Kursi-Gerasa; Chorsia-Gergesa - Church

Vertical tabs

Architectural Evolution
Phase name (as published): 
Period Ia and b
General outline: 
Basilical church with an atrium, a narthex, an internal apse, pastophoria, annexes on the south and north.
Dating material: 

Sabas had prayed there on his way to Paneas in the late 5th; (V. Sab. 24).

Phase date
Century: 
5th c.
Within century: 
Late
Iconoclastic evidence
Iconoclastic evidence: 
Yes
Phase name (as published): 
Phase Ib
General outline: 
Modifications in the southern pastophorium and in the southern annex. Addition of a crypt. Mosaics resemble those of the Justinianic church in Mt. Berenice, Tiberias.  In Phase Ib, a synthronon was added, blocking the lateral passages to the pastophoria; an oval baptismal font was installed in the southern pastophorium and a second opening was pierced in its western wall, leading to the eastern, rectangular hall of the southern annex. The western part of this annex was converted to an apsidal prothesis chapel / diakonikon, raising its floor, giving place to a burial crypt underneath. The crypt was accessed from the narthex.
Dating material: 

A mosaic inscription in the southern pastophorium date its transformation to a baptistery to Dec. 585, in the reign of emperor Mauricius (582-602 CE). It seems that all the other transformations were contemporary.

Phase date
Century: 
6th c.
Within century: 
Late
Phase name (as published): 
Period II
General outline: 
Damage attributed to the Persian invasion of 614 necessitated several repairs and modifications in the basilica, the northern annex and the atrium. In the basilica: the lateral entrances in the facade were blocked; the central entrance was reduced by half (from 2.2 to 1.1m). The opening from the northern aisle to the central, square room of the northern annex was blocked. The northern annex was converted to an olive press. In the atrium the eastern portico became a real narthex by blocking the intervals between its piers. The opening to the prothesis /diakonikon was also blocked. The mosaic floor was maintained, but entrance to the prothesis /diakonikon was from the southern portico. Here as well the intervals between the piers were mostly blocked; its mosaic floor was retained only on its eastern part, its western part being stone-paved. In the north a new wall built against the piers, on their south, blocked passage to the portico. Its former mosaic pavement was replaced by a course stone floor. In the western side secondary wall separated the southern space to three smaller units. The atrium lost its former religious function. It got other functions, domestic and industrial.
Phase date
Century: 
7th c.
Within century: 
Early
Phase name (as published): 
Phase III
General outline: 
The church was destroyed in the early 8th c. in a fire (Tzaferis and Urman 1973), or due to an earthquake (Tzaferis 1983). New population (Muslim) settled in. The collapsed columns were moved to the aisles. Sections of the mosaic floors depicting zoomorphic patterns (birds, fishes) that were not hidden by the columns underwent iconoclasm. The structure was finally deserted at the mid 8th c., seemingly due to the great earthquake of 749.
Dating material: 

Coins on the surface.

Phase date
Century: 
8th c.
Within century: 
Mid
Iconoclastic evidence
Iconoclastic evidence: 
Yes
Iconoclastic evidence comments: 
In the mosaic of the aisles, inside rhombuses there were plant or animal motives. Most of them were systematically destroyed but the iconoclasm was repaired.
Effects of the Persian Invasion: 
Damaged and restored
Post Arab conquest history: 
Unmodified
Post conquest history comments: 
The modifications in Phase 2 are attributed to the Persian invasion; not to the Arab conquest.
Conclusions: 
Constructed in late 5th-early 6th c.; mosaics resemble those of the Justinianic church on Mt. Berenice, Tiberias. Plan modified between 585 and 614: baptistery dated to Dec. 585; annexed apsidal chapel on the south seems to be contemporary (Tzaferis 1983; Di Segni 1997, 275-77, inscr. no. 59). Damaged caused during the Persian invasion resulted in severe modifications in the northern annex, where an olive press was installed, and in the atrium. Iconoclasm occurred after the early 8th c. collapse of the columns, following which a Muslim population settled in. Abandoned for good in the mid 8th c.