Ḥorvat Midras - Church

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Church Name, type, function

Site Name:

Ḥorvat Midras

Church name:

Church

Functional Type:

Parochial

Church type:

Basilical - Free standing basilica

Location

Coordinates, ITM system:

194.06

618.28

Coordinates, ICS system:

144.06

1,118.30

Location:

Village/Town

Geographical region:

Shephelah

Topographical location:

At the middle of Judean Shefelah.

Distance from nearest bishop-seat:

Ca. six km. north – east of Eleuteropolis (Beit Govrin).

Provincial affiliation:

Palaestina I

Bishopric:

Eleutheropolis

Source of knowledge

Archaeological remains

Excavated site

Excavators:

Name	Date
A. Ganor, A. Klein ανδ R. Avner	August–December 2010 and January 2011

Bibliograpy:

Ganor, A., Klein, A., Avner, R. and Zissu, B., 2011

Ganor, A., 2012

Zissu, B., Kloner, A., Ganor, A., Avner, R. and Klein, A., 2016

Abbreviation for Journals and Series

General description

State of preservation/which parts were uncovered:

Τhe first basilical church, oriented northwest-southeast and built of local limestones, was built over a burial cave with three burial troughs reached via a rock-hewn staircase. The floors of the basilica were of white mosaics. The exact plan of the basilica is not clear. Seemingly the underlying burial cave was connected to it.

In the 2nd building phase a large three aisled basilica was built using architectural members and decorative elements of the previous edifice, preserving its orientation. An atrium and a narthex were attached on the west. The entrances to the complex were located in the western wall of atrium. On the east the church had a central apse (segmental, less than a hemisphere), flanked by dead-ends aisles. Behind the apse two L-shaped pastophoria separated from each other by a wall were located within the straight eastern wall. Two colonnades of four columns separated the nave from the aisles. They were of imported gray marble. The floors were covered with mosaic floors. During Stage 4a the mosaics of the apse and of the bema were laid of tesserae smaller than those of the domus. During Stage 4b (our Phase 2), mosaic floors of the domus were kept and reused, but the southern pastophorium was paved with marble slabs, underlining its special importance (probably, a reliquary was kept there). The shape of the northern pastophorium was also transformed: an apse was installed in its southern edge (its spring cource cornize still preserved). The burial cave, which was reached from the northern aisle via the northern pastophorium and served as a martyrium, was covered with slabs. New white mosaic was laid in this room and it was also decorated with frescoes. During the same Phase 4b the bema was extended to the west, it was paved with marble slabs and two stairs were installed on its western edge.

Description

Illustrative material:

Illustrative_material

Photos

Figures

Atrium:

Partially excavated. It was 9 m wide and paved with stone slabs. The main doorways leading to the complex were located in the western wall of atrium.

Narthex:

Exonarthex (opened towards the atrium), was 2.8 m wide and 12.5 m long. It was paved with white mosaic floor.

Façade and entries:

Three doorways were leading from narthex to the nave and aisles.

Nave:

The nave was 10.6 m long (east – west) and 5.3 m wide (north – south). It was separated from the aisles by two rows of four columns each, made of imported grey marble.

Aisles:

The width of the southern aisle was 2.7 m and its length 14 m. The northern aisle was wider.

Bema, chancel screen and apse:

In Phase I the apse and the bema were paved with mosaic floors.

In Phase II the chancel was extended to the west and two steps were installed. It was covered with marble plates set on top of the earlier mosaic floor. The chancel was separated from the nave by a marble chancel screen. Probably in this phase a marble ambo was constructed at the north – western corner of the bema. Two openings at the northern and southern sides of the chancel screen lead to the aisles. Also to this phase belongs the apse framed in three walls.

Lateral spaces:

Two L-shaped rooms were flanking the apse, reachable via doorways set in the eastern walls of the aisles. The southern room was paved with marble slabs. The two rooms were separated by a wall that was built behind the apse . The floor level of the northern room, paved with white mosaics, was lower than the floor level of the northern aisle. In Phase 2 its southern wall was shaped as an apse roofed by a half-dome the cornize of which was preserved. The walls of the small apse were covered with painted plaster. In this phase (Stages 4b or 5), a new passageway was constructed for direct access into the martyrium from the outside (not from the northern aisle as before).

Crypt: See in the Detailed Description, crypt

Small finds

Detailed description

Structure

Orientation:

Facing east

Materials applied (walls):

Limestone

Materials applied (roofing):

tiles

timber

Atrium:

Yes

Narthex:

Yes

Aisles:

Colonnades / Arcades:

Colonnade

Number of nave columns in a row:

Total	Extant in S	Extant in N
8	4	4

Capital types:

Corinthian

East end:

Internal apse

Church Head/Chevet:

monoapsidal flanked by "martyrion" on n, and "diakonikon" on s [a la Syria] (mon-aps VI)

Central Apse Category:

apsidal

Bema type:

U shaped with two lateral openings

Elevation of Bema above nave:

2 steps up

Altar location:

On the apse cord

Ambo:

Yes

Ambo location:

Ambo materials:

Marble

Apse elevation:

Flush with the bema

Apse shape:

Hemispherical

Synthronon:

Pastophoria

Pastophoria loci:

N & S

Description and function of northern:

The northern roomת L-shaped, extending behind the apse (like the opposite southern room), being separated by a wall behind the apse. The floor level of the northern room was lower than the floor level of the northern aisle. It was paved with white mosaic. In a later stage its southern wall got a small apse covered with painted plaster. A stair case in the floor of the apse was leading down to a burial cave (discovered empty), which probably was the reason for the building of the church. Hence this pastophorium was labeled "martyrium" by the excavators. During Phase II a plastered semi-dome with a spring cornice was constructed, being also oriented towards the south. It topped the entrance to the tomb (that was covered with stone slabs), next to the southern wall of the northern room. The doorway between this room and the northern aisle was blocked and a new doorway (0.7 m wide) was opened to the outside in the northern wall of the northern room.

Description and function of southern:

The southern room, L-shaped as well, was paved with marble slabs.

Crypt

Accessibility and description:

A staircase in the floor of the small apse of the northern pastophorium was leading down to a burial cave (discovered empty), which probably was the reason for building the church on that spot. It was closed with slabs during the Stage 4b.

Crypt photos and plans:

Illustrative_material

Photos

Burial loci

Burials loci:

In the crypt that preceded the church. Three burial troughs, found empty, were uncovered there. The cave did not served as a burial place for the church, but rather as a martyrion.

Baptism

Loci:

During Phase II a plastered semi-circular installation was built over the entrance to the tomb in the northern lateral room (that was covered with stone slabs), next to the southern wall of the northern room. The excavators suggested a possibility that this installation was actually a baptistery.

Architectural Evolution

Phase 1
Phase 2
Phase 3
Abandonment

Phase name (as published):

Stage IV

General outline:

A ‎basilical church was built above an earlier burial cave attributed to Stage III. The atrium and the narthex also existed in this Phase.‎

Dating material:

A coin dated to the second half of the fourth century CE (Constantius II) was discovered in the burial cave. Potsherds, the latest of which is a fragment of a Bet Natif lamp, are dated to the third–fourth ‎centuries CE, and coins, the latest of which dated to the fourth century CE, were ‎discovered below the mosaic floor.

Phase date

Century:

4th c.

Within century:

Late

Phase name (as published):

Stage IVa

General outline:

The church of Phase 2, basilical as well, included a nave, two aisles, apse and two L-‎shaped rooms flanking the apse. The northern one served as a martyrium and the southern, probably, as a diaconikon like in the churches of Syria.‎

Dating material:

According to the style of the mosaic floors and numismatic and ceramic finds, the ‎excavators suggest to date the construction of the Phase 2 church to the 6th century.‎

Phase date

Century:

6th c.

Phase name (as published):

Stage IVb

General outline:

In this phase the chancel was extended to the west by installing two steps ‎covered by marble on top of the earlier phase mosaic floor. The chancel was separated ‎from the nave by a marble screen. Probably a marble ambo was ‎also constructed at the north-western corner of the bema in this phase. The passage between the northern aisle and the martyrium was blocked. The staircase leading to the tomb might also have been blocked in this phase with hard ‎white mortar and stone slabs that were placed on the floor around the opening. A ‎semicircular installation of plastered ceramic bricks was built in this phase next to the ‎southern wall of the martyrium. A bench was built along the upper part of the installation. ‎This was probably a baptismal font, deliberately built above the opening that led to the tomb.‎ A new doorway was built in the northern wall of the martyrium, permitting direct entrance from outside the ‎church to the martyrium, instead of the earlier passage through the northern aisle.‎

Dating material:

Based on the pottery and coins, as well as the style of the capitals, columns and mosaics, this phase is dated to the third quarter of the sixth century CE.

Phase date

Century:

6th c.

Within century:

Second half

General outline:

Late 7th or early 8th centuries (the ceramic and numismatic finds clearly indicates an existence of a kind of activity in the spaces of the church but, it's unclear whether the liturgy continued at this time). Final destruction by the earthquake at 749 CE.

Phase date

Century:

7th c.

Within century:

Late

Post Arab conquest history:

Unmodified