Beit Sha'ar - Church

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Church Name, type, function

Site Name:

Beit Sha'ar

Identification:

Deir Sha'ar. The proposal to identify the place with the village of Zakhariya, father of St. John the Baptist is not tenable anymore.

Church name:

Church

Functional Type:

Monastic?

Church type:

Basilical - Free standing basilica

Location

Coordinates, ITM system:

218.87

617.05

Coordinates, ICS system:

168.87

1,117.05

Location:

Rural

Geographical region:

Judean Hills

Topographical location:

At the foot of the hill, ca. 300m to the west of the road. 2km SSE of Beit Zakharya.

Distance from nearest bishop-seat:

Ca. 20 km from Jerusalem.

Distance from Roman roads:

Ca. 300 to the west of the ancient road that connected Jerusalem and Hebron.

Provincial affiliation:

Palaestina I

Bishopric:

Jerusalem

Source of knowledge

Literary sources

HideEpigraphy

Text number	Summary
1	Fragmenrary dedicatory mosaic building inscription for the benefactors of a church, in the nave.

Archaeological remains

Surveyed site

Surveyors:

Name	Date
Conder and Kitchener	1883
Mader	1918
Schneider	1938
Kochavi	1967-1968
Ben Shalom	1986

Excavated site

Excavators:

Name	Date
An Arab of Bethlehem who possessed the area	1901-1902
Russians (Stelletskii?)	ca. 1902-3

General description

State of preservation/which parts were uncovered:

A Russian property since the early 20th century. According to the plan published by Vincent (1903), following his visit to the site in 1902, the church was basilical in shape with a secondery apse to the north of the central apse and a narthex, all mosaic paved. Vincent had noted that there was no apse at the end of the southern aisle. By the time Schneider visited the site (1938), only the apse and the western wall of the narthex had prevailed. All the rest was built anew over the Byzantine remains. Yet, he opined out that the church was tri-apsidal. But this is an untenable assumption.

Dimensions: 15.6 x 9 m.

Description

Illustrative material:

Illustrative_material

Photos

Figures

Narthex:

3.20x9m in dimensions.

Nave:

The nave was paved in a polychrome mosaic with geometric and floral designs, including two gazelles and possibly an amphora. Near the gazelles there is a four lines Greek inscription

Aisles:

According to the plan published by Vincent (1903), the northern aisle had an apse at its eastern end. The eastern aisle seemingly had a dead end.

Bema, chancel screen and apse:

The bema, U-shaped, was reached through an axial opening in the screen via two steps. The central apse, 3.4m wide and two stairs higher than the bema, was decorated with the composition of two gazelles and two trees near a central medallion with a cross. In front of it, on the bema, a Greek inscription was laid in the mosaic floor. Several donors are mentioned in it.

The apse was 3.40m in diameter. The bema was U-shaped, with a screen of two posts and two plates on its west.

Lateral spaces:

Secondary apse on the north.

Small finds

Small finds:

Category	Description
Inscription - see under epigraphy	The Greek inscription, mentioning several donors. The graffiti in the caves resembles the word "PERSOI", but it could be late.

Small finds illustrative material:

Illustrative_material

Photos

Comments, discussion and summary:

Dating: Germer-Durand dated the complex to the second half of the sixth century. Based on the word PERSO (ΠΕΡΣΩ) Philipp (1937: 14-15) claimed that the church’s foundation was connected with the Persian occupation and that monks were slaughtered by Persians on the site. He therefore dated the church to the first half of the seventh century CE.

Detailed description

Structure

Orientation:

Facing east

Materials applied (walls):

Limestone

Water cistern:

Yes

Narthex:

Yes

Aisles:

Colonnades / Arcades:

Colonnade

East end:

Internal apses

Church Head/Chevet:

second apse on the n

Central Apse Category:

apsidal

Bema type:

U shaped without lateral openings

Bema type text:

The bema is raised two steps above the prayer hall. It was paved with a polychrome mosaic exhibiting geometric and floral designs including two gazelles. A fragment of a chancel screen adorned with a cross was found.

Elevation of Bema above nave:

2 steps up

Altar remains:

no remains

Apse elevation:

Elevated relative to the bema

Apse shape:

Hemispherical

Synthronon:

Lateral Apses Function

Northern apse description and function:

An apse seems to have existed only at the end of the northern aisle.

Crypt

Accessibility and description:

In the early descriptions (Stelletskii, Hieromonachos Philipp) two kinds of underground buildings were mentioned. One of them might be early Christian crypt, as it was located under the remains of the church or near it and the floors were covered with the mosaics. Also the niches and the capella were described there. Attributed as House of Zakharia or a place, where Elizabeth and infant John the Baptist were hidden during еру Massacre of the Innocents. Not available anymore. The others (a long corridor with the lateral cellia) might be carved by Russian monks in the 20th century, but there is a possibility that they were also initially ancient.

Crypt photos and plans:

Illustrative_material

Photos

Figures

Architectural Evolution

Phase 1
Abandonment

Phase name (as published):

Byzantine

General outline:

Germer-Durand dated the complex to the second half of the sixth century (Mader 1918: 204) based on the epigraphical features of Greek inscription. Based on the word PERSO (ΠΕΡΣΩ), Philipp (1937: 14-15) claimed that the church’s foundation was related to the Persian occupation and that monks were slaughtered there by Persians. He therefore dated the church to the first half of the seventh century CE. This inscription wasn't published. Haim Shkolnik suggested that the fragment "ΠΕΡΣΩ" could be a part of a more widespread and plain Early Byzantine formula - ''Υπέρ σωτηρίας'' ("for the salvation").

Dating material:

The mosaics and the epigraphy suggest a date in the second half of the 6th c.

Phase date

Century:

6th c.

Within century:

Second half

Dating material:

At the absence of iconoclastic activity, it can be assumed that the site was abandoned sometime in the seventh century CE.

Phase date

Century:

7th c.

Iconoclastic evidence

Iconoclastic evidence:

Post Arab conquest history:

Abandoned

Conder, C. R. and Kitchener, H. H., 1883	351
Schick, C. and Benzinger, I., 1896
Vincent, L. H., 1903
Editor, 1903
Barton, G. A., 1903
Meistermann, B., 1904
Germer-Durand, J., 1908	303-305
Horning, R., 1909	133
Mader, A. E., 1918
Stelletskii, I. A. , 1922
Phillip Hieromonachos, 1936
Schneider, A. M., 1938
Ovadiah, A., 1970
Kochavi, M. and Ovadiah, R., 1972
Avi-Yonah, M., 1981	296, no. 26, 301f, no. 67
Bagatti, B., 1983	52-53
Ben-Shalom, S., 1986
Tsafrir, Y., Di Segni, L. and Green, J., 1994
Bagatti, B., 2002
Magen, Y. and Kagan, E. D., 2012
Alekhina, L.I., 2012
Rotov, Nikodim (Arkhimandrit), 2017
Ameling, W., Cotton, H. M., Eck, W., Eck, A., Isaac, B., Kushnir-Stein, A., Misgav, H., Price, J., Weiss, P. and Yardeni, A., 2018	813-814