs,

Mittelalterliche ierrelies in Anatolien und Nordmesopo-tamien: Untersuchungen zur grlichen Baudekoration der

Seldschuken, Artuqiden und ihrer Nacholger bis ins 15. Jahhundert(bingen, 1996), 2840.

29. For the Hieroglyphic-Luwian inscription, see Annelies Kamenhuber, Hethitisch, Palaisch, Luwisch, Hieroglyphenwisch und Hattisch: Altkleinasiatische Indices zum Handbuder Orientalistik(Munich, 1969), 168. Tis inscription woriginally reintegrated upside down. It was later turnaround 180o, probably during the French Mandate perioTe Hebrew inscription is recorded in Herzeld, Inscriptioet monuments dAlep, 2:4078, g. 132.

30. For the Greek inscription, see Louis Jalabert and ReMouterde, Inscriptions grecques et latines de la Syrie(Par1929), vol. 1, 107. Another (tomb?)stone with healiqualities in the same city gate is mentioned by al-HarawGuide des lieux de plerinage, 9. It has not survived, howevFor the gate, see Herzeld, Inscriptions et monuments dAlvol. 1, pt. 1, pp. 2939. For reerences to a maqmo al-Khin the same gate, see Gonnella, Islamische Heiligenverehru16263.

31. Gonnella, Islamische Heiligenverehrung, 163.32. C. a similar column near the Umayyad mosque in Dam

cus that, once circumambulated three times, enabled horsand donkeys to urinate again: al-Haraw, Guide des lieux

plerinage, 56.33. For a discussion o the various medieval scorpion a

serpent talismans, see Almut von Gladiss, MediziniscSchalen: Ein islamisches Heilverahren und seine mittelterlichen Hilsmittel, Damaszener Mitteilungen11 (19914761; Flood, Image against Nature, 14666, also nonumerous talismans against reptiles, pigeons, spiders, aother creatures.

34. Sib ibn al-Ajam, Les trsors dor, 12; the talismandescribed as being on Nasiriyya Street. On the mosque, sHerzeld, Inscriptions et monuments dAlep, vol. 1, pt. 2, p30912; Meinecke, Die mamlukische Architektur, 2:145, n33/34.

35. For example, see the article on dogs in F. Vir, EI2, sKalb.

36. On the synagogue and its inscription, see Herzeld, Inscrtions et monuments dAlep, 2:312, no. 165, pl. CXIIb.

37. Sib ibn al-Ajam, Les trsors dor,4.38. Lights descending rom the heavens are a common topos

designating shrines or holy places. Ibn Shaddd, La descrtion dAlep,vol. 1, pt. 1, p. 128.

39. See C. E. Dubler, EI2, s.v. Adjib.40. Ibn Shaddd, La description dAlep,vol. 1, pt. 1, p. 123; I

al-Shina, Les perles choisies, 136. For other miraculoincidences in the Great Mosque, see Gonnella, IslamiscHeiligenverehrung, 20911.

41. Ibn Shaddd, La description dAlep,vol. 1, pt. 1, pp. 232

42. Te two lions have disappeared. Bells detailed picture o oo the lions has been published by Herzeld, Inscriptionsmonuments dAlep, vol. 1, pt. 3, pl. IVe; or the pair as serom aar, see pl. XXXIXd.

43. Sib Ibn al-Ajam, Les trsors dor,4; Ibn Shaddd,description dAlep,vol. 1, pt. 1, pp. 3134.


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44. Ibn Shaddd, La description dAlep,vol. 1, pt. 1, p. 110; Ibnal-Shina, Les perles choisies,89; Sib Ibn al-Ajam, Lestrsors dor,4; Zakariyyab. Muammad al-Qazwn, Kitb

thr al-bild, ed. Ferdinand Wsteneld (Gttingen, 1848),123. For a ull discussion o this altar, see n. 47 below.

45. Shihb al-Dn Ab l-Qsim Ab Shma,Kitb al-Rawatayn akhbr al-dawlatayn al-Nriyya wa l-aliyya, ed.M..M. Amad and M. M. Ziyda, 2 vols. (Cairo, 1962),vol. 1, pt. 2, p. 689.

46. Ibn Shaddd, La description dAlep,vol. 1, pt. 1, p. 128.47. For the multi-layered signicance o Nur al-Dins installa-

tion o this altar table in the converted ormer cathedral oAleppo, see Flood, Medieval rophy, 5264. Te great ageo the table obviously played an important role in under-scoring the antiquity o the place: see also Allen, ClassicalRevival, 60. Flood considers the Christian associations othe spolia to be more important; in his opinion, they wereexplicitly intended to reassert Nur al-Dins propagation o anewly ascendant Islam.

48. For an introduction to Islamic onomatomantic magic, see. Fahd, EI2, s.v. ur; D. B. MacDonald [. Fahd],EI2, s.v. Smiy. See also ouc Fahd, La divination arabe:

tudes religieuses, sociologiques et olkloriques sur le milieunati de lIslam(Strassburg, 1966); Ullmann, Die Natur- undGeheimwissenschafen; Emilie Savage-Smith, ed.,Magic andDivination in Early Islam(Aldershot, 2004).

49. On cryptographic alphabets, see Ullmann, Die Natur- undGeheimwissenschafen, 24.

50. Rudol Kriss and Hubert Kriss-Heinrich, Volksglaube imBereich des Islam, 2 vols. (Wiesbaden, 196062),vol. 1,Wall-

ahrtswesen und Heiligenverehrung, and vol. 2, Amulette,Zauberormeln, und Beschwrungen.

51. See Walter Farber, Witchcraf, Magic, and Divination inAncient Mesopotamia, in Civilizations o the Ancient NearEast, ed. Jack M. Sasson et al., 4 vols. (New York, 1995),3:1903; Dessa Rittig, Assyrisch-babylonische Kleinplastik

magischer Bedeutung vom 13.6. Jh. v. Chr. (Munich, 1977);A. R. Green, Neo-Assyrian Apotropaic Figures: Figurines,Rituals and Monumental Art with Special Reerence tothe Figures rom the Excavations o the British School oArchaeology in Iraq at Nimrud, Iraq45 (1983): 8796.

52. Monika Bernett and Othmar Keel,Mond, Stier und Kult amStadttor: Die Stele von Betsaida (et-ell) (Freiburg, Switzer-land, 1998).

53. Faraone, alismans and rojan Horses, 79.54. Kriss and Kriss-Heinrich, Volksglaube, 1:37, 38, 41, 109.55. Kriss and Kriss-Heinrich, Volksglaube, 2:7, 12, pls. 12, 27,

51. It would also be interesting to conduct urther studieson the magical properties o metals. Iron was quite certainlyconsidered to possess numinous powers.

56. Meinecke-Berg, Spolien in der mittelalterlichen Architek-

tur von Kairo, 139.57. Kriss and Kriss-Heinrich, Volksglaube, 1:8081; or tradi-

tions connected with the doors o the Hagia Sophia in Istan-bul, see p. 320.

58. For Aleppo, see Gonnella, Islamische Heiligenverehrung,15864.

59. Ibid., 15859 and 18485.60. Ibid., 259.61. For doors as trophies, see especially Beat Brenk, ren als

Spolien und Baureliquien: Nova construere, sed ampliusvetusta servare, in Knstlerischer Austausch = ArtisticExchange: Akten des XXVIII. Internationalen Kongresses rKunstgeschichte, Berlin, 15.20. Juli 1992,ed. Tomas Gaeht-gens, 3 vols. (Berlin, 1993), 1:4351; Rebecca Mller, Sichostes Ianua rangit: Spolien und rophen im mittelalterli-chen Genua(Weimar, 2002), 2045. For Islamic examples,see Creswell,Muslim Architecture o Egypt, 1:32.

62. Te history o the journey o the large Ammuriyya irondoors is very complex and its details are subject to discus-sion. From Samarra they were rst brought to al-Raqqa,where they were probably reused in one o the city gates,and then to Aleppo, by either the Hamdanids or the Ayyu-bids. In Aleppo, the doors were damaged when the Mongolscaptured the city gate in 1260; the Mamluk sultan Baybars(r. 126077) nally had them transerred to Cairo, wherethey disappeared without a trace. For the literary sources, seen. 7 above. For a recent discussion and also a ull bibliogra-phy, see Stean Heidemann, Die Geschichte von ar-Raqqa/

ar-Rqa: Ein berblick, inDie islamische Stadt, ed. SteanHeidemann and Andrea Becker, Raqqa 2 (Mainz, 2003), 49.

63. See also Julia Gonnella and Lorenz Korn, Zwei neueInschrifragmente des an-Nasir Yusu II. aus Aleppo, in

Al-Andalus und Europa: Zwischen Orient und Okzident, ed.Martina Mller-Wiener et al. (Petersberg, 2004), 27374.

64. Kriss and Kriss-Heinrich mention numerous shrines withcolumns, among others, the remains o a column in thegrotto in Mar Tekla (Malula) reused as a water basin (Krissand Kriss-Heinrich, Volksglaube, 1:236, pl. 126), and severalcolumns clustered around the tomb o Shaykh Faraj nearSalamiyya (Kriss and Kriss-Heinrich, Volksglaube, 1:28384,pl. 162).

65. Henri Lammens, Le culte des Btyles et les processions

religieuses chez les arabes prislamites, Bulletin de lInstitutranais darchologie orientale 17 (191920): 100101;Henri Lammens, LArabie occidentale avant lhgire(Beirut,1928), 100180. See also . Fahd, EI2, s.v. Nuub.

66. See the German and the English translations: Ibn al-Kalb,Das Gtzenbuch Kitb al-Anm des Ibn al-Kalb, trans. RosaKlinke-Rosenberger (Leipzig, 1941), and Ibn al-Kalb, TeBook o Idols, Being a ranslation rom the Arabic o theKitb al-Anm, trans. Nabih Amin Faris (Princeton, 1952).

67. See Faraone, alismans and rojan Horses,5.68. People also took small stones rom the column and placed

them under their heads: Kriss and Kriss-Heinrich, Volks-glaube, 1:169.

69. Kriss and Kriss-Heinrich, Volksglaube, 1:321; GlruNecipolu, Te Lie o an Imperial Monument: Haghia

Sophia afer Byzantium, in Haghia Sophia rom the Ageo Justinian to the Present, ed. Robert Mark and Ahmet S.akmak (Cambridge, 1992), 201.

70. Ibn Shaddd, La description dAlep,vol. 1, pt.1, p. 54.71. As one o the numerous examples cited, see the column

in the grotto near the Ibrahim River (the ormer Adonis


18/18

120

river) in Lebanon: Kriss and Kriss-Heinrich, Volksglaube,1:262.

72. Ibid., 1:215, 255.73. Ibid., 1:337.74. See also Michael Greenalgh, Spolia in Fortication: urkey,

Syria and North Arica, in Ideologie e pratiche del reimpiegonellalto Medioevo, Settimane di studio del Centro italianodi studi sullalto Medioevo 46 (Spoleto, 1999), 785932, esp.86975.

75. K. A. C. Creswell, Fortication in Islam beore A.D. 1250,Proceedings o the British Academy38 (1952): 11314.

76. Greenalgh, Spolia in Fortication, 870.77. Herzeld, Inscriptions et monuments dAlep, vol. 1, pt. 2,

pp. 4078, pl. CLXXIIIac.78. Arab tradition associates this site with the Biblical epi-

sode o David and the Hittite Uriya. Te present ceno-taph dates to the Mamluk period. For ull reerence, seeJanine Sourdel-Tomine, Note sur le cnotaphe de Qurus(Cyrrhus),Annales Archologiques Syriennes2 (1952): 13436; al-Haraw, Guide des lieux de plerinage, 10.

79. Te Burids o Damascus turned the temple o Baal into aortress in 113233 and installed a mosque in its cella. Forthe Burid works, see Jean Sauvaget, Inscriptions arabes duemple de Bl Palmyre, Syria12 (1931): 14353. See alsoAllen, Classical Revival, 5859, or a discussion o the newortress gate with its reused antique relies o Hermes andHeracles.

80. Tis abundant use o classicizing motis in early medievalNorthern Syrian architecture was rst remarked upon byErnst Herzeld, who considered them to be a survival o clas-sical architectural decoration: Herzeld, Damascus: Studiesin ArchitectureII, 1370; Herzeld, Inscriptions et monu-ments dAlep, vol. 1, pt. 1, pp. 22227.Michael Rogers notedthe conscious use o such orms and interpreted this phe-nomenon as a revival rather than a survival: Michael Rogers,A Renaissance o Classical Antiquity in North Syria, 11th

12th Centuries,Annales Archologiques Arabes Syriennes21 (1971): 34761. Allen elaborated on this theory in hisamous book Classical Revival. Yasser abbaa, Survivalsand Archaisms in the Architecture o Northern Syria, ca.1080ca. 1150,Muqarnas10 (1993): 2941, again sees theseclassicisms as archaic survivals in a regionally isolated placewith a strong attachment to local architectural tradition. Forthe latest discussion, see Julian Raby, Nur al-Din, the Qastalal-Shuaybiyya, and the Classical Revival, Muqarnas 21(2004): 289310.

81. Ibn Shaddd, La description dAlep, vol. 1, pt. 1, p. 44; JeSauvaget,Alep: Essai sur le dveloppement d'une grande vsyrienne, des origines au milieu du XIXe sicle (Paris, 19447 n. 113. See also Allen, Classical Revival, 17, 17 n. 12.

82. See Esch, Spolien, 1416; Mller, Spolien und roph18991; Arnold Esch, Wiederverwendung von Antike

Mittelalter: Die Sicht des Archologen und die Sicht des Htorikers(Berlin, 2005), 1617.

83. Allen, Classical Revival, 101.84. Ibid., 81.85. Ibid., 101.86. Tis story circulated in the suq o Aleppo: Gonnella, Is

mische Heiligenverehrung, 78.87. On the excavations on the citadel o Aleppo, see Kay Ko

meyer, Der empel des Wettergottes von Aleppo (Munst2000); Julia Gonnella, Kay Kohlmeyer, and Wahid KhayyaDie Zitadelle von Aleppo und der empel des WettergottNeue Forschungen und Entdeckungen(Munster, 2005).

88. Kohlmeyer, empel des Wettergottes, 1821.89. For a precise description o these blocks and also litera

reerences, see Wahid Khayyata and Kay Kohlmeyer, DZitadelle von AleppoVorluger Bericht ber die Untesuchungen 1996 und 1997, Damaszener Mitteilungen(1998): 76.

90. For the rebuilding o the mosque, see Allen,Ayyubid Arctecture, chapter 8; abbaa, Constructions o Power and Pie1023; Korn,Ayyubidische Architektur, 2:229.

91. See, or example, Kriss and Kriss-Heinrich, Volksglau1: 323.

92. For examples, see von Gladiss, Medizinische Schalen, 25ac; LOrient de Saladin: Lart des Ayyoubides(exhibiticatalogue), ed. Sophie Makariou (Paris, 2001), 161, no. 14

93. Both published in Herzeld, Inscriptions et monumendAlep, vol. 1, pt. 3, pls. IVe and XXXIXb. See also the comments in Khayyata and Kohlmeyer, Die Zitadelle vAleppo, 77. C. n. 42 above.

94. Te relie is now in the National Museum o Aleppo. SKhayyata and Kohlmeyer, Die Zitadelle von Aleppo7677.

95. Te repairs in this case involved a complete renewal o tramp up to the inside o the citadel. Te remains o the creture, which were exposed on the right side o the gate, wecovered immediately afer the work was nished.

96. On the griffon and sphinx in Islamic art, see Ltrangele merveilleux en terres dIslam (exhibition catalogue), eMarthe Bernus-aylor (Paris, 2001), 3441.

columns and hieroglyphs' magic spolia in medieval islamic architecture of northern syria

Documents

minaret o

location o

citadel o aleppo

use o spolia

te architecturalheritage

umayyadmosque o aleppo

great mosque o diyarbakr

various parts o