1907.] 



BUTLER— ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPEDITION TO SYRIA. 185 



earliest churches with definitely dated inscriptions upon them — per- 

 fectly developed basilicas of the fourth century — public baths as 

 luxurious as those of pagan times, the best preserved private houses 

 of antiquity, not excepting those of Pompeii, and mausoleums of 

 great magnificence. 



The architecture of the Nabatasan period, in its earliest monu- 

 ments, shows no influence of Greek art; its ornament is purely 

 oriental, its profiles unique, and its decorative patterns, either geo- 

 metrical or taken from the animal or vegetable worlds, are full of 

 oriental feeling. The great temple precinct of Ba'al Shamin, at a 

 place called Si', is a wonderful aggregation of structures including, 

 besides the main temple, a colonnaded court (called a theatron in 

 an inscription), two other enclosed and paved courts with monu- 

 mental gateways, two minor temples, and a paved, sacred way. 



The Roman period is of great interest for the reason that Syrian 

 builders under Roman domination were far freer in their employ- 

 ment of classical details of construction and of ornament than were 

 the architects of Rome. The pendentive, for instance, the detail 

 of construction by means of which a dome is accommodated to a 

 square substructure, was used in Central Syria in the second and 

 third centuries ; it did not appear in Europe until Byzantine times 

 hi the sixth century. Classical ornament in the hands of these 

 Syrian architects was infused with a luxuriant grace unknown at 

 Rome. Some of the most stupendous and some of the richest 

 buildings of the Roman Empire were erected in Syria. 



The Christian architecture shows absolute independence of 

 Rome on the one side and of Constantinople on the other. It is a 

 curious blending of ancient Greek with oriental motives. The con- 

 structive principles are largely Greek, the mouldings are Greek, but 

 the carved ornament is distinctly Asiatic. The Christian period of 

 architecture in Syria did not inaugurate a decline, as it did in 

 Europe, but begins a new fresh and vigorous style that was cut 

 oft" in its prime by the rise of Mohammedanism. 



In addition to our records of these monuments, we here col- 

 lected many coins, dating from the third century, B. C, to the sev- 

 enth, A. D., making a series almost complete that covers a period 

 of a thousand vears. ]\Ianv of these coins were minted at Antioch, 



