Khirbet el-Beiyudat - Church

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Church Name, type, function

Site Name:

Khirbet el-Beiyudat

Identification:

The site identified with ancient Archelais

Church name:

Church

Functional Type:

Parochial

Church type:

Basilical - Basilica with an annexed chapel

Location

Coordinates, ITM system:

244,758.00

652,602.00

Coordinates, ICS system:

191.15

1,152.00

Location:

Village/Town

Geographical region:

Southern Jordan Valley

Topographical location:

12 Km north of Jericho, on the run-off delta of Wadi 'Ujah.

Provincial affiliation:

Palaestina I

Bishopric:

Regio Jericho

Source of knowledge

Show HideEpigraphy

Text number	Summary
1	Building inscription attributing the laying of mosaics in the church to the time of Porphyry the bishop.
2	Dated building inscription from the reign of Justin II, in the mosaic pavement of the bema in front of the altar, 12 November 571.
3	Building inscription of John the priest and Abbosobos, in the mosaic pavement of the room in the southwestern corner of the church.
4	Invocation of the Lord on behalf of priests and laymen, in the one of the mosaic intercolumnation between the nave and the southern aisle.
5	Dedicatory building inscription of Luke the priest within a tabula ansata, at the eastern end of the mosaic pavement of the southeastern room.

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Surveyed site

Excavated site

Excavators:

Name	Date
H. Hizmi	1986

Bibliograpy:

Abbreviation for Journals and Series

General description

State of preservation/which parts were uncovered:

Mono-apsidal basilica with a narthex and a single entrance from the west. A second opening was installed in the southern wall as well as in both sides of the apse. Two rooms were attached on the south on either side of a stone paved area infront of the southern opening. Some of the walls were built of mud bricks set on stone foundations.

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Illustrative material:

Illustrative_material

Photos

Figures

Narthex:

The narthex is longer then the width of the basilical church. It is 6.20 m wide and divided lengthwise into two by a row of columns. These columns form a portico in front of the single western entrance to the church. The floor of the narthex was laid with a mosaics bearing geometric patterns. A single grave was found dug into the mosaic floor between the northern column of the portico and the eastern wall of the narthex. It was accessed from the west.

Façade and entries:

Only one doorway led from the narthex to the hall. The opening was 1.30m wide.

Lateral walls:

The walls are preserved to an average height of 2 m. Their outer face made of hewn stones. The inner face made of small and medium field stones and plastered.

Nave:

The nave was separated from the aisles by two rows of six columns, with intercolumnations of 2.8 m.

Aisles:

The northern aisle is 17.8 m long and 3.3 m wide. A bench 40 cm wide and 30 cm high, made of sand stone blocks, ran along the northern and western walls of the aisle. In its eastern wall there was a doorway 0.80 m wide. The southern aisle has the same dimensions. A stone built bench runs along its western and southern walls, being interrupted by three openings: two lead to a annexed rooms and one, between the side rooms, leads to a stone paved ante-space outside the church. It was its main doorway. To its west there was an entrance to a western annexed room (a diakonikon / prothesis chapel). In the eastern wall of the aisle there is another opening 1.10 m wide, leading first outside and then to a lateral room (a southern pastophorium). A small domical niche (35 cm wide, 50 cm deep and 1 m above floor level), was discovered in the wall between the doorway to the pastophorium and the chancel screen of the bema. On the floor beneath the niche a fragment of rectangular marble chest (a reliqוary), 7.6x12 cm in dimensions was found, indicating that the niche was asociated with cult of relics. Its short side was decorated with a cross in a medalion. A (missing) plack was fixed to the longer side. Two beds were installed next to the southern screen of the bema.

Bema, chancel screen and apse:

The bema, U-shaped, 8 m wide and 5.2 m long, was raised some 60 cm (3 steps) above the nave. There are three openings in the chancel screen: one in the center, leading to the nave, and two lateral openings, at both ends, to the aisles. An ambo in a form of semi-circle (1.1 m wide and 1.1 m deep) and made of hewn stones, projects from the northwest corner of the bema. The apse is internal, 6 m wide and 3.2 m deep. The inner face of the apse was plastered and has traces of red color. A column base and traces of three other bases of the ciborium were found. The altar was located at the apse chord. An empty reliquarium was found in the depression in the floor under the altar. Three phases of mosaic floors were discovered in the bema-apse unit.

Lateral spaces:

A doorway to the north of the apse, 0.8m wide, led out of the church via a stone paved area. A bench was built along the southern wall of this area. To the south of the apse, a door 1.1m wide (open inward, into the aisle), led to a lateral room, which was added to the church in later phases and its function is unclear. Its walls are built of brick and small stones, different in its masonry than the external wall of the adjacent apse. Seemingly, here as well originally there was a passage.

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Detailed description

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Orientation:

Facing east

Materials applied (walls):

Limestone

Brick

Atrium:

Narthex:

Yes

Aisles:

Number of nave columns in a row:

Total
6

East end:

Internal apse

Church Head/Chevet:

single opening flanking the apse (mon-aps V )

Central Apse Category:

apsidal

Bema type:

U shaped with two lateral openings

Elevation of Bema above nave:

3 steps up

Altar remains:

imprints

Altar reliquiarium type:

Depression in the floor

Altar location:

On the apse cord

Ciborium:

A column base and traces of three another bases of the ciborium were found. in the apse.

Ambo:

Yes

Ambo remains:

platform

Ambo location:

Ambo materials:

Lime stone

Apse elevation:

Flush with the bema

Synthronon:

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Pastophoria loci:

Description and function of southern:

To the south of the apse, a doorway led to a lateral room, which was added to the church in a later ‎phase. Its function is not clear.‎

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Cult of relics loci:

under altar

elsewhere

Reliquiaries: shapes and contents:

An empty limestone reliquarium was found in the depression in the floor of the bema, under the altar. Below the niche between the doorway to the lateral room to the north of the apse and the chancel screen of the bema, a fragment of rectangular marble chest was found. This may indicate that the niche was also related to the cult of the relics.

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Burials loci:

A single grave was found dug into the mosaic between the northern column of the portico and the eastern wall of the narthex.

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Annex/es on the south:

Two rooms flanking the main entrance to the church. The western served as a prothesis chapel (see below). The eastern room was 4.40x3.20m in dimensions. Like the western room, it had brick walls set on stone foundations. It had two openings connecting it to the aisle. The western was blocked when the bench was built along the aisle. The opening pierced in the eastern wall, 0.7m wide, might have been just a niche. The room was mosaic paved, and an inscription was set in the eastern end of the colorful carpet. The epigraphy of the inscription suggest a 5th or 6th c. date.

Prothesis chapel / Diakonikon:

Simple rectangular room

Prothesis chapel / Diakonikon description:

Situated at the southwest side of the church. 6.2 X 4.2 m in dimensions. Brick walls on stone foundations. The flat roof of this room probably rested on two arches. Mosaics paved floors. In the eastern part of the room parts of four legs of an offering table remained in situ. The inscription uncovered there is dated to ca. 560 CE.

Architectural Evolution

Phase name (as published):

First Phase

General outline:

Basilical church with single internal apse. Portico in front of the single western entrance; main entrance on the south. First built at the 2nd half of the 5th (on epigraphical grounds). One of the two rooms appended on the S, E of the S entrance (room E), was paved by mosaics slightly later (phase Ia).

Dating material:

Epigraphy. One of the two rooms appended on the SE of the s entrance (room E) was paved by mosaics slightly later (Sub phase A).

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Century:

5th c.

Within century:

Second half

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Hide Subphase A Date

Late

Phase name (as published):

Second Phase

General outline:

This is the main phase of the church. The nave became slightly smaller after the narthex was added. The annexed chapel (room F) was appended on the S, W of the S entrance. An opening was made in the eastern wall of the northern aisle, which led out of the church (this doorway was later blocked). Benches were added along the walls of the aisles and the southern side of the bema. The ambo was also added at this phase. Major alterations of the mosaic floors.

Dating material:

According to the inscriptions and mosaic styles, this phase was dated to ca. 560.

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Century:

6th c.

Within century:

Mid

Conclusions:

First built at the 2nd half of the 5th (on epigraphical grounds). One of the two rooms appended on the S, E of the S entrance (room E), was paved by mosaics slightly later (phase Ia). In Phase IIa, dated to ca. 560, the annexed chapel (room F) was appended on the S, W of the S entrance. Phase III, expressed in alterations in the apse and bema, is dated by an inscription to Nov. 570, under Justin II. Abandoned and set on fire several decades later (Hizmi in Tsafrir 1993, 160, 162-63; idem. in Bottini et al., 1990, 245-264; Di Segni, ibid., 265-274).