Qirqbize
Coordinates: 36 ° 10 ′ 26 ″ N , 36 ° 35 ′ 7 ″ E
Qirqbize ( Arabic قرقبيزه) also Kirkbize; is an early Byzantine settlement in the Dead Cities area in northwest Syria . The ruins are important for the history of early Christianity, as the remains of the earliest surviving house church after Dura Europos from the beginning of the 4th century are located here.
location
Qirqbize is located almost 700 meters above sea level in the Idlib governorate on the high elevation of the Jebel il-Ala, a remote hill region in the western central part of the northern Syrian limestone massif, near the Turkish border. The place can be reached from the northeast via Barischa on a side road that branches off the main route from Aleppo to Antakya just before the Turkish border. From Jisr asch-Shugur in the south, a road runs through the Orontes valley via the towns of Darkush, Salqin and Harim , from where the road climbs a further 15 kilometers on the stony and karst hills to Qalb Loze . Almost three kilometers north are Qirqbize and in the immediate vicinity Bettir and Berriš Nord . The karst plateau also unites the early Byzantine places Behyo and Benebil into one settlement unit. The remote highlands are predominantly inhabited by Druze , who grow grain and raise sheep on less fertile soils.
Townscape
The ruins of the houses spread out in a gently sloping rocky terrain between olive groves , which are parceled out by stone walls . The predominantly small and simple buildings made of large-format, carefully hewn limestone blocks are partially preserved up to the gable and at two-storey height. The place was inhabited from the Roman period until at least the 7th century. Howard Crosby Butler investigated the site in 1899, George Tchalenko conducted excavations in 1939 and until 1971.
House church
The northern Syrian rural house in Roman times was long rectangular from the 2nd century and had two rooms that were connected by a door and each had an access from the southern long side. A portico supported by columns or pillars was built along this side . The gable roof constructed from wooden beams had the shape of a Greek temple . The first Christians initially gathered in private houses, which they converted into house churches. First of all, the partition between the living room and the pantry was removed so that a larger room was created, which - as prescribed for the later church buildings - was oriented to the east.
The oldest house church in Dura Europos, which was rebuilt around the year 232, was created, just like Qirqbize, by merging the living room and side room. The urban residential building made of adobe bricks with a central courtyard had a long rectangular prayer room inside, but it was only the house church of Qirqbize that took on the architectural form of a hall church , from which the multi-nave basilica developed in the area of the Dead Cities .
In the eastern part of the house, which dates back to the 3rd century and measures 15 × 7.5 meters, a pedestal for the altar was set up and later the triumphal arch typical of an apse was added. West of the center of the room one came Bema added. The clergy sat on this raised installation with seating for 14 people during the word service. Already in Qirqbize there was a spatial separation of lay people and clergy.
There were two entrances in the south wall, the other sides were closed. The windows were rectangular and there was no roof cornice . In a second construction phase, a portico column was added in front of the south wall . Four capitals of this have survived, which are dated to the end of the 5th or 6th century.
The later new church buildings had a three-part apse in the east, divided into functional areas, with a deaconicon on the side and a reliquary (martyrion) . A stone sarcophagus with a relic was placed in the northern area of the local chancel. Oil poured in from above flowed over the bones of the venerated saint and out below, where it was caught and collected in clay bottles ( ampullae ) . Pilgrims took such vessels with them as good luck souvenirs. The olive oil used is related to the culture of olive trees, which is so important for the economy of northern Syria.
literature
- Frank Rainer Scheck, Johannes Odenthal: Syria. High cultures between the Mediterranean and the Arabian desert. DuMont, Cologne 1998, pp. 283, 305, ISBN 3770113373
- Christine Strube : Building decoration in the northern Syrian limestone massif. Vol. I. Forms of capitals, doors and cornices in the churches of the 4th and 5th centuries AD. Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1993, pp. 68–70
Web links
- Qirqbize. iconicarchive photos
Individual evidence
- ^ Hermann Wolfgang Beyer : The Syrian church building. Studies of late antique art history. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 1925, p. 110 f
- ↑ Strube, 1993, p. 68
- ↑ Christoph Markschies: The ancient Christianity. Piety, ways of life, institutions. Beck, Munich 2006, pp. 177-180, ISBN 3406541089