Sussita - Northwest Church (NWC)

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Church Name, type, function

Site Name:

Sussita

Church name:

Northwest Church (NWC)

Functional Type:

Parochial

Church type:

Basilical - Basilica with two annexed chapels

Location

Coordinates, ITM system:

262.05

742.73

Coordinates, ICS system:

212.06

1,242.70

Location:

Urban

Geographical region:

Golan Heights

Topographical location:

In the city center, above the cella and the temenos of an Early Roman temple (Augustan or Tiberian), that was N-S oriented.

Distance from nearest settlement:

Inside the city of Hippos (Sussita)

Provincial affiliation:

Palaestina II

Bishopric:

Sussita

Source of knowledge

HideEpigraphy

Text number	Summary
1	One-line mosaic dedicatory building inscription of He(lio)dora, in an intercolumniation of the southern colonnade.
2	One-line mosaic dedicatory building (?) inscription of Petrus within a double rectangular frame, in the south aisle.
3	Five-line mosaic dedicatory building (?) inscription of Antona the deaconess, southern portico of the atrium.

Archaeological remains

Surveyed site

Surveyors:

Name	Date
G. Schumacher	1888

Excavated site

Excavators:

Name	Date
Burdajewicz M. and Młynarczyk J.	2000-2009

Bibliograpy:

Ovadiah, A., 1970

Segal, A., 2001

Młynarczyk, J. and Burdajewicz, M., 2005

Burdajewicz, M. and Młynarczyk, J. , 2006

Młynarczyk, J., 2008

Młynarczyk, J. and Burdajewicz, M., 2013

Frankel, R. and Eisenberg, M. , 2018

Burdajewicz, M. and Młynarczyk, J. , 2019

Abbreviation for Journals and Series

General description

State of preservation/which parts were uncovered:

The entire church was excavated, including the atrium and the attached chapels. The Nave and aisles as well as the attached northern chapel were mosaic paved.

Description

Illustrative material:

Illustrative_material

Photos

Sussita NWC and Forum, photo M. Eisenberg, Haaretz 3.1.2023

Figures

Atrium:

Square atrium (22 X 22 m.) with a square courtyard (13.70x13.70 m.) surrounded by porticos 3–3.20 m. wide.

Narthex:

The eastern portico served as a narthex.

Façade and entries:

Three entries led to the basilica. The central - 2 m. wide; the laterals – 1.15 m. wide each.

Nave:

6.90 m. wide. Two rows of 6 basalt columns with Byzantine style Ionic capitals separated the nave from the aisles.

Aisles:

3.50 m. wide each.

Bema, chancel screen and apse:

In Phase 1 the bema and its chance screen were U shaped (4.7x6.15m). In Phase 2 it was converted to a T-shaped chancel with three openings.

The apse, internal, was 5.60 m. wide and 3.40 m. deep. The synthronon within the apse consisted of three benches of limestone blocks (four at the southern end). Seemingly it was installed in Phase 2 (contra the excavators' opinion in their 2013: 200 report. In an earlier report they expressed a different opinion, like the one presented here). No traces were preserved to indicate the exact location of the altar .

Lateral spaces:

According to the excavators, in Phase 1 the apse was flanked by two open pastophria. A short cupboard niche for a was installed in the upper part of the southern wall of the northern pastophorium, next to a low doorway that communicated with the main apse. A higher cupboard was installed in the northern wall of the southern pastophorium.

In Phase 2, an apse was replacing the northern pastophorion. It was shifted somewhat west, leaving a small and narrow space (2.5 m. east – west, 3.50 – 3.70 m. north – south) behind. The low opening still connected this space with the apse. But now the access was via a narrow vertical shaft left in the synthronon (installed in this phase against the main apse), in which a ladder or another climbing installation seems to have been installed. The excavators suggested correctly that this rear room was a treasury – skeuophylakion.

A marble table (mensa) was placed in front of the northern apse, with a three-compartment reliquary placed on it, serving the cult of relics. Free access to the reliquiarium was barred by extending the chancel screen of the bema accross the northern aisle, thus forming a separate chapel.

The southern pastophorium was mosaic paved. Unlike the excavators, this space seems to have been lockable in its original state. In Phase 2 the western, closing wall was replaced by a wide arch. A patch recognized in the mosaic floor under the arch is a clear evidence to the existance of this wall. A reliquary was set in the mosaic floor under a four-legs secondary table (mensa) (see more under Cult of Relics section in the Detailed Description tab). This lockable space thus became a martyrion of a Syrian-Apamean type, open to the southern aisle by a wide arch. This was a second locale for the cult of relics. Free access to the mensa and the underlying reliquary was barred by extending the chancel screen of the bema accross the southern aisle, thus forming a second separate chapel.

Small finds

Detailed description

Structure

Orientation:

Facing east

Materials applied (walls):

Basalt

Materials applied (roofing):

tiles

timber

Atrium:

Yes

Aisles:

Number of nave columns in a row:

Total
6

Capital types:

Ionic

East end:

Internal apse

Church Head/Chevet:

second apse on the n

Central Apse Category:

apsidal

Bema type:

T shaped with three openings

Bema type text:

In Phase 1 the bema was U-shaped. In Phase 2 it was converted to T-shaped.

Altar remains:

no remains

Secondary tables:

Occurred in Phase 2 in the two lateral spaces flanking the central apse. One set in front of the northern apse, with a reliquary on top; the second - in the southern martyrion, with a reliquary set in the mosaic floor underneath.

Ambo:

Apse elevation:

Flush with the bema

Apse shape:

Hemispherical

Synthronon:

Yes

Synthronon remains:

grades

Synthronon location:

Against the apse

Synthronon description:

The synthronon within the apse, installed in Phase 2, consisted of three benches ‎of limestone blocks (four at the southern end).‎

Pastophoria

Pastophoria loci:

N & S

Description and function of northern:

Unlike the excavators, it is maintained here that in Phase 1 it was a lockable room connected to the central apse via a low doorway. A short cupboard was installed above and to the left of the lintel of this doorway. In Phase 2 the western wall was dismantled, being replaced by a small apse, leaving a small space behind (2.5 m. east – west, 3.50 – 3.70 m. north – south). The doorway led now to a shaft left in the thickness of the synthronon. This was the only mean to access the rear space which the excavators correctly identify as a treasury – skeuophylakion.

Description and function of southern:

Unlike the excavators, it is maintained here that in Phase 1 it was a lockable space. Its western wall was dismantled and replaced by a arch, open to the southern aisle. The existence of the earlier wall is suggested by a patch in the mosaic floor exactly under this arch. The walls of the room were plastered and painted in different colors with undetermined patterns. A large reliquary (0.56 X 0.45 m.) made of pink limestone was placed in the mosaic floor under a mensa. The reliquary is dated to the end of the 6th – early 7th century CE.

Lateral Apses Function

Location:

Northern apse description and function:

A small apse replaced in Phase 2 the earlier pastophorium. A marble mensa was placed in front and a reliquary three compartments was set over it. Free access to the reliquary was barred by extending the chancel screen of the bema across the northern aisle.

Cult of relics

Cult of relics loci:

N apse

elsewhere

Reliquiaries: shapes and contents:

Altogether, three, perhaps four reliquaries were uncovered. The one in the northern apse, of marble, was seemingly set on top of a secondary table (paratrapezon / mensa), since it left no traces on the mosaic floor. It had three narrow rectangular compartments. A miniature glass bottle with tiny pieces of bone was found in the middle compartment. A large reliquary (0.56 X 0.45 m.) made of pink limestone was inserted into the mosaic floor of the southern lateral room (martyrion), under a mensa. It had three compartments - a circular one flanked by two rectangular. Each had its own lid. Above was set a second reliquary, of marble, with a gabled lid, similar to the one in the northern apse. A bronze rod was set in a hole drilled in the center of its lid. The fourth reliquary(?) was uncovered in the "diakonikon", annexed to the basilica on the south (see below)

Burial loci

Burials loci:

Outside the basilica. See below under Attached Structures.

Baptism

Loci:

Outside the basilica. See below under Attached Structures.

Upper galleries

Upper galleries:

above both aisles

Galleries description:

Their existence is attested by the collapse of mosaic floors of an upper floor uncovered in the southern aisle and elsewhere. Stairs attached to the northern wall of the atrium on the outside, seem to lead to the galleries.

Attached structures

Annex/es on the north:

See below under Prothesis chapel.

Annex/es on the south:

The southern annex, labeled "diakonikon", consists of two interconnected spaces (the western 4.90 m. long, the eastern 6.80 m. long; both 3.90 m. wide). The western space is spanned by one arch, the eastern - by two. Entrance (1.75 m. wide) was from the southern aisle, on its western part. Together the two rooms look as an elongated chapel. A masonry bed was installed opposite the entrance. Many utensils and vessels of clay and metal were uncovered dispersed on the floors. Among them a broken stone case with two compartments that might have served as another reliquary. The excavators' proposal that it was a small basin for baptizing new-born by sparkling seems to be less plausible. A stone plate broken to two pieces leaning against the eastern wall might had originally served as a table plate, but its original location is not known. The metal vessels include agricultural utensils (sickles, a pruning knife), an Umayyad decanter and a bronze polycandelon ring. The clay vessels include cooking pots, pans and bowls, interpreted as home-made meal offerings. It is evident that in its final phase this hall served as an all-purpose storeroom, not solely for liturgical vessels. This annex served as a diakonikon of the store-room type.

Prothesis chapel / Diakonikon:

Quadrangular chapel

Prothesis chapel / Diakonikon description:

The excavators suggested that the mosaic paved rectangular room (4.60 m. north – south, 6.60 m. east – west) attached to the basilica on the north served as a baptistery. It was entered from the center of the northern aisle via a 1.15 m. wide door. In Phase III a winery was built above it. The original function of this room is unknown, but it is wider than the southern "diakonikon" and unlike it, it is mosaic paved. To its west there is an elongated hall, labeled "fermentation room". Being mosaic paved as well, and of the same width, these two attached spaces seems to had served as a prothesis chapel.

Baptistery description:

See above under Prothesis chapel

Burial room or chapel:

Quadrangular chapel

Burial room or chapel description:

To the west of the "diakonikon" a square room (3x3 m), entered from the southeastern corner of the atrium, held two cist-tombs oriented E-W and covered by basalt beams. A donor named Antona mentioned in a Greek inscription set in the mosaic floor of the southern portico of the atrium might have been buried here. In Phase 3 one of the cist tomb was cleared of its bones and wine jars dated to the 7th c. were placed therein.

Sacristy / skeuophylakion:

Simple rectangular room

Sacristy / skeuophylakion description:

This was not an annexed space, but rather a rear room left behind the southern apse (see General Description).

Architectural Evolution

Phase 1
Phase 2
Phase 3
Abandonment

Phase name (as published):

Phase 1 (a-b)

General outline:

Basilical church with internal apse, U-shaped bema, pastophoria, atrium surrounded by porticoes. Annexed on the south - a burial room and a two-chambers hall designated by the excavators "diakonikon"; on the north - another hall, wider and shorter than the southern hall, but mosaic paved. In Phase 3 a treading floor of a wine-press and other components of a winery were installed over it.

Dating material:

The church was constructed in place of a Roman temple, using parts of the walls of ‎the cella and the temenos as church walls. The excavators presumed that the pagan ‎temple was in use "not later than the early 5th century". The proposed construction date ‎of the church, based mainly on the style of the mosaic floors and architectural ‎comparisons to other churches - first half of the 6th century. However, it should be ‎noted that a coin of Emperor Arcadius (dated to 395 - 408 CE) and coins of ‎Theodosius II and Valentinian III (dated to 425 - 455 CE), as well as ceramics of ‎the latter 5th century, were found under the pavement of the atrium and under its ‎southern stylobate. These facts suggest that the construction date of the NWC to the late 5th century CE.‎

Unlike the opinion of the excavators in their 2013 publication, it is maintained here that in this phase there was no synthronon (as they had concluded in an earlier publication) (2013, p. 200), and that the apse was flanked by two lockable, rather than open pastophoria. The existance of a western, closing wall in the southern pastophorium (set over the stylobate of the eastern portico of the Early Roman temenos), is marked by a patch in the mosaic floor under the western arch of the Martyr's Chapel (martyrium) into which this pastophorium was converted in Phase 2 (this patch is not a repair of an assumed damage caused to the mosaic floor by an assumed earthquake of mid 7th or early 8th c., as proposed by the excavators). The mosaic floor of this room (as well as the mosaic floors throughout) should also be attributed to Phase 1.

Accordingly, it is assumed here that the northern pastophorium was also a lockable room in Phase 1.

Phase date

Century:

5th c.

Within century:

Late

Iconoclastic evidence

Iconoclastic evidence:

Iconoclastic evidence comments:

The mosaic motives were geometric and floral; not figurative.

Phase name (as published):

Phase 2 (a-b)

General outline:

Unlike the excavators, it is maintained here that the lockable pastophoria of Phase 1 were transformed to open spaces. The southern room became a martyrium of a Syrian-Apamean type, open to the aisle by a wide arch. A reliquary of pink limestone was inserted into the already existing mosaic floor of the room. A chancel screen inserted into the mosaic floor of the southern aisle, barred free access to this space. In the north, a small apse was installed over the northern pastophorium, getting its own semicircular mosaic floor. A rear space was left behind the apse, serving as a treasury (skeuophylakion). Free access to the northern apse was barred by a chancel screen that was set over the mosaic floor of the aisle. The bema thus became T-shaped. A marble reliquary uncovered in this area suggests that the northern apse served the martyrs cult. The excavators' statement that the passage between the northern aisle and the northern annex was blocked at this phase, before the Umayyad period vine-press was installed, is untenable. A synthronon of 3-4 stone benches was installed inside the main apse. Access to the skeuophylakion from the upper grade of the synthronon was maintained by a narrow shaft (0.65x0.65m), installed in it.

Dating material:

The dating based mainly on the types and shapes of the reliquaries, especially, the one in the southern lateral room. Accordingly, the modification in the church layout occurred at the end of the 6th - beginning of the 7th centuries.

Phase date

Century:

6th-7th c.

Phase name (as published):

Decline phase

General outline:

This phase marks a severe decline, resulting perhaps from an earthquake of the mid 7th or early 8th c., in which the nave and the bema went out of use, with no roof above, while the galleries were still standing. It seems that the basilica ceased to function as a prayer place due to this event. The northern annex was converted to a winery. Another winery, with two presses, was installed to the south of the "diakonikon". The atrium became a treading floor for grain and various installations for the procession of food (grain, oil, wine) were installed in its porticos. The northern door, leading from the atrium to the northern aisle, was ‎blocked and a basalt theater seat was set against the door leading from the atrium to the southern aisle, but the facade, with a stone cross on the top of its gable, was still standing. In such a partially ruinous situation, it is difficult to agree with the excavators' opinion that the lateral chapels - the one with the northern apse, and the "martyrion" in the eastern end of the southern aisle, still retained a liturgical function, since their sides, delineating the bema, became open to the elements. The "diakonikon" annexed on the south was used as a storage hall for all sort of utensils - agricultural, domestic, and liturgical (including a policandelon ring without its chains). One of the burial cists in the burial chamber to the west of the "diakonikon" was evacuated of its bones, and 7th c. wine jars were placed inside.

Dating material:

C14 analysis of the uppermost layer of plaster in the southern Martyr's Chapel yielded a range of dates between 685-730. But the fact that the jars in the cist tomb in the mortuary chamber were dated to the 7th c. suggests that the architectural decline was the result of the earth-quake of 658/60 CE, though that of 717 CE is also possible.

Phase date

Century:

7th c.

Within century:

Second half

General outline:

It was finally destructed by the earthquake of 749 CE (an Umayyad coin dated ‎to 737 - 746 CE was found beside other finds in the debris on the floor of the church).‎

Phase date

Century:

8th c.

Within century:

Mid

Post Arab conquest history:

Unmodified