Cambridge Ancient Hi.. - Index of

secular architecture 945
pilgrimage site, on Mt Nebo in Jordan, where Moses is believed to have
viewed the Promised Land before his death, the installations surrounding
the church have been excavated and dated – for the most part, to the fifth
and sixth century. In addition to the refectory, other areas identified were
occupied by the cells of the monks and their superior, a kitchen, bakeries
and, possibly, a library (all of which were laid out around courtyards and
the atrium of the church, under which lie two cisterns). A long narrow
lodging for guests stands on the floor above its own refectory. Similar to
the Mt Nebo monastery – but without the pilgrimage church – was that
founded before 474 just east of Jerusalem by Martyrius, where the walled
quadrilateral complex enclosed refectory, kitchen, cells, church, tombs and
service areas, as well as a bath and lavatory, all arranged around a central
courtyard, at one corner of which stood stables serving an external inn
(Fig. 50). Hundreds of ceramic table and kitchen vessels were excavated
there, in addition to a sigma-shaped marble dining-table top like those found
in a town house at Apamea (see below). Elsewhere in the Judaean desert,
sixty monastic sites have been identified, about a quarter of which have
been surveyed or excavated. Of these, some, like the monastery of
Martyrius, are coenobitic, while nineteen others are laura installations with
scattered cells. 46
In Syria, monasteries near Antioch had a separate, sometimes large
church, either a basilica or single-nave hall church. By contrast, in the area
of Apamea, the monastery church was replaced by an oratory added to one
side of a large communal building; this plan is thought to have been introduced
from Mesopotamia, where a related form of monastic architecture
is known at Qartmin and other sites. Monasteries were built adjacent to the
shrines of Symeon Stylites the Elder and the Younger, north-east and
south-west of Antioch, at Qal�at Sim�an and Wondrous Mountain, respectively;
both had inns for pilgrims and a baptistery (Fig. 62), and the latter
was said to contain a kitchen, bakery and granary. 47
Like the fortified monastery on Mt Sinai, two walled monasteries founded
in Mesopotamia in late antiquity continue to function today – those of
Qartmin (Mar Gabriel) and Deir Zaf�aran in the Tur �Abdin. Both complexes
also retain sixth-century churches. The first (with a transverse nave
and tripartite sanctuary) was possibly built in 512 and is still decorated with
wall mosaics and an opus sectile pavement, and the second (a compact triconch
with tripartite sanctuary) is attributed to c. 536 and decorated with elaborate
sculpture. Early buildings in these two monasteries include collective tombs,
baptisteries and cisterns, built of massive ashlar masonry and some brick. 48
46 Mt Sinai: Forsyth and Weitzmann (1973); Grossmann (1990); Mt Nebo: Saller (1941); Martyrius:
Hirschfeld (1992) 42–5, 99, 197–8; other Judaean monasteries: Hirschfeld (1992) 18–68, 112–212.
47 Tchalenko, Villages i.19–20, 145–73, 178–82, 211–18; Mango, M. M. (1984) Gazetteer, i.b.81–2.
48 Bell (1982) 132–5, 137–9.
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