Sussita - Northeast Church (NEC)

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Church Name, type, function

Site Name:

Sussita

Identification:

Schuler 2013: 241; 2019, had suggested that the church and the structures surrounding it from all sides constituted an urban monastery. It this case the church will become also a monastic church, but this proposal deserves further consideration.

Church name:

Northeast Church (NEC)

Functional Type:

Memorial

Church type:

Basilical - Basilica with two annexed chapels

Location

Coordinates, ITM system:

262.11

742.80

Coordinates, ICS system:

212.11

1,242.80

Location:

Urban

Geographical region:

Golan Heights

Topographical location:

On the western slopes of the Golan heights

Distance from nearest settlement:

Inside the city of Hippos (Susita)

Provincial affiliation:

Palaestina II

Bishopric:

Susita

Source of knowledge

Archaeological remains

Bibliograpy:

Abbreviation for Journals and Series

General description

State of preservation/which parts were uncovered:

The entire church, including the narthex and side annexes was excavated. It was built over an earlier Roman peristyle house. Some of its walls were incorporated in the church (Schuler 2019).

Description

Illustrative material:

Illustrative_material

Photos

Figures

Atrium:

The church has no atrium. Access to the church was directly from Cardo 2 North, through an exonarthex.

Narthex:

Instead of a narthex there was the so called “western portico” - an exonarthex, located at the end of cardo 2 North. In the western part of the portico there is a stylobate (18 m from north to south and 0.9 – 1.1 m wide) built of basalt stones. Six column bases are preserved on the stylobate (out of probably eight), with average intercolumnation of 1.96 m.

Façade and entries:

Two entrances from the “western portico” / exonarthex led into the church. The central, to the nave and the southern, to the southern aisle. An additional entrance, 0.98 m wide, led through a corridor to the southeastern annexed chamber ("skeuophylakion"). The gable of the facade was decorated by a basalt cross found in debris at the western end of the southern aisle (Schuler 2013, Fig. 316).

Lateral walls:

Preserved to several courses. Two doorways in the northern wall connected the aisle with the northern annex. The eastern of the two led to the "skeuophylakion"; the western one - to the western hall of this annex. A single doorway in the southern wall led to the "diakonikon".

Nave:

The basilica is nearly square (12.5 m. X 13 m.) with central nave and two aisles. In the nave two leyers of mosaic floors were recognized. The lower one was more elaborate, with geometrical patterns and animal and floral motifs. The upper mosaic is much simpler, with only few geometric patterns.

Aisles:

Between the nave and the south aisle there is a row of four column bases set on a stylobate. The intercolumnation averages 2.1 m. Stone benches were installed north to the entrance to the south aisle and along part of its southern wall. The northern aisle is deliniated by a stylobate with six columns, with irregular intercolumnations, making the church asymmetrical. A stone bench was installed along the northern wall. A stone cistern-head is located in northwestern corner of the aisle. It is a piece of of a basalt aqueduct pipe. The southern aisle had a 0.9 m wide door from the west; the northern aisle had no entrance from thhis side. (For doorways in the lateral walls of both aisles, see above, ubder "Lateral walls").

Bema, chancel screen and apse:

The apse was 4.5 m. wide and 3 m. deep, with remains of plastered synthronon with limestone. The semi-dome above the apse was decorated with frescos. The chancel ran N-S along the entire width of the church, with chancel screen running in a straight line across the nave and aisles in a north – south direction. There was only a single passage in its middle. Two burials were discovered in the bema, within the chancel screen. One, masonry built in its depth, under the floor, off its center, slightly to the north of the E-W axis, held a stone sarcophagus laid over a decomposed wooden coffin. The other, in its southern end, was a stone sarcophagus projecting slightly above the floor.

Lateral spaces:

The southern part of the bema was detached from it by two perpendicular walls that enclosing the southern sarcophagus. A narrow passage was left near its north-eastern corner.

Small finds

Detailed description

Structure

Orientation:

Facing east

Materials applied (walls):

Basalt

Materials applied (roofing):

tiles

timber

Water cistern:

Narthex:

Yes

Aisles:

Number of nave columns in a row:

Total	Extant in S	Extant in N
4	4	5

East end:

External apse, round

Church Head/Chevet:

dead end aisles (mon-aps III)

Central Apse Category:

apsidal

Bema type:

Transversal

Elevation of Bema above nave:

1 step up

Altar remains:

no remains

Altar reliquiarium type:

Depression in the floor

Ambo:

Apse elevation:

Flush with the bema

Apse shape:

Hemispherical

Synthronon:

Yes

Synthronon remains:

grades

Synthronon location:

Against the apse

Cult of relics

Cult of relics loci:

elsewhere

Reliquiaries: shapes and contents:

At the center of the chancel floor at the east end of the northern aisle is a loculus for ‎a reliquary (31 X 31 X 17 cm). At the central section of the chancel, at its middle, on ‎east – west axis of the church, there is another loculus for a reliquary (17 X 26 cm) ‎and just to its south another one of similar size, made of marble slabs. ‎

Burial loci

Burials loci:

Two burials were uncovered within the chancel screen, both installed in Phase 1. One, masonry built under the floor off its ‎central axis, just to its north. The other is a ‎sarcophagus, partially projecting above floor level on its southern end. ‎It was set on the original floor level of the bema. The masonry built burial is 97 cm. wide ‎‎(north – south), 2.17 m. long (east – west), and 1.42 m. deep. It is built of basalt ashlars and covered by stone slabs. Between the second and the third covering slab (counting ‎from the west), a lead pipe extends down into the tomb. Inside the tomb there is a ‎limestone sarcophagus, measures 200 X 60 cm with an internal depth of 30 – 34 cm. ‎It was covered by six stone plates. The led pipe reached a tiny drilled hole in the second covering plate. It held at least nine adult individuals. Remains of three more individuals were found outside. Altogether they include at least three males, three females and a baby. All were disarticulated. A decomposed wooden coffin recognized by iron nails and the different earth hue was uncovered underneath. ‎ The sarcophagus against the southern wall of the chancel, of limestone ‎as well, is 61.5 – 64 cm ‎wide, 2 m long and 35 – 38 cm deep. It was covered by a monolithic stone lid the sides of which were reveted in 3 cm thick marble decorated with crosses. The lid, 2.27 x 0.76 m, has an anointing hole in it shaped like a bowl ca. 10 cm. in diameter, with a rim. It stands on the plaster floor of ‎Phase 1 church, and slightly protruded above the stone slabs floor of the Phase 2.‎ It held the collected bones of a single elderly woman in her 60's plus. The skeleton was found disarticulated, with the limb bones arranged around the skull under the anointing hole. She might have been the founder of the church.

Burials loci photos and plans:

Illustrative_material

Photos

Figures

Attached structures

Att structures photos and planes:

Illustrative_material

Photos

Prothesis chapel / Diakonikon:

Simple rectangular room

Prothesis chapel / Diakonikon description:

A doorway in the southern wall of the southern aisle, near the chancel screen, ‎leads to a spacious room (6.23 x 5.63 m), attached to the southeastern corner ‎of the church. Two pilasters attached to its southern and northern ‎walls carried two arches that held the roof. Stone benches were installed along its northern, western and southern walls. On the ‎south wall above the bench is a rectangular niche in the wall that served as a cupboard. The floor is of hard plaster.‎ A finely worked, square stone cistern-head is located neat the northeastern corner of the. room, set over a platform about 25 cm high above the floor. On the cistern platform a small hoard of ‎gold jewelry, including a magic amulet pendant and three belt pieces, was uncovered under a fragment of a jar. ‎ The over-sized dimensions of this room in comparison to the small size of the church , ‎the cistern, the healing charm and the direct proximity to the tomb of the elderly woman (located in the southern ‎part of the chancel), lead the excavators to suggest that "the room served a local ‎healing cult".‎

Sacristy / skeuophylakion:

Simple rectangular room

Sacristy / skeuophylakion description:

This is the easternmost room of the northern annex. Mosaic paved, it has three doorways in its eastern, southern and western wall. The eastern door (1.1 m wide), lockable from inside, leads outside, to cardo 3N and to the "peristyle house" to its east. The southern - to the chancel, and the western - to the "median chamber" of the northern annex, that served as a sort of an antechamber both to the "skeuophylakion" and to a non-excavated building that extended farther north (the Northern Building). The multiplicity of doorways and the absence of cupboards cast doubt on the identification of the small (3.43 m north to south ‎and 3.15 m east to west), mosaic-paved room as a treasury (skeuophylakion). In the northeast corner of the ‎room is a bench (62 X 132 X 55 cm high) that was built in Phase 2 over the mosaic floor - the best preserved in the entire church. The western hall of the northern annex, stone paved and accessed through a doorway in the western portico / exonarthex, was actually a corridor that led to the "median chamber". A stone staircase installed next to its southern room led to an upper platform above its eastern end, that was supported by three (or four) columns. It seems that this balcony gave access to the second floor of the Northern Building.

Architectural Evolution

Phase 1
Phase 2
Phase 3
Abandonment

Phase name (as published):

Phase 1

General outline:

Basilical church with external apse, transversal bema, four columns on each side separated the nave from the aisles. Annexes on both side: "diakonikon" on the south and, "skeuophylakion" on the north. An exonarthex / western portico at the gabled facade that was crowned by a basalt cross. Nave, aisle, expnarthex and "skeuophylakion" were mosaic paved. Two burial loci in the chancel.

Dating material:

The latest datable material from the ‎pottery assemblages retrieved from the probes under the nave floor and the ‎southern spaces dated not later than the late 5th - early 6th century. Thus, proposed construction ‎date of the NEC - late 5th or early 6th centuries.

Phase date

Century:

6th c.

Within century:

Early

General outline:

The general plan remains as in Phase 1. The mosaic floor was replaced by a new one that is much simpler, with only few geometric patterns. A synthronon was installed in the apse; the chancel floor was elevated and repaved in stone in irregular layout; depressions for two reliquiaria (marking, most probably, the location of the altar table), were installed in the floor. A stone sarcophagus was inserted into the masonry burial, placed over the wooden coffin. Benches were installed against the walls of both aisles. Two columns were set over the stylobate separating the northern aisle and the nave. These repairs were presumably required following damage caused by the 551 earthquake. The western portico got stone pavers and doors were installed in its two ends.

Dating material:

Date of the secondary phasing, based ‎on the style of the mosaic floors - late 6th century.‎ Mosaic floors with geometrical, animal and floral motifs.

Phase date

Century:

6th c.

Within century:

Late

General outline:

A section of wall plaster from behind the synthronon was dated by C-14 to ‎approximately 675 CE, indicates that some repairs occurred in the church also ‎during that time, perhaps as a result of the 659/60 earthquake. The area of the sarcophagus of the elderly woman on the southern end of the chancel might have been enclosed by two perpendicular walls at that time. The western portico got a stone pavement. All doorways were blocked, save that of the southern aisle. A bench was built next to it. The under-altar relics were moved away. The regular liturgical function of the church had ceased and it become a kind of a mausoleum for the veneration the sarcophagus of the elderly woman. On the north, the corridor and the "Median Chamber" seved domestic purposes.

Phase date

Century:

7th c.

Within century:

Late

General outline:

There are no signs of use of the church till the very moment of the ‎earthquake of 749 CE. It seems that the church was probably abandoned during the ‎first half of the 8th century, before the earthquake of 749 CE. ‎

Phase date

Century:

8th c.

Within century:

First half

Post Arab conquest history:

Unmodified