Dor (Dora) - Pilgrims Church

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Church Name, type, function
Site Name: 
Dor (Dora)
Identification: 
A pilgrims church located on the major coastal road - "Via Maris" connecting Egypt with Phoenicia and Syria.
Church name: 
Pilgrims Church
Functional Type: 
Pilgrims' church
Church type: 
Basilical - Annex\es on N & S
Location
Coordinates, ITM system: 
192.46
724.79
Coordinates, ICS system: 
142.45
1,224.80
Location: 
Para-urban
Geographical region: 
Coastal plain
Topographical location: 
The Byzantine church is located on the southeastern slope of Tel Dor.
Distance from nearest bishop-seat: 
An episcopal see.
Distance from Roman roads: 
Next to "Via Maris"
Provincial affiliation: 
Palaestina I
Bishopric: 
Dora
Source of knowledge
Hide Archaeological remains
Excavated site
Excavators: 
NameDate
Leibovitch
February 1952
Dauphin
June 1979, 1980, 1983, 1994
Bibliograpy: 
Leibovitch, J., 1953
Ovadiah, A., 1970
Dauphin, C., 1982
Dauphin, C. M., 1993
Dauphin, C. and Gibson, S., 1994-95
25-26
Dauphin, C. M., 1996
Di Segni, L., 1997
Day, J., 1999
24-25
Dauphin, C., 1999
Patrich, J., 2006
Michel, A., 2019
160-161
Abbreviation for Journals and Series
General description
State of preservation/which parts were uncovered: 

The mono-apsidal church, 18.5 m long and 14 m wide, was almost entirely excavated. It consisted of an atrium, a prayer hall with two aisles, an external apse and two attached lateral wings 4.25m wide, with several rooms and chapels (the southern wing was almost entirely destroyed by modern building activity; the northern one served as a baptistery). Each wing terminated with an apse on the east. The church complex extende over 1000 sqm compound.

Hide Description
Illustrative material: 
Atrium: 

The rectangular atrium with a peristyle was 18.5 m long and 13.25 m wide. It was paved with stone slabs. The floor slabs covered the collapsed vault of a large cistern, 7.4 m long, 3.15 m wide and 3 m deep. The cistern collected the water from the roof by three plaster-lined channels.

Lateral walls: 

The walls are 0.6 m thick, and were built of ashlars 0.35 - 1 m long. The ashlars were laid out as headers and stretchers. The internal sides of the walls were covered with plaster.

Nave: 

The nave is 7.5 m wide and paved with mosaics.

Aisles: 

The aisles are 2.5 m wide. At the eastern end of the southern aisle, under the floor, a tomb was discovered, which served for the cult of the relics (see under "Burial Loci" in "Detailed Description").

Bema, chancel screen and apse: 

The apse is external, semicircular, with outer radius of 4 m. In the first phase its internal diameter was 5.5m; in the second - 3.2m.

Hide Small finds
Small finds: 
CategoryDescription
Coins
A tremessis coin of Constantine II (337-361 CE) was found on the phase 1 pavement of one of the rooms of the northern wing.
Pottery
Egyptian storage jars, "Late Roman" and African Red Slip" bowls and plates, storage jars from Asia Minor and roof tiles.
Glass
Window panes and glass chandelier.
Metal objects
Iron nails, door bolts and fragments of a lead chandelier.
Other
An episcopal ivory sceptre lacking its handle in a shape of a hand. The hand had three fingers, comprising episcopal blessing. Ring on one of the fingers (Leibovitch 1957: 35)
Small finds illustrative material: 
Detailed description
Hide Structure
Orientation: 
Facing east
Materials applied (walls): 
Limestone
Materials applied (roofing): 
tiles
timber
Atrium: 
Yes
Water cistern: 
Yes
Narthex: 
No
Aisles: 
2
East end: 
External apse, round
Church Head/Chevet: 
dead end aisles (mon-aps III)
Central Apse Category: 
apsidal
Altar remains: 
no remains
Ambo: 
No
Apse shape: 
Hemispherical
Synthronon: 
No
Hide Burial loci
Burials loci: 
A grave with a remains of two skeletons is located at the eastern end of the southern aisle. The grave was covered with five stone slabs. In the most eastern stone slab there was a hole with a clay pipe. The pipe was probably used to pour oil into the grave. This suggests that the two people buried there were saints and were venerated in the church.
Hide Baptism
Loci: 
A baptismal basin located in the middle of the northern wing.
Font structure: 
Masonry built
External shape: 
rectangular
Internal shape: 
rectangular
Hide Upper galleries
Upper galleries: 
above both aisles
Hide Attached structures
Annex/es on the north: 
The northern annex served as a baptistery with a rectangular basin. Its eastern room (room 9) was paved with a colored mosaic with geometric patterns. In its eastern part there was a stone step that probably gave access to an elevated area - a chancel - now destroyed.
Annex/es on the south: 
Most of it was destroyed by modern activity. A tomb was uncovered near its end. It might have served as a prothesis chapel.
Prothesis chapel / Diakonikon: 
Apsidal chapel
Prothesis chapel / Diakonikon description: 
The northern annex served as a baptistery with a rectangular basin. Its eastern room (room 9) was paved with a colored mosaic with geometric patterns. In its eastern part there was a stone step that probably gave access to an elevated area - a chancel - now destroyed. If so, this annex might have served symultaneously as a baptistry and a prothesis chapel. It is also a possible that the southern annex was a prothesis chapel. However, most of it was destroyed by modern activity. A tomb was uncovered near its end.
Baptistery: 
Apsidal chapel
Baptistery description: 
The baptistery, located in the northern wing, consisted of several units: A 8.7 m long space, paved with stone slabs in the west. This space - a kind of a courtyard, led into an antechamber, 5.2 m long, whose plaster floor was originally paved with marble slabs. The antechamber gave access to a shallow, plastered, rectangular basin or baptismal piscina, 4.4 m long, 2.1 m wide and 0.97 m deep (no. 7 in the plan). The eastern and western edges consisted of two steps. East of the baptismal basin there was a room, 6 X 4.5 m (room 9), paved with colored mosaics.
Architectural Evolution
General outline: 
Basilica church with semicircular external apse, dead end aisles and lateral chapels. A fire, signs of which were recorded on the phase 1 floors of the rooms of the northern wing, marks the end of phase 1 church.
Dating material: 

The church, including the lateral chapels, is attributed by numismatic evidence and an inscription to the mid 4th c., although, according to Jerome, in 366 Dor was still deserted. Coins of Constans II (337-361) were uncovered under the lower floor of a room attached to the church on the north (Dauphin 1999, 401).

Hide Phase date
Century: 
4th c.
Within century: 
Second half
Post Arab conquest history: 
Abandoned
Conclusions: 
First phase, including the lateral chapels, is attributed by numismatics and an inscription to the mid 4th c. although according to Jerome, in 386 Dor was still deserted. Second phase attributed to the end of the 5th c (Dauphin, in Tsafrir 1993, 90-97; Dauphin, HA 106 [1996], 56, Ill. 75 [Hebrew]; Di Segni 1997, 435-38, inscr. 122). Destroyed in a fire which is indicated by a layer of ashes and collapsed rubble. A bishop of Dor is mentioned for the last time at 649 CE. It seems that the destruction took place around the mid 7th century; an affect of the Arab conquest cannot be excluded.