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Ḥorvat Midras - Church

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
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: 
NameDate
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., 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: 
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: 
2
Colonnades / Arcades: 
Colonnade
Number of nave columns in a row: 
Total Extant in N Extant in S
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: 
N
Ambo materials: 
Marble
Apse elevation: 
Flush with the bema
Apse shape: 
Hemispherical
Synthronon: 
No

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: 

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 name (as published)General outlineDating materialPhase no.CenturyWithin century
Stage IV
A ‎basilical church was built above an earlier burial cave attributed to Stage III. The atrium and the narthex also existed in this Phase.‎

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 1
4th c.
Late
Stage IVa
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.‎

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 2
6th c.
Stage IVb
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.‎

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 3
6th c.
Second half
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.
Abandonment
7th c.
Late
Post Arab conquest history: 
Unmodified

Tiberias - Mt. Berenice

Church Name, type, function

Site Name: 
Tiberias
Church name: 
Mt. Berenice
Functional Type: 
Monastic
Dedication: 
"Anchor"; St. George
Church type: 
Basilical - Basilica with an annexed chapel

Location

Coordinates, ITM system: 
250.83
742.43
Coordinates, ICS system: 
200.83
1,242.43
Geographical region: 
Sea of Galilee
Topographical location: 
The church is located on the eastern hill of Mount Berenice which is located 0.6 km west of the shore of the Sea of Galilee
Distance from nearest bishop-seat: 
Tiberias is a bishop-seat
Distance from nearest settlement: 
Built inside the wall of ancient tiberias
Distance from Roman roads: 
Tiberias sits on a roman road surrounding the Sea of Galilee
Provincial affiliation: 
Palaestina II
Bishopric: 
Tiberias

Source of knowledge

Archaeological remains

Excavated site
Excavators: 
NameDate
Yizhar Hirschfeld
1990-1994
Bibliograpy: 
Hirschfeld, Y., 1993
Hirschfeld, Y., 1994
Amir, R., 1994
Pringle, D., 1998
Hirschfeld, Y., 1999
Hirschfeld, Y., 2004
Michel, A., 2019
158
Abbreviation for Journals and Series

General description

State of preservation/which parts were uncovered: 
The entire complex, composed of an atrium, narthex, prayer hall and northern wing, was uncovered. The layout of the interior was altered in later periods. 20.60x18m in dimensions (28x48, including the atrium and the attached structures). 

Description

Illustrative material: 
Atrium: 

The entrance to the complex was through the south wall of the atrium. The atrium is almost square in shape (17X19.5 m); its north-west corner is affected by the city wall. The atrium floor was paved with a mosaic of concentric white circles on a black background with a frame of a running pattern of acanthus leaves, separated from the central pattern by a dark band. Remains of pilasters were uncovered parallel to the three exterior walls of the atrium. In the center of the atrium was a large, 7.5m square 4.1m deep water cistern with a capacity of 220 cubic meters. It was roofed by four pairs of arches that rested upon pillars engaged in the walls and four columns placed in the center of the cistern. It collected rain water by four drainage channels, each with a settling basin. 

Narthex: 

3.9 meter wide in dimensions. Most of it is covered by later remains. An entrance in the north allowed direct entrance to the northern wing. In the northeastern corner a section of a colorful mosaic floor consisting of a geometric interlocking design with floral decoration was preserved.

Façade and entries: 

The main entrance is 1.8 wide, the northern entrance is 1.1 m and the southern entrance was altered in later periods.

Lateral walls: 

The northern wall was preserved to an elevation of 3 m above the floor, it is 0.8 m thick and is coated with 2 cm thick layer of white plaster. Two entrances along the wall were leading to the northern wing. The southern wall was also preserved to an elevation of 3 m above floor level. This wall is thicker in width, 1.1 m, due to the fact that the southern side of the hill on which the church stands is steeper than the other sides.

Nave: 

The original floor was not preserved, but in a probe under the later mosaic floor, a section with tile impression of the original opus sectile floor was found.

Aisles: 

The isles were seperated from the nave by two rows of seven columns which were reused in a later period. The aisles were paved by mosaic floors.

Bema, chancel screen and apse: 

The main apse, protruding, is hemispherical in shape, with a diameter of 5.8 m. The apse is flash with the bema.

The bema, U-shaped, is one stair higher than the nave. The altar of the first phase was not found, but under the floor a large basalt anchor stone of the Bronze Age! was found. The location of the stone suggests its function as a sacred object associated with the Sea of Galilee and miracles that took place there. A graded synthronon of two steps was constructed against the apse.

Lateral spaces: 

On the north and south of the Main apse are two smaller hemispherical apses with a diameter of 3.1 m.

Small finds

Small finds: 
CategoryDescription
Other
A small piece of fresco was found under the floor of the third phase. The fresco depicts a face of a man. the fresco is dated by style to the 11th centuer C.E.
The pottery found at the church consists of pottery from the Roman period till the Mamluk period.
Coins
Seventy six coins were found during the excavation. The coins reflect the occupation of the site from the Byzantine to the Mamluk period.
Glass
Large quantities of glass remain were found, with the chronological rang of Late-Roman to the medieval periods. The majority of the vessels are from the Byzantine and Umayyad periods.
Metal objects
A large assemblage of metal finds, which some may have been associated with church life: a lamp hanger, a bell, tools to clean oil lamps and keys.
Other
A gray-black hematite amulet dated to the 2nd-3rd century; Two clay loops; pieces of ostrich egg shell that may have been part of the church furnishing; two spindle whorls .

Detailed description

Structure

Orientation: 
Facing east
Materials applied (walls): 
Basalt
Materials applied (roofing): 
tiles
Atrium: 
Yes
Water cistern: 
Yes
Narthex: 
Yes
Aisles: 
2
Colonnades / Arcades: 
Colonnade
Number of nave columns in a row: 
Total Extant in N Extant in S
7
7
7
Capital types: 
Corinthian
East end: 
External apses, round
Church Head/Chevet: 
tri-apsidal
Central Apse Category: 
apsidal
Bema type: 
U shaped with two lateral openings
Elevation of Bema above nave: 
1 step up
Altar remains: 
imprints
Altar type: 
Stone, table-like
Altar reliquiarium type: 
Depression in the floor
Altar location: 
In the middle of the bema
Ambo: 
No
Apse elevation: 
Flush with the bema
Apse shape: 
Hemispherical
Synthronon: 
Yes
Synthronon remains: 
grades
Synthronon location: 
Against the apse
Synthronon description: 
Built against the apse, it is two grades high.

Lateral Apses Function

Location: 
N & S
Northern apse description and function: 
small hemispherical apses with a diameter of 3.1 m.
Southern apse description and function: 
small hemispherical apses with a diameter of 3.1 m.

Cult of relics

Cult of relics loci: 
under altar
Reliquiaries: shapes and contents: 
Under the altar a large basalt stone shaped like an anchor, was found in situ. The stone, smooth on all sides but one, is 1.1m. long, 0.35m. thick, and about 0.55m. high. It weighs about 484 kg. and has a bi-conical hole cat through. Such anchor stones are typical to the Bronze Age! The location of the stone suggests its function as a sacred object associated with the Sea of Galilee and miracles that took place there.

Burial loci

Burials loci: 
A tomb containing monolithic sarcophagus was found in the northeastern corner of the middle room of the western wing.

Attached structures

Prothesis chapel / Diakonikon: 
Quadrangular chapel
Prothesis chapel / Diakonikon description: 
A three-units annex was built north of the church. The wing is divided into three rooms. T western room had an entrance from the narthex. The middle room (which was larger than the other two) and the eastern room had entrances to the north aisle, and an entrance between the two rooms. A tomb containing a monolithic sarcophagus was found in the northeastern corner of the middle room. This hall might had also served as a martyrial chapel. A lintel decorated with a cross was discovered next to the entrance between the middle and the eastern room.
Martyrs chapel: 
Quadrangular chapel
Martyrs chapel description: 
See above, under prothesis chapel.

Architectural Evolution

Phase name (as published)General outlineDating materialPhase no.CenturyWithin century
Stratum IV
See General description. Its construction is attributed to the reign of Justinian, who had fortified Tiberias (Procopius, De Aed. V, 9, 12, 3; the church complex is associated architecturally with the city wall). According to Hirschfeld its construction on the top of Mt. Berenice overlooking Tiberias is associated with the suppression of the Samaritan revolt of 529-531.
Phase 1
6th c.
First half
Stratum III
Atrium and narthex:A change was done to the internal arrangement of the atrium and narthex. The pilasters supporting the portico around the atrium have been damaged and walls were built in their place. The quality of construction is inferior to the Byzantine. The entrance to the church now leads into a long narrow corridor, the south wing, with a floor of crushed chalk, lower than the byzantine floor. On the eastern part of the southern wing are two rooms; the eastern one is built outside of the original atrium and no entrance to the room can be identified (the lack of entrance might indicate an entrance from above, which would attest to the existence of a second story). The eastern and southern walls of the western room were buttressed from the interior by a 0.7 thick addition (a tethering stone was found in the south-western corner, in the wall. and a stone lid was found on the floor). On the west of the southern wing there is an opening leading to a western wing which is not well preserved. A square room can be identified in the south-west corner of the atrium with a floor made of flat field stones. In the north east corner of the remaining atrium three walls were interconnected creating a rectangular room with a narrow opening in the north-west. The wall between the narthex and the atrium was destroyed in the earthquake, and the foundation of that wall was used to construct the eastern wall of the room. In the southern part of the destroyed narthex an impressive square tower with thick walls was built with an entrance way through the north. A stone bench was built near the entrance way. The southern entrance way to the prayer hall was kept. The tower may have been used as a bell tower or for defense, yet no finds were found to indicate one or the other. A bench was built against the west wall of the prayer hall from the outside. Prayer hall: Changes were made in the inner walls; the western wall of the prayer hall was reinforced with the use of stones taken from the debris, including parts of the marble screen, of the church after 749. The entrances leading into the aisles were reduced. The west entrance from the hall to the north wing was also reduced in size. The aisles are still separated by Two rows of Columns pairs. The pair of columns are the original columns of the church, reused in order to create two smaller columns. The outer columns are composed of two drums, with the upper drum smaller in diameter, the inner columns consists of a long drum with a separate base and capital. Between the columns were arches which were built of well-dressed ashlars arranged symmetrically, only one arch remained in the northern row. In a later time, yet still in the Abbasid period, the spaces between the columns were blocked to create poorly built walls, separating the prayer hall to several rooms. Two rooms were built in the west of each aisle. In the eastern part of the nave, opposite the bema, was enclosed by three of these walls, with an entrance from the west with two engaged pilasters. A section of the wall decoration was preserved. The wall was covered in a double layer of plaster, red paint and incisions of crosses. Stone benches were found on both parts of the nave. The walls create a defined architectural space, possibly used as a chapel. Above the anchor stone a wall of an altar table was discovered. In the debris above the bema were found roof tiles and 15 unique arch sections that might indicate of an arch built at the entrance to the central apse. The northern wing: Several changes were found in the rooms; a south- west corner bench was constructed in the middle room. a storage pit was found in the eastern room. the entrance way into the western room was reduced by blocking with stones in secondary use and leaving a gap large enough to crawl through.

The Abbasid-Fatimid Periods: The church was rebuilt in the Abbasid period after the great earthquake of 749 CE. countiued at least until the end of the twelfh century.

Phase 2
8th c.
Mid
Stratum II
The only remains that could be identified as crusader period were found in the foundation of the central apse floor, under the alter table. One top of the anchor stones were two well-dressed stones, one of marble (half of which was preserved. A round opening in the middle, providing access to the anchor stone) and one limestone. West of this stones a section of a floor foundation, higher than the bema was exposed. While removing the foundation a piece of fresco with a face painted on was found. Based on style the fresco is dated to the eleventh century CE. The anchor stone was not moved and remained the holy relic through the entire duration of the church's existence. A section of colored fresco with geometric shapes was preserved in the southern apse. Its attributed to this period on the assumption that the last act of decorating was done in this period.

The Crusader Period: The piece of fresco found under the floor of this phase is dated by style to the 11th century C.E. Therefore the phase does not predate the 11th century. In addition a large ampunt of Crusader period pottery was found.

Phase 3
11th c.
Stratum I
The structure was still in use, it is unsure if as a church or not since many of the entrances were blocked and various architectural spaces were reduced. New walls and floors were found in the atrium and the entrance from the atrium to the northern wing is blocked. according to pottery it appears that the area was now used for sugar production. in the northern wing two pilasters were constructed in the northern wing of the church to support the northern wall of the prayer hall. one of the pilasters blocked an entrance way between the prayer hall and the northern wing. In addition several new walls were constructed in the northern wing. and a semi-circular surface of an oven was found.

The Mamluk Period: This phase is dated by the Mamlik pottery found on the floors under the stone debris of the ceiling.

Abandonment
13th c.
Post Arab conquest history: 
Modified
Post conquest history comments: 
Not affected by the conquest, yet was destroyed and rebuilt after the earthquake of 749 C.E.
Conclusions: 
Built in the 6th c. under Justinian; restored after the 749 earthquake. Later reduced in size to the area of the presbitery, and remained in use until the end of the 13th c (Hirschfeld 1994).

Sussita - Southwest Church (SWC)

Church Name, type, function

Site Name: 
Sussita
Identification: 
Known also as 'The Burnt Church' and 'The Martyrion of Theodorus'.
Church name: 
Southwest Church (SWC)
Functional Type: 
Parochial
Dedication: 
Theodorus of Amasia
Church type: 
Basilical - Basilica with an annexed chapel

Location

Coordinates, ITM system: 
262.25
742.66
Coordinates, ICS system: 
212.25
1,242.70
Geographical region: 
Golan Heights
Topographical location: 
On the western slopes of the Golan heights, in the western part of the city and to the south of the Decumanus Maximus.
Distance from nearest settlement: 
Inside the city of Hippos (Susita)
Provincial affiliation: 
Palaestina II
Bishopric: 
Sussita

Source of knowledge

Epigraphy: 

Archaeological remains

Excavated site
Excavators: 
NameDate
Segal and Eisenberg
2010's
Eisenberg and Kowalewska
2020, 2022
History: 
The church was constructed in the second half of the 5th – early 6th century. The mosaic floor is from the first half of the 6th century. The blocking and reordering of the church’s spaces belong to the third quarter of the 6th century. The roof of the church burned and collapsed not later than the early 7th century, creating a thick layer of ash that covered the entire mosaic floor, preserving it well. The church’s destruction might be connected to the Persian invasion of 614 CE.
Bibliograpy: 
Segal, A. , 2005
Staab, G. and Eisenberg, M., 2020
Staab, G., Kowalewska, A. and Eisenberg, , 2022
Abbreviation for Journals and Series

General description

State of preservation/which parts were uncovered: 
The church (15x10 m (inner dimensions, was entirely exposed, including the eastern portico of the atrium to its west, and an annexed chapel to the south. All are mosaic paved. Another room, open to the portico, was exposed to the west of the annexed chapel. The apse is flanked on the north by a lockable pastophorium.

Description

Illustrative material: 
Atrium: 

As for July 2022, only the eastern portico of the atrium, serving as a narthex, was uncovered. Mosaic paved, with a Greek inscription in a medallion. 

Narthex: 

No closed narthex; the eastern portico of the atrium seems to have served as a narthex.

Façade and entries: 

Three entrances symmetrically aranged on the western wall of the church. Preserved to a hight of several courses.

Lateral walls: 

Quite well preserved; plastered. An opening in the southern wall led to the attached chapel. A second opening in the northern wall, is preserved, blocked, to its full height. 

Nave: 

The church (13 m x 9. 50 m) is divided by two rows of columns, three in each row, into a nave 5 m. wide and two aisles, each 2.50 m. wide. Well preserved mMosaic pavement. A thick layer of ashes of the roofing beams protected the mosaic flor rom farther destruction.

Aisles: 

Mosaic paved.

Bema, chancel screen and apse: 

A semicircular apse that is 4 m. wide, preserved to its spring course. It is protruding, external. The bema was about 0.40 m. higher than the nave. Parts of a chancel screen are preserved on the west. In the center of the bema, at a distance of 2 m. from the chancel screens, a reliquary of pink stone, having three compartments, was found fixed into the mosaic floor. It resembles one of the reliquaries of the NW church.

Lateral spaces: 

A door preserved to its lintel at the end of the northern aisle led to a pastophorium. The southern aisle had a dead-end on its east.  

Small finds

Small finds: 
CategoryDescription
Pottery
The pottery found in the burnt layers above the mosaic floor of the nave dated to the end of the Byzantine period. Also, many fragments of roof tiles were found scattered in numerous quantities within the ‎perimeter of the building. ‎
Metal objects
Nails of various sizes were also discovered here, and indicate once more that the roof was constructed of wood.

Detailed description

Structure

Orientation: 
Facing east
Materials applied (walls): 
Limestone
Basalt
Materials applied (roofing): 
tiles
timber
Atrium: 
Yes
Narthex: 
No
Aisles: 
2
Colonnades / Arcades: 
Colonnade
Number of nave columns in a row: 
Total
3
Capital types: 
Ionic
East end: 
Internal apse
Church Head/Chevet: 
monoapsidal with lockable pastophoria (mon-aps II)
Central Apse Category: 
apsidal
Bema type: 
U shaped without lateral openings
Elevation of Bema above nave: 
2 steps up
Altar remains: 
foundations
Altar reliquiarium type: 
Depression in the floor
Altar location: 
On the apse cord
Ambo: 
No
Apse elevation: 
Flush with the bema
Apse shape: 
Hemispherical
Synthronon: 
No

Pastophoria

Pastophoria loci: 
N
Description and function of northern: 
Opening preserved to its full height, including the lintel. The apse served as its southern wall.

Cult of relics

Cult of relics loci: 
under altar
Reliquiaries: shapes and contents: 
In the center of the bema, at a distance of 2 m. from the chancel screens, a reliquary was found fixed into the mosaic floor. The reliquary, of three compartments, was made of soft limestone of orange-red color. It had a rectangular shape and measured 0.40 x 0.50 m. It protruded about 0.20 m. above the mosaic floor of the apse. It resembles in shape and stone one of the reliquaries of the southern martyrion of the NW church.

Attached structures

Prothesis chapel / Diakonikon description: 
A mosaic paved chapel annexed on the south was partially exposed in 2022. Its eastern part was not exposed yet. At a certain point of time two columns were erected over the mosaic floor to the east of the entrance, seemingly to retain the ceiling. A second floor is suggested by numeroise tesserae in the fill, The walls and the columns, plastered, are preserved to an elevation of ca. 2m. An intact offertory inscription in a medallion was preserved to the east of the entrance to the chapel. Its function is not known yet. It could have served as a prothesis chapel.

Architectural Evolution

General outlineDating materialIconoclastic evidencePhase no.CenturyWithin century
Basilical church with one pastophorium flanking the apse on the north, and an attached chapel on the south. An opening in the northern wall was blocked at a certain stage.

It seems that the church was built in the second half of the 5th c., or the beginning of the 6th, had only plastered floors. 

No
Phase 1
5th-6th c.
No change in layout. According to stylistic considerations, the mosaic floors were laid in the 1st half of the 6th c.

Style of the mosaic floors.

Phase 2
6th c.
First half
Opening in the northern aisle was blocked. Seemingly at that stage the two columns were erected in the southern chapel, against its walls, in order to retain its ceiling.
Phase 3
6th c.
The church was destroyed by fire probably as a result of the Persian invasion of 614 CE.

A thick layer of ashes and burnt beams covered the floor.

Abandonment
7th c.
Early

Sussita - Northeast Church (NEC)

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
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: 
Ovadiah, A., 1970
Schuler, M., 2007
Schuler, M., 2013
Schuler, M., 2019
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: 
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: 
No
Narthex: 
Yes
Aisles: 
2
Number of nave columns in a row: 
Total Extant in N Extant in S
4
5
4
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: 
No
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 photos and plans: 
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.

Attached structures

Att structures photos and planes: 
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 name (as published)General outlineDating materialPhase no.CenturyWithin century
Phase 1
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.

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 1
6th c.
Early
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.

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 2
6th c.
Late
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 3
7th c.
Late
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. ‎
Abandonment
8th c.
First half
Post Arab conquest history: 
Unmodified

Sussita - Northwest Church (NWC)

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
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

Epigraphy: 

Archaeological remains

Surveyed site
Surveyors: 
NameDate
G. Schumacher
1888
Excavated site
Excavators: 
NameDate
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: 
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: 
2
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: 
No
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: 
N
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

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 name (as published)General outlineDating materialIconoclastic evidenceIconoclastic evidence commentsPhase no.CenturyWithin century
Phase 1 (a-b)
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.

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.   

No
The mosaic motives were geometric and floral; not figurative.
Phase 1
5th c.
Late
Phase 2 (a-b)
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.

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 2
6th-7th c.
Decline phase
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.

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 3
7th c.
Second half
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).‎
Abandonment
8th c.
Mid
Post Arab conquest history: 
Unmodified

Shavei Zion - South Church - South Church

Church Name, type, function

Site Name: 
Shavei Zion - South Church
Church name: 
South Church
Functional Type: 
Parochial
Church type: 
Basilical - Annex\es on the north

Location

Coordinates, ITM system: 
207.99
765.60
Coordinates, ICS system: 
157.99
1,265.60
Geographical region: 
Western Galilee
Topographical location: 
On a sandstone (kurkar) ridge
Distance from nearest bishop-seat: 
7 km north of Acre (Ptolemais)
Distance from Roman roads: 
Sitting on Roman road, connecting Antioch with Acre (fragment of roman milestone recovered about 300 m east of the church).
Provincial affiliation: 
Phoenice I
Bishopric: 
Ptolemais

Source of knowledge

Epigraphy: 

Archaeological remains

Excavated site
Excavators: 
NameDate
Prausnitz
1955, 57, 60, 63
Bibliograpy: 
Prausnitz, M., 1967
Ovadiah, A., 1970
Aviam, M., 2004
244
Abbreviation for Journals and Series

General description

State of preservation/which parts were uncovered: 
The entire church was excavated, including atrium and the attached structures. A basilical church with an annexed chmber at its NE; the two aisles had openings in their eastern ends. Bema with a solea, of the Phoenician type, extended into the nave in two successive phases. 

Description

Illustrative material: 
Atrium: 

A wide staircase was leading up to the atrium, that was surrounded by porticos. The western gateway was erected south of the center of the atrium, yet opposite and in line with the main door leading into the central nave of the church. The western facade of the enclosing wall of the atrium was at least 30 m. long.

Narthex: 

The narthex floor was covered with a mosaic which was dated by an inscription to the 5th century.In Phase I the terraced outer narthex and the continuation towards the north of the narthex formed one large continuous porch which turned and continued in an easterly direction alongside the northern wall of the domus. In Phase II a stylobate with two columns separates between the narthex and the exonarthex. The exonarthex extended much to the north relative to the narthex and the domus. From this extension a corridor led to the east, parallel to the northern wall of the church. The narthex, at its northern end, also had an entrance to this corridor.

Façade and entries: 

A flight of steps lead from the atrium to the church itself, which, together with the northern courtyard and adjacent buildings, were erected on top of the hill. The excavators assumed that the church probably had eleven entrances: three in the western wall (including the main central entrance); six side entrances, symmetrically arranged, in northern and southern walls, three in each wall; and two entrances in the eastern wall, one from each side of the apse.

Lateral walls: 

All walls were built of local sandstone cut into squares and rectangles. The exterior walls were not plastered while the interior walls were coated with painted plaster with geometrical designs. The interior walls were also decorated with inlays of white marble, green granite and red porphyry.

Nave: 

The church domus was divided into a nave and two aisles by two colonnades of five columns each, with Corinthian capitals. The church floor was covered by mosaic carpets. The central and eastern parts of the nave show a number of repairs in the mosaic floor, resulting from modifications in the arrangement of space in front of the bema.

Aisles: 

The aisles had openings in their eastern ends.

Bema, chancel screen and apse: 

The location of the altar is recognized by imprints in the floor of the bema. In Phase I the bema occupied two inter-colunniations and a solea, flanked by two secondary tables, extended farther west into the nave. In Phase II the chancel, made of marble, was extended to occupy the third inter-colunniations, the two secondary tables, set above crosses, were encompassed by the chancel screen, and a third table, without a cross underneath, was added in the SW corner of the bema, next to its western entrance.

Small finds

Small finds illustrative material: 
Peppard, M., "The Photisterion in Late Antiquity: Reconsidering Terminology for Sites and Rites of Initiation", Journal of Ecclesiastical History no. 71 (2020): 463–83.

Detailed description

Structure

Orientation: 
Facing east
Materials applied (walls): 
Kurkar
Materials applied (roofing): 
tiles
timber
Atrium: 
Yes
Water cistern: 
No
Narthex: 
Yes
Aisles: 
2
Colonnades / Arcades: 
Colonnade
Number of nave columns in a row: 
Total
5
Capital types: 
Corinthian
East end: 
External apse, round
Church Head/Chevet: 
two openings flanking the apse (mon-aps IV)
Central Apse Category: 
apsidal
Bema type: 
Phoenician type
Bema type text: 
A solea led from the nave to the bema.
Elevation of Bema above nave: 
1 step up
Altar remains: 
imprints
Altar type: 
Marble, table like
Altar reliquiarium type: 
No altar reliquiarium
Altar location: 
In the middle of the bema
Secondary tables: 
The two altar tables above crosses were flanking the solea in Phase 1; in Phase 2 they found themselves inside the extended chancel. A ‎third table, without a cross underneath, was added in the SW ‎corner of the bema, next to its entrance.‎
Ambo: 
No
Apse elevation: 
Flush with the bema
Apse shape: 
Hemispherical
Synthronon: 
No

Attached structures

Martyrs chapel: 
Simple rectangular room
Martyrs chapel description: 
A small rectangular room was attached on the northeast, parallel and to the north of the east end of the domus. Two different mosaic floors found super-imposed one upon the other indicated two building phases. In the 2nd, later phase, the chapel was enlarged to measure 5 m. south to north and at least 6 m. west to east. It seems to had served as a martyrs chapel. In Phase 1 four bases were set ‎into the floor of its north-eastern corner, carrying small columns which surrounded a cross.‎ This installation seems to have been an altar table for a reliquary. Another possibility is that a reliquary was put underneath.

Architectural Evolution

General outlineDating materialPhase no.CenturyWithin century
Basilical church with an external apse, Phoenician type bema and an attached room on the NE, that seemingly served as a martyrion. At this phase, the chancel was made of wood and occupied the eastern third of the ‎nave. It had a narrow solea passage in its center, protruding into the nave. Two ‎altar tables above crosses were flanking the solea.‎

The church was erected in the end of the 4th century CE-beginning of the 5th c. The date is based ‎on glass vessels and Late Roman pottery (LR pseudo-sigillata oil-lamps, LR ‎platters and shallow bowls, oil lamp decorated with a jeweled cross within a ‎circle).‎ Aviam (2004: 144) is of the opinion that it should be dated to the 5th, begining of 6th c.

Phase 1
4th-5th c.
Atrium and narthex were added. The chancel screen was made of marble and occupied the entire ‎eastern half of the nave, encompassing the two secondary tables. A third table, with no cross underneath, was added in the SW corner of the bema near its entrance.‎ The northeastern martyrium was enlarged to measure 5 m. ‎south to north and at least 6 m. west to east.‎ Additional rooms were built to the north of the church.

According to the inscription in the outer narthex, the church was ‎rebuilt and enlarged at 486 CE. After that, the church was repaired twice, ‎probably as a result of damages caused by earthquakes. 

Phase 2
5th c.
Late
The church was destroyed by fire in the Persian invasion of 614.‎
Abandonment
7th c.
Early

Nahariya - Giv'at Katsenelson

Church Name, type, function

Site Name: 
Nahariya
Church name: 
Giv'at Katsenelson
Functional Type: 
Parochial
Dedication: 
Ovadiah and de Silva (1981) assertion that the church was dedicated to St. Lazarus is false. It has no basis whatsoever.
Church type: 
Basilical - Free standing basilica

Location

Coordinates, ITM system: 
210.05
768.24
Coordinates, ICS system: 
160.04
1,268.20
Geographical region: 
Western Galilee
Topographical location: 
On a hill
Distance from nearest bishop-seat: 
About 10 km. north to Acre (Ptolemais)
Distance from Roman roads: 
On the Roman road connecting Tyre and Acre.
Provincial affiliation: 
Phoenice I
Bishopric: 
Ptolemais

Source of knowledge

Epigraphy: 

Archaeological remains

Excavated site
Excavators: 
NameDate
Dauphin and Edelstein
1972-1974
Bibliograpy: 
Ovadiah, A. and De Silva, C. G., 1981
Dauphin, C. M. and Edelstein, G., 1984
Edelstein, G. and Dauphin, C. M., 1986
Dauphin, C. M. and Edelstein, G., 1993
Dauphin, C. M. and Edelstein, G., 1993
Ovadiah, A., 2002
Michel, A., 2019
156-157
Abbreviation for Journals and Series

General description

State of preservation/which parts were uncovered: 
Tri-apsidal basilical church with Phoenician type bema with solea, annexes on the north (not excavated; recognized by the floor bedding), south (two separate spaces are recognized), and to the east of the northern apse. Basilica dimensions: 16.6-17.7 x 28m. (larger in the east than on the west). 

Description

Illustrative material: 
Atrium: 

The western part of the complex was not excavated.

Lateral walls: 

The walls wee built of local kurkar stone and coated with a thick layer of plaster.

Nave: 

Paved with a mosaic floor with geometric, floral and figurative motifs.

Aisles: 

Two rows of six marble columns divided between the nave and two aisles. The capitals supported the wooden beams of a gallery above each aisle.

Bema, chancel screen and apse: 

The bema in front of the central apse, protruding three bays, has a lower bema (chœur bas) and a solea in front, extending into the nave, enclosed by a marble screen. The passage from the lower bema to the solea is flanked by two secondary tables that were supported by three marble legs. The main bema was two stairs higher than the nave; the lateral apses - just one stair. The northern apse, the floors of which being decorated by a cross motive, was 3m in diameter and 2.1m deep. It was protruding and polygonal. The other two seem to have been the same, though not preserved on the outside. The floors of the other two apses depict geometric motives.

A large quantity of marble pieces of the altar were found on the bema. The chancel screen consisted of twelve screen panels separated by ten screen posts.A cross was depicted in the mosaic floor of the northern apse. 

Lateral spaces: 

Bases of two offertory tables each standing on four columns, were found in the lateral apses.

Small finds

Detailed description

Structure

Orientation: 
Facing east
Materials applied (walls): 
Kurkar
Materials applied (roofing): 
tiles
timber
Aisles: 
2
Colonnades / Arcades: 
Colonnade
Number of nave columns in a row: 
Total
6
Capital types: 
Corinthian
East end: 
External apses, polygonal
Church Head/Chevet: 
tri-apsidal
Central Apse Category: 
apsidal
Bema type: 
Phoenician type
Bema type text: 
A solea led from the nave to the lower bema and hence to the wider and higher bema.
Elevation of Bema above nave: 
2 steps up
Altar remains: 
plate
Altar type: 
Marble, table like
Secondary tables: 
Two secondary marble tables were flanking the passage from the lower bema to the solea, each being supported by three small marble columnets.‎ An altar table of four legs was also standing in each of the lateral apses.
Ambo: 
No
Apse elevation: 
Flush with the bema
Apse shape: 
Hemispherical
Synthronon: 
No

Lateral Apses Function

Location: 
N & S
Northern apse description and function: 
Cult of relics? (indicated by a table of four legs that stood in the apse).
Southern apse description and function: 
Cult of relics? (indicated by a table of four legs that stood in the apse).

Cult of relics

Cult of relics loci: 
N apse
S apse

Upper galleries

Upper galleries: 
above both aisles

Attached structures

Prothesis chapel / Diakonikon: 
Other
Prothesis chapel / Diakonikon description: 
The annex on the north was not excavated; it is recognized by the floor bedding. The southern annex was divided into two spaces (their southern parts were not preserved; no openings leading to them from the southern aisle were recognized). The western space is much longer than the eastern one. It might have been a quadrangular chapel (most of the southern wall of the aisle was not preserved; a doorway might had existed there). On the east of the northern apse there is another room.
Sacristy / skeuophylakion: 
Simple rectangular room
Sacristy / skeuophylakion description: 
The eastern space attached to the eastern aisle might had served as a sacristy. No doorway leading in from the aisle was recognized.
Martyrs chapel: 
Simple rectangular room
Martyrs chapel description: 
A mosaic-paved room to the east of the northern apse might had served as a martyrs chapel.

Architectural Evolution

Phase name (as published)General outlineDating materialIconoclastic evidencePhase no.CenturyWithin centurySubphase A - Century
Phase 1
Tri-apsidal basilical church with Phoenician type bema with solea, annexes on the north (not excavated; recognized by the plaster floor), south, and to the east of the northern apse.

In this phase the church had a plaster floor, uncovered mainly under the northern annexes and in the central apse. Pottery found in the fill under the mosaic floor is dated to the Vth and VIth c., constituting a t.a.q. for this phase. Nothing more is known about this phase.

No
Phase 1
5th-6th c.
Mid
Phase 2
‎The church was mosaic paved. Later on the mosaic pavement was interupted by the solea and by the legs of the secondary tables. This may mark a sub-phase.

According to the inscriptions on the altar table legs, and the style of the mosaics, the church already existed ‎during the reign of Justinian (527 – 565 CE).

Phase 2
6th c.
First half
6th-7th c.
The church was destroyed in a fierce fire probably during the Persian ‎invasion of 614 C.E.‎ Three skeletons were found in the atrium.
Abandonment
7th c.
Early

Beth Yerah (Philotheria; Khirbet el-Kerak) - Church

Church Name, type, function

Site Name: 
Beth Yerah (Philotheria; Khirbet el-Kerak)
Church name: 
Church
Functional Type: 
Parochial
Church type: 
Basilical - Basilica with an annexed chapel

Location

Coordinates, ITM system: 
253.79
735.99
Coordinates, ICS system: 
203.79
1,236.00
Geographical region: 
Sea of Galilee
Topographical location: 
The site is located at the southwestern tip of the Sea of Galilee, just north of the present mouth of Jordan River. The church is located at the north end of the mound.
Distance from nearest settlement: 
ca. 8 km south - southeast of Tiberias.
Distance from Roman roads: 
ca. 1 km east of the road between Gadara and Tiberias.
Provincial affiliation: 
Palaestina II
Bishopric: 
Tiberias

Source of knowledge

Epigraphy: 

Archaeological remains

Bibliograpy: 
Delougaz, P. and Haines, R. C., 1960
Ovadiah, A., 1970
Tsafrir, Y., Di Segni, L. and Green, J., 1994
Patrich, J., 2006
Michel, A., 2019
157-158
Abbreviation for Journals and Series

General description

State of preservation/which parts were uncovered: 
Good preservation of all architectural components, including an atrium, narthex, domus and attached structures on both sides. In the first phase it was monoapsidal, seemingly with an attached room on the north. Later it became tri-apsidal with protruding apses, and three rooms attached on the north. In the third phase the eastern attached unit was converted to a chapel. The room on the south was not attached to the southern aisle.  

Description

Illustrative material: 
Atrium: 

The entrance to the atrium is from the south throw a portico, opened towards the atrium. The atrium is a rectangle (10.5 X 21 m.), with its long axis slightly askew from the axis of the domus. The atrium is paved with large white mosaic. In the middle of the atrium is an underground cistern, about 5 m. deep. This cistern collected rain water from the roofs of the porticoes and the domus by a network of drains under atrium floor. In the southeast corner of the atrium a remains of a staircase were found, which, probably, led to an upper floor. The open southeast portico of the atrium was connected in its southeast corner with the corridor, which runs along the southern wall of the domus.

Narthex: 

The narthex has been added when the domus was already built. The western wall of the narthex originally had a wide opening towards the atrium that was narrowed later on. In the eastern wall of the narthex were three entrances to the domus. There was another doorway in the northern wall of the narthex, leading to the unit of two rooms, attached to the northwest corner of the domus. The narthex was paved with a mosaic with geometric pattern.

Façade and entries: 

In the eastern wall of the narthex were three entrances to the domus. The central was wider and led to the nave. The lateral doors led to the aisles.

Nave: 

The domus is basilican in plan (11.50 m. wide and 12.50 m. long), with a central nave and two aisles ending at the east with three horseshoe-shaped apses. The nave was divided from the aisles by two rows of five basalt column bases (seven bases found insitu). The columns were plastered. The nave and the aisles had a poorly preserved mosaic floors.

Bema, chancel screen and apse: 

In the central apse remains of a synthronon preserved, represented by a stone bench of 1 m. wide attached to the inner wall of the apse. The synthronon was two tiers high (about 60 cm.) and, probably, covered with marble. The bema was U-shaped and a little narrower than the central apse. It was raised about 20 cm. above the nave floor level. Later on, during the Phase III, the bema became T-shaped, expanding towards the eastern parts of the aisles (see Plan 4). At that time the floors of the lateral apses were raised to the level of the T-shaped bema. A depression in the upper floor of the northern apse (35x35 cm, 20 cm deep), seemingly held a reliquary. 

Lateral spaces: 

During the Phase II of the church, lateral apses have been added to the aisles.

Small finds

Detailed description

Structure

Orientation: 
Facing east
Materials applied (walls): 
Limestone
Materials applied (roofing): 
tiles
timber
Atrium: 
Yes
Water cistern: 
Yes
Narthex: 
Yes
Aisles: 
2
Number of nave columns in a row: 
Total
5
East end: 
External apses, round
Church Head/Chevet: 
tri-apsidal
Central Apse Category: 
apsidal
Bema type: 
T shaped with three openings
Bema type text: 
The bema of phases 1-2 was U-shaped and a little narrower than the central apse. It was raised about 20 cm. above the nave floor level. The chancel screen didn’t preserved. A box-like depression (29.5 cm. square and 14 cm. deep) for a reliquary was found on the center line of the apse and at its chord. The reliquary may represent the place of the altar, which is not preserved. In phase 3 the bema became T-shaped, expanding towards the eastern parts of the aisles.
Elevation of Bema above nave: 
1 step up
Altar reliquiarium type: 
Depression in the floor
Altar location: 
On the apse cord
Secondary tables: 
In the floor, in the center of the northern apse, a box-like depression (35 cm. square and 20 cm. deep) for a reliquary was found. It suggests, that above it was located a secondary altar.
Apse elevation: 
Flush with the bema
Synthronon: 
Yes
Synthronon remains: 
grades
Synthronon location: 
Against the apse
Synthronon description: 
In the central apse remains of a synthronon preserved, represented by a stone bench of 1 m. wide attached to the inner wall of the apse. The synthronon was two tiers high (about 60 cm.) and, probably, covered with marble.

Lateral Apses Function

Location: 
N & S
Northern apse description and function: 
Cult of the relics: in the center of the northern apse, in the floor, a box-like depression (35 cm. square and 20 cm. deep) for a reliquary was found.

Cult of relics

Cult of relics loci: 
under altar
N apse
Reliquiaries: shapes and contents: 
In the central apse a box-like depression (29.5 cm. square and 14 cm. deep) for a reliquary was found on the center line of the apse and at its chord. It was revated in marble. In the center of the northern apse, a box-like depression (35 cm. square and 20 cm. deep) for a reliquary was found.

Burial loci

Burials loci: 
Two stone built tombs were found under the floor of the domus, belong to Phase I. One tomb located near the western end of the north aisle, while the other one located in the western part of the nave. The first tomb (1.93 m. X 76 cm. X 72 cm.) contained remains of several skeletons and few small finds, while the second (1.90 m. X 42 cm. X 25 cm.) was empty.

Baptism

Loci: 
The northeast baptismal chapel approached by a doorway in the eastern half of the northern wall of the north aisle.

Attached structures

Baptistery: 
Apsidal chapel
Baptistery description: 
In phase 1 it was suggested that the basin in the atrium had a baptismal function. But this cannot be ascertained (Delougaz and Haines 1960, 23). No baptismal feature were recognized in the northern annex in phases 1 and 2 of the church. In Phase 3 the northern annex of the church was reshaped as an apsidal baptismal chapel with a square antechamber (mesaulion of the inscription – see below), to its west. The hall was 5.20 X 6.80 m in dimensions; the apse – 4.75 m in diameter. The level of mosaic floor of the antechamber was 25 cm lower than that of the chapel's hall. One step (non-extant), bridge between the two levels. The antechamber was also separated from the hall by two columns with an opening in-between. The antechamber was approached by a doorway set in the eastern half of the northern wall of the north aisle. Two baptismal fonts were discerned in the chapel. The first was a circular plastered basin (Ben Pechat type 7a), 80 cm in diameter, located in the center of the hall. The later one, a mushroom-shaped basin (a semicircle 93 cm in diameter, with an added rectangle of 45 X 48 cm = Ben Pechat type 5), located in the apse of the room. An inscription found in front of this font and dated to Autumn 528 CE, mentions the laying down the mosaic floor of the antechamber (mesaulon) and of the diakonikon. (Delougaz and Haines 1960, 16, Pls. 13, 15 and 16, L10:12 (antechamber); 17-18, Pls. 9:E, 13, and 21:2 (baptismal font).

Architectural Evolution

General outlineDating materialIconoclastic evidencePhase no.CenturyWithin century
In this phase the basilical church was mon-apsidal. It consisted of a domus with dead end aisles and an external horseshoe-shape apse with a synthronon. The bema was U-shaped a flash with the nave. A depression for a reliquary was reognized. On the west there was an open portico; not a closed narthex. The domus was flanked by side rooms on the north and on the south. It was suggested that the basin in the atrium had a baptismal function.

The date of construction - the first half of the 5th century is based mainly on comparison with other churches, mainly in Syria. 

Phase 1
5th c.
First half
In this phase the church became tri-apsidal. The northern wall was rebuilt. On the west of the domus got a narthex and an elongated atrium. A unit of two rooms was added, attached to the northern wall of the domus, to the west of the earlier room, being approached through an opening in the northern wall of the narthex. The southern passage along the church southern wall was now connected with the atrium. The mosaic floors were still mostly of the previous phase.

Phase 2 was, again, dated on the basis of architectural comparison to the last quarter of the 5th century - under Zeno or Anastasius, later than Qal’at Sim’an.

Phase 2
5th c.
Late
In this phase the northern annex was rebuilt, being divided into two units. The eastern unit was an apsidal chapel with a screen separating it into two spaces and a baptismal font in the apse. The western unit had two interconnected rooms, the western being accessed from the narthex. This modification is dated by a mosaic inscription to 528/9 CE. The bema was still U-shaped. Several changes occurred in the arrangement of the porticoes and rooms around the atrium. At the end of phase III, several doorways in the domus, narthex and atrium were blocked. Somewhat later (see Plan 4), the bema was expanded to the north and south and became T-shaped. At that time the floors of the lateral apses were raised to the level of the bema The narthex was closed on its western side.

A mosaic inscription dated to 528/9 CE - under Justinian.

Phase 3
6th c.
First half
A continuous decline is recognized in the 7th century. Retaining walls were added to the apses on the outside; doors were blocked in various parts of the church. A coin of Constans II ( 641 to 668) was found on the floor of the northeast chapel, indicating that the church was still in use after the Arab conquest.
No
Phase 4
7th c.
Around 700 CE the debris of the church were leveled and an Umayyad building was constructed on top of it.
Abandonment
7th c.
Late
Post Arab conquest history: 
Modified
Conclusions: 
Mono-apsidal phase - First half of the 5th c. Tri-apsidal phases: Phase 2, with a quadrangular annexed chapel - under Zeno or Anastasius, later than Qal‘at Sim‘an; phase 3, with an apsidal baptismal chapel ("diakonikon") added, dated by a mosaic inscription to 528/9. Abandoned not too long after the Arab conquest (for references see Patrich 2006, note 98).

Jerusalem (Greater Jerusalem) - CATHISMA; KATHISMA

Church Name, type, function

Site Name: 
Jerusalem (Greater Jerusalem)
Identification: 
According to Christian tradition, the church is located in place where pregnant Mary was sitting to rest before reaching Bethlehem.
Church name: 
CATHISMA; KATHISMA
Functional Type: 
Memorial
Dedication: 
Mary Theotokos
Church type: 
Concentric - Octagonal

Location

Coordinates, ITM system: 
220.26
627.40
Coordinates, ICS system: 
170.26
1,127.40
Geographical region: 
Jerusalem (Greater Jerusalem)
Topographical location: 
On plain ground overlooking the Judean Desert, next to the road leading from Jerusalem to Bethlehem.
Distance from nearest bishop-seat: 
4 km distant from Jerusalem.
Distance from nearest settlement: 
4 km south of the Old City of Jerusalem.
Distance from Roman roads: 
Next to the road, to its east.
Provincial affiliation: 
Palaestina I
Bishopric: 
Jerusalem

Source of knowledge

Literary sources: 
Epigraphy: 

Archaeological remains

Excavated site
Excavators: 
NameDate
Avner R.
1990's
Bibliograpy: 
Avner, R., 1998
Avner, R. and Pony, S., 2001
Avner, R., 2001
Shoemaker, S.J., 2001
Di Segni, L., 2003
Avner, R., 2003
Avner, R., 2004
Avner, R., 2004
Avner, R., 2005
Avner, R., 2007
Avner, R., 2012
Avner, R., 2022
Abbreviation for Journals and Series

General description

State of preservation/which parts were uncovered: 
The octagonal church was entirely excavated.

Description

Illustrative material: 
Central space: 

A natural rock protruded above floor level In the center of the church. The rock was surrounded by an inner octagon, forming the central space of the church.

Ambulatory: 

The inner octagon was surrounded, in turn, by an octagonal ambulatory, being separated from the inner octagon by eight free standing corner pillasters and columns in between. The ambulatory was surrounded by an external octagonal unit, divided into rooms and chapels.

In the northern, southern and western sides of the external octagon were located rectangular entrance rooms. In the diagonal sides of this unit four chapels were located. Each chapel comprised of a rectangular room and an apse, generally oriented to the east. Each chapel had two doorways: one leading from the ambulatory and the other - in the wall against the apse, to an irregular shaped room. These rooms were located in the corners of the outer octagon, connecting between the side chapels and the rectangular entrance-rooms of the church.

Bema, chancel screen and apse: 

In the eastern part of the external octagon were located the bema and the external apse. In Phase II the bema was extended to the west, into the ambulatorium. The extension was made by adding of two parallel walls with two staircases between them that led to the bema.

Small finds

Detailed description

Structure

Orientation: 
Facing east
Materials applied (walls): 
Limestone
Atrium: 
No
Water cistern: 
No
Narthex: 
No
East end: 
External apse, polygonal
Central Apse Category: 
apsidal
Bema type: 
U shaped without lateral openings
Bema type text: 
In Phase II the bema was extended to the west, into the ambulatory. The extension was made by adding two parallel walls with two staircases between them that led to the bema.
Elevation of Bema above nave: 
2 steps up
Apse elevation: 
Flush with the bema
Apse shape: 
Horse-shoe shape

Architectural Evolution

General outlineDating materialPhase no.CenturyWithin century
The church is an octagonal concentric building with a protruding apse on its east. It is 41 m long from east to west and 38 m wide from north to south. The plan is based on three concentric octagons, one inside the other and an external apse protruding to the east.

According to Cyril of Scythopolis, the church was built in 456 CE, by a widow named Ikelia. Three phases have been identified in the church. In each phase a new mosaic floor was laid above the previous one. No major architectonic changes occurred to the general octagonal plan of the church. The phases were dated mainly by coins. Phase I is dated to mid 5th century CE.

Phase 1
5th c.
Mid
In Phase II the bema was extended to the west, into the ambulatory, by adding of two parallel walls with two staircases between them that led to the bema. The pillars and columns separating between the internal octagon and the ambulatory were replaced by narrower ones, a change that can point to an alternations on the roofing of the central octagon. To this phase also belongs a ceramic pipe that led water from an unknown source to a socket in the central rock.

Phase II is dated to the first half of the 6th century by the coins and mosaics.

Phase 2
6th c.
First half
In Phase III, in the Umayyad period, a mehrab was added in the southern part of the ambulatory, indicating that the church started to function also as a mosque. The eastern wall of the apse was dismantled and a new structure of three rooms was attached to the church on the east, incorporating the southeastern wall of the apse.

Phase III is dated by coins and mosaics to the first half of the 8th century. 

Phase 3
8th c.
First half
The church continued to be in use until the 10th century.
Abandonment
10th c.
Post Arab conquest history: 
Modified
Post conquest history comments: 
The church was converted to a mosque that continued to exist until the 10th century.

Jerusalem (Mount of Olives) - Gethsemane (Church of Agony)

Church Name, type, function

Site Name: 
Jerusalem (Mount of Olives)
Identification: 
Memorial church at the place of Agony of Christ. It commemorates the prayer of Christ in Gethsemane (Matt. 26: 36-56; Mark 14: 32-52; Luke 22: 39-54; John 18: 1-12; Origen, Comm. ad Matt., PG 13, 1740; In the time of Eusebius (On. 74.16), it was a site of prayers, In the days of Hieronymus (ad loc. 75.19), a church was already been built there. Likewise according to Egeria, It. 36 (a graceful church has been built there); Eutychius, Annales 1. 215).
Church name: 
Gethsemane (Church of Agony)
Functional Type: 
Memorial
Church type: 
Basilical - Free standing basilica

Location

Coordinates, ITM system: 
222.82
631.84
Coordinates, ICS system: 
172.81
1,131.80
Geographical region: 
Jerusalem Mount of Olives
Topographical location: 
Mount of Olives
Provincial affiliation: 
Palaestina I
Bishopric: 
Jerusalem

Source of knowledge

Literary sources: 

Archaeological remains

Excavated site
Excavators: 
NameDate
Greek Church
1891
Frs. L. Thonessen, B, Meistermann
1909
A. Barluzzi
1919-20
Bagatti
1958
Orfali
1906
History: 
Since tri-apsidal churches started to be built only in the 5th c., the Gethsemane Church mentioned by Egeria and Hieronimus in the late 4th c. might be an earlier church that did not survived, or was not discovered yet. The adjacent St. Leontius church dated to the 7th c., should be excluded.
Bibliograpy: 
Vincent, L. H. and Abel, F. M., 1914
Vincent, L. H., 1919
Vincent, L. H., 1920
Vincent, L. H. and Abel, F. M., 1922
1007-1013, Pl. LXXXVIII
Orfali, G., 1924
Abel, F. M., 1934‎
Bagatti, B., 1938
Schneider, A. M., 1938
Kopp, C., 1939
Bagatti, B., 1962
Corbo, V. C., 1965
1-91
Bagatti, B., 1968
Ovadiah, A., 1970
Avi-Yonah, M., 1970
Storme, A., 1972
13-74
Ovadiah, A. and de Silva, C. G., 1982
Michel, A., 2019
165
Abbreviation for Journals and Series

General description

State of preservation/which parts were uncovered: 
A tri-apsidal church (25.5x16.35) with a central salient apse. Mosaic paved. It was preceded by an atrium. Three tombs were oncovered in the northern internal apse. Only the foundations were uncovered, partly overlaid by the Crusaders church. Its remains can be seen at the present Church of All Nations. 

Description

Illustrative material: 
Atrium: 

The atrium to the west of the church was poorly preserved. It appears to be surrounded by porticoes and annexed rooms and a rectangular water cistern beneath. Five tombs were discovered under the floor of the atrium.

Narthex: 

Extended to the west; partially exposed. A water cistern underneath. 

Façade and entries: 

The church’s façade was poorly preserved. It is unclear whether the church had only one entrance or it was flanked by two lateral doorways.

Lateral walls: 

The thickness of the walls was 0.6 – 0.7 m and they were covered with painted plaster. The foundations of the eastern part of the church were hewn into the rock.

Nave: 

The church (23.30 X 15.16 m; internal dimensions) was divided by two rows of seven columns to a nave (7.82 m) and two aisles (3.67 m each). The columns (0.51m in their lower diameter), of pink limestone, stood on square bases decorated with crosses and bore Corinthian capitals also with cross in their abacus.

Aisles: 

Each 3.67m wide.

Bema, chancel screen and apse: 

The central apse (4.2 m deep; 7 m chord) was salient; the two flanking apses, semi-rounded as well, were internal (1.4 m deep; 2.8 m chord). In the area of the apse and the bema an isolated block of rock projected 0.35 m above the floor level of the nave marking the rock of Agony according to the local tradition. The bema, U-shaped, was protruding two intercolumniations into the nave. 

Lateral spaces: 

Three Byzantine tombs were discovered in the northern apse.

Small finds

Detailed description

Structure

Orientation: 
Facing east
Materials applied (walls): 
Limestone
Atrium: 
Yes
Water cistern: 
Yes
Aisles: 
2
Number of nave columns in a row: 
Total
7
Capital types: 
Corinthian
East end: 
External apse, round
Church Head/Chevet: 
tri-apsidal (central external, lateral internal)
Central Apse Category: 
apsidal
Bema type: 
U shaped without lateral openings
Bema type text: 
In the area of the apse and the bema an isolated block of rock projected 0.35 m above the floor level of the nave. This rock probably corresponds to the Christian tradition as the very spot where the Agony took place.
Apse elevation: 
Flush with the bema
Apse shape: 
Hemispherical

Lateral Apses Function

Location: 
N & S
Northern apse description and function: 
Three Byzantine tombs were discovered in the northern lateral apse. Cult of the relics?

Cult of relics

Cult of relics loci: 
N apse

Burial loci

Burials loci: 
Three Byzantine tombs were discovered in the northern lateral apse. Five more tombs were discovered under the floor of the atrium.

Architectural Evolution

General outlineDating materialPhase no.CenturyWithin century
The memorial church was a tri-apsidal basilica, with semi-rounded external central apse and two semi-rounded internal lateral apses.

According to literary sources (Egeria and Hieronimus, On. 75. 19), a church was already standing at the site during the reign of Theodosius I (Eutychius, Annales 1. 215), at the last quarter of 4th century. But since tri-apsidal churches started to be built only in the 5th c., the Gethsemane Church mentioned by Egeria and Hieronimus in the late 4th c. might have been an erlier church that desappeared due to the construction of the later one, or it might have been a church that was not discovered yet. The adjacent St. Leontius church uncovered in 2020 and dated to the 7th c. should be excluded. 

Vincent and Abel opined that the capitals resemble more those of the Nativity church, assumed to be Constantinian, than Theodosian capitals. But recent work at the Nativity church concluded that the entire church, including its normal Chrinthian capitals and the wodden architravs are Justinianic. 

Phase 1
5th c.
The original church was destroyed by a heavy fire, seemingly during the Persian conquest of 614. It is unclear whether the Byzantine church was rebuilt or not. In 12th century a Crusader church was erected at the same place in a slightly different orientation.
Abandonment
7th c.
Early
Post Arab conquest history: 
Built anew

Jerusalem (Mount of Olives) - Eleona

Church Name, type, function

Site Name: 
Jerusalem (Mount of Olives)
Identification: 
The church was built over a crypt or a cave where, according to Christian tradition, Jesus taught his disciples.
Church name: 
Eleona
Functional Type: 
Memorial
Church type: 
Basilical - Annex\es on the south

Location

Coordinates, ITM system: 
223.30
631.72
Coordinates, ICS system: 
173.30
1,131.70
Geographical region: 
Jerusalem Mount of Olives
Topographical location: 
Mount of Olives
Provincial affiliation: 
Palaestina I
Bishopric: 
Jerusalem

Source of knowledge

Literary sources: 

Archaeological remains

Bibliograpy: 
Vincent, L. H., 1910
Vincent, L. H., 1911
Dunkel, A., 1911
Crè, L., 1911
Reil, J., 1912
Burtin, R., 1914
Vincent, L. H. and Abel, F. M., 1914
Weigand, E., 1923
212-220
Crowfoot, J. W., 1941
Vincent, L. H., 1957
Bagatti, B., 1962
Bagatti, B., 1968
Ovadiah, A., 1970
Avi-Yonah, M., 1970
Ovadiah, A. and de Silva, C. G., 1982
Bieberstein, K. and Bloedhorn, H., 1994
286-192
Schick, R., 1995
350-351
Michel, V., 2004
Vol. 2, 112-114, Vol. 3, 108-109, figs. 191-194.
Sebag, D. and Nagar, Y., 2007
Abbreviation for Journals and Series

General description

State of preservation/which parts were uncovered: 
Poorly preserved. A mono-apsidal basilica 30.5 X 19 m., in dimensions, with an atrium and a baptismal unit annexed on the south. The crypt under the raised bema is identified as the cave were Christ was teaching his disciples. 

Description

Illustrative material: 
Atrium: 

In front of the church there is a rectangular atrium with a portico in front, 19 X 3.5 m. in dimension, with six columns at its façade. Two staircases lead from north and south to a raised balcony located in front of the portico. Three entrances lead from the portico to a peristyle atrium, 25 X 19 m. in dimensions, with a water cistern at its center.

Narthex: 

No narthex.

Façade and entries: 

Three doorways lead in to the basilica from the atrium.

Lateral walls: 

Long sections of them were looted. Where laid in deep tranches.

Nave: 

11m wide. Two rows of six columns separated it from the aisles. 

Aisles: 

The width of each aisle was 4 m. Two staicases in their eastern ends led down to the crypt.

Bema, chancel screen and apse: 

According to Vincent, the apse was external, polygonal. It is 4.5 m. deep and 9 m. wide. According to Wiegand (1923) and Avi-Yonah (EAEHL), the church-head was rectangular on the outside. Likewise according to V. Michel, who suggests the existence of two rooms flanking the apse. 

Two staircases lead from the nave up to the elevated sanctuary.

Lateral spaces: 

According to the plan published by Vincent and Abel (Jm. Nouvelle, Vol. 2, p. 356, fig. 154)), the northern aisle might had been ended in a room on the east. V. Michel considered (following Wiegand 1923) the existence of two rooms flanking the apse, recognizing that at the absence of hard evidence, this cannot be determined. 

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
Water cistern: 
Yes
Narthex: 
No
Aisles: 
2
Colonnades / Arcades: 
Colonnade
Number of nave columns in a row: 
Total
6
East end: 
External apse, polygonal
Church Head/Chevet: 
monoapsidal with open lateral rooms or spaces (mon-aps I)
Central Apse Category: 
apsidal
Bema type: 
U shaped without lateral openings
Bema type text: 
Two staircases lead from the nave to the bema and apse.
Elevation of Bema above nave: 
more
Ambo: 
No
Apse elevation: 
Flush with the bema
Apse shape: 
Hemispherical
Synthronon: 
No

Pastophoria

Pastophoria loci: 
N & S
Description and function of northern: 
According to Wiegand (1923), the internal apse was flanked by two pastophoria, while according to the more prevalent plan by Vincent, the apse was polygonal on the outside and a pastophorium might have been existing only on the north. At the absence of clear finds, this issue cannot be determined.

Crypt

Accessibility and description: 
Under the bema there is a cave, reached by two staircases from the aisles, on both sides of the sanctuary. It is 7m long and 4.5m wide, with a semi-circular apse 3m in diameter on the east. Many fragmentary screen plates and columnets were uncovered therein. To its west there is a kokhim burial cave, typical to the Second Temple period.

Baptism

Baptism photos and plans: 
Loci: 
Attached to the church on the south. See below.
Font structure: 
Masonry built
External shape: 
rectangular
Internal shape: 
rectangular
Ben-Pechat type: 
1b

Attached structures

Baptistery: 
Simple rectangular room
Baptistery description: 
Two quadrangular rooms were annexed to the church on the south. The western one is recognized only by the borders of its mosaic floor. Seemingly it was accessed from the eastern portico of the atrium, and a second opening, in its eastern wall, connected it to the eastern room, in which a rectangular baptismal basin, 1x0.72m in dimension was preserved. The basin was surrounded by a mosaic floor. Fine stucco fragments and delicate mosaics (seemingly wall mosaics) were uncovered in it. An opening was identified in the southern wall of this room. The basin is partially rock-cut and partially masonry built. It is attributed by Vincent (1957) to the end of the 4th c. or early 5th c.

Architectural Evolution

General outlineDating materialPhase no.CenturyWithin centurySubphase A - CenturySubphase A - Within century
Eleona is a basilical, memorial church, built over a crypt or a cave where, according to Christian tradition, Jesus taught his disciples.

According to Eusebius the church was built on order of Emperor Constantine, on the initiative of his wife Helena. Also, mentioned by the Bordeaux pilgrim (333 CE).  

The baptistery annexed on the south is attributed by Vincent (1957) to the end of the 4th c. or early 5th c. This is marked here as subphase A.

Phase 1
4th c.
First half
5th c.
Early
According to Eutychius of Alexandria (Annales, 119 [text]; 99 [trans.]), the church was destroyed by the Persians in 614. However, shortly thereafter it is mentioned by Sophronius (Anacreontica XIX, 9-12), Adomnan (I, 25), Epiphanius the Monk, the Georgian Calendar and the Commemoratorium de casis Dei 1, 18 (ed. McCormick, p. 206-207). In addition, it is not mentioned among the churches restored by Modestus. Bieberstein and Bloedhorn 1994, III: 286, suggested that it was rather destroyed in a 9th c. unrest (either that of the years 809-814, or that of 871), so that in the days of Eutychius it was in ruins, as he says.

Literary sources.

Abandonment
9th c.
Post conquest history comments: 
According to Eutychius of Alexandria (Annales, 119 [text]; 99 [trans.]), the church was destroyed by the Persians in 614. But the fact that it is mentioned in several later literary sources, casts doubt about it, but in his days (d. 940), it was already in ruins.
Conclusions: 
Seemingly destroyed in the late 9th or early 10th c.

IETHIRA; Khirbet Yattir - The Southern Church (Area C)

Church Name, type, function

Site Name: 
IETHIRA; Khirbet Yattir
Identification: 
The ancient village, founded on a hill in the Yattir Forest Park, was identified with biblical Iether (Josh. 15:48). It was also recognized as village of Iethira (Ἰεθειρά), mentioned by Eusebius’ in Onomasticon (On. 88:3; 108:2; 110:18). It was depicted on the Madaba Mosaic Map. More detailed information on identification: Thomsen 1907: 71; Abel 1933–38 II: 321; Avi-Yonah 1954: 72–73; 1976: 70; Tabula: 151–152. Avi-Yonah noted that Jethira (On. 88:3) and Iether (On. 108:2) are two different places (Avi-Yonah 1954: 72).
Church name: 
The Southern Church (Area C)
Functional Type: 
Monastic
Dedication: 
Unknown
Church type: 
Basilical

Location

Coordinates, ITM system: 
201.58
584.59
Coordinates, ICS system: 
151.58
1,084.59
Geographical region: 
Hebron Hills
Topographical location: 
Rocky hill in the southern Judean hills
Distance from Roman roads: 
The village is located between two important roads; to the west: a road leading from ‎Jerusalem to the central Negev and Sinai via Hebron and Beersheba, to the east: a ‎parallel road leading from Jerusalem to the eastern Negev via Bethlehem and Mampsis.‎
Provincial affiliation: 
Palaestina I
Bishopric: 
Eleutheropolis

Source of knowledge

Literary sources: 
Literary sources
Epigraphy: 

Archaeological remains

Surveyed site
Excavated site
Excavators: 
NameDate
Eshel, Hanan; Magness, Jodi; Shenhav, Eli
1995-1999
Bibliograpy: 
Meshel, Z., Ben Yosef, S. and Dror, U., 1987
Tsafrir, Y., Di Segni, L. and Green, J., 1994
Di Segni, L., 1997
Eshel, H., Magness, J., Shenhav, E. and Besonen, J., 1999
Eshel, H., Magness, J. and Shenhav, E., 2000
Eshel, H., Magness, J. and Shenhav, E., 2000
Besonen, J., 2001
Eshel, H., Magness, J. and Shenhav, E., 2001
Eshel, H., Magness, J. and Shenhav, E., 2001
Di Segni, L., 2003
Bordowicz, I., 2007
Eshel, H., Magness, J. and Shenhav, E., 2008
Talgam, R., 2014
Magen, Y. and Kagan, E. D., 2012
297-9
Abbreviation for Journals and Series

General description

State of preservation/which parts were uncovered: 
The parts of the church that were uncovered are the atrium, narthex and prayer hall. in addition another room/structure was uncovered north of the atrium.

Description

Illustrative material: 
Atrium: 

A narrow room, 2 X 10.5 m, that is presumed to have the entrance to the structure in its northern part which did not survive. A mosaic floor with an inscription that is dated to "year 483 of the city", was found in the eastern part of the room. The rest of the floor was paved in large stone tiles. In the center of the atrium is a cistern and another bell shaped cistern with a vaulted stone roof was found in the southern part of the atrium. A system of water channels under the floor allowed overflow to be accrued to an additional cistern north of the church.

Narthex: 

Three opening from the atrium lead to the narthex which is covered with a simple white mosaic with a cross in a medallion in it. A bench was built against the eastern wall.

Façade and entries: 

Three opening lead from the narthex to the prayer hall, one in front of the nave and each of the aisles. The distance between the openings is not equal. Another entrance into the praying hall was found in the the western part of the northern wall.

Lateral walls: 

The prayer hall is 13 X 24 m.

Nave: 

sized 5 X 13 m. and is decorated with an elaborate mosaic. in the north-west corner there is a depression in the mosaic floor. probably used for washing feet before entering the church.

Aisles: 

Divided from the nave by two rows of six columns, each standing on a different type of pedestal. Capitals: some are conical and embossed with crosses and others are reused Nabatean capitals of the 1st century C.E. The aisles are paved with simple white mosaic decorated with flowers. Built against the eastern part of the south wall of the church is a plaster covered bench of 2.5 m. length, 0.5 M. width and o.43 m. height.

Bema, chancel screen and apse: 

An internal apse decorated with a geometric pattern. The bema was elevated from the nave by two steps and contained a marble channel.

Lateral spaces: 

Beside the main apse are two open square rooms covered by a simple white mosaic.

Small finds

Small finds: 
CategoryDescription
Pottery
Very little pottery was found, dating from the 6th century to the end of the 7th or beginning of the 8th century. Amount the few pottery shards a fragment of a decorated lantern was found.
Metal objects
Multiple Metal nails, ranging from 5 to 14 cm. in length, were found on the mosaic floor of the church. The nail were used in the wooden beams which supported the roof tiles.
Small finds illustrative material: 

Detailed description

Structure

Orientation: 
Facing east
Materials applied (roofing): 
tiles
Atrium: 
Yes
Water cistern: 
Yes
Narthex: 
Yes
Aisles: 
2
Colonnades / Arcades: 
Colonnade
Number of nave columns in a row: 
Total
6
East end: 
Internal apse
Church Head/Chevet: 
monoapsidal with open lateral rooms or spaces (mon-aps I)
Central Apse Category: 
apsidal
Bema type: 
U shaped without lateral openings
Elevation of Bema above nave: 
2 steps up

Pastophoria

Pastophoria loci: 
N & S

Attached structures

Prothesis chapel / Diakonikon: 
Simple rectangular room
Prothesis chapel / Diakonikon description: 
North of the atrium was built a room that might have been used as a chapel.

Architectural Evolution

General outlineDating materialIconoclastic evidencePhase no.CenturyWithin centurySubphase A - CenturySubphase B - CenturySubphase A - Within centurySubphase B - Within century
Subphase B - In the main hall a new mosaic floor is placed .The walls of the room built north of the atrium were thickened and possibly a new mosaic floor was placed.

Subphase A is dated to "May of the 9th indiction, year 483 of the city".

Subpahse B is dated by an inscription found in the mosaic of the nave to "March of the 6th indiction, in the year of the city 526".

The city era mentioned in the inscription is either that of Provincia Arabia (sometimes referred to as a city era) or Eleutheropolis. Neither results in agreement between the year and the indiction. Calculated according to the era of Arabia, the date of Subphase A would be May 588, which fell in the 6th indiction, an error of three years. Calculated according to the era of Eleutheropolis, the date would be May 682, which fell in the 10th indiction, an error of only one year. Of the two possibilities, the latter is more likely: while a one-year error year error would not be inconceivable during the troubled period between the Persian and Arab conquests, a three-year error during a period of regular adminstration and tax collection does not seem plausible. It is difficult to evaluate the inscription on paleographical grounds.

Calculated according to the era of Eleutheropolis, the date of Subpahse B would be May 725, which fell in the 8th indiction, an error of two years. 

No
Phase 1
7th c.
Second half
7th c.
8th c.
Second half
First half
The lower mosaic uncovered between the atrium and narthex places either the foundation or refurbishing of the church in the late 7th c. and its continued use at least to the first half of the 8th c. the church was built in 682 CE and modified in 725 CE. (According to the early dating, the church was first built is 588 CE and modified in 632 CE). Later three rooms were built in the northern aisle. Previous remains were removed till level of the mosaics.

Mamluk period

Abandonment
8th-9th c.
Post Arab conquest history: 
Built anew
Post conquest history comments: 
According to the late dating of the inscription in the mosaic floor, the church was built in 682 CE and modified in 725 CE.

Khirbet el-Beiyudat - Church

Church Name, type, function

Site Name: 
Khirbet el-Beiyudat
Identification: 
The site identified with ancient Archelais
Church name: 
Church
Functional Type: 
Parochial
Church type: 
Basilical - Basilica with an annexed chapel

Location

Coordinates, ITM system: 
244,758.00
652,602.00
Coordinates, ICS system: 
191.15
1,152.00
Geographical region: 
Southern Jordan Valley
Topographical location: 
12 Km north of Jericho, on the run-off delta of Wadi 'Ujah.
Provincial affiliation: 
Palaestina I
Bishopric: 
Regio Jericho

Source of knowledge

Epigraphy: 

Archaeological remains

Surveyed site
Excavated site
Excavators: 
NameDate
H. Hizmi
1986
Bibliograpy: 
Hizmi, H., 1990
Di Segni, L., 1990
Hizmi, H., 1993
Di Segni, L., 1993
Abbreviation for Journals and Series

General description

State of preservation/which parts were uncovered: 
Mono-apsidal basilica with a narthex and a single entrance from the west. A second opening was installed in the southern wall as well as in both sides of the apse. Two rooms were attached on the south on either side of a stone paved area infront of the southern opening. Some of the walls were built of mud bricks set on stone foundations.

Description

Illustrative material: 
Narthex: 

The narthex is longer then the width of the basilical church. It is 6.20 m wide and divided lengthwise into two by a row of columns. These columns form a portico in front of the single western entrance to the church. The floor of the narthex was laid with a mosaics bearing geometric patterns. A single grave was found dug into the mosaic floor between the northern column of the portico and the eastern wall of the narthex. It was accessed from the west.

Façade and entries: 

Only one doorway led from the narthex to the hall. The opening was 1.30m wide.

Lateral walls: 

The walls are preserved to an average height of 2 m. Their outer face made of hewn stones. The inner face made of small and medium field stones and plastered.

Nave: 

The nave was separated from the aisles by two rows of six columns, with intercolumnations of 2.8 m.

Aisles: 

The northern aisle is 17.8 m long and 3.3 m wide. A bench 40 cm wide and 30 cm high, made of sand stone blocks, ran along the northern and western walls of the aisle. In its eastern wall there was a doorway 0.80 m wide. The southern aisle has the same dimensions. A stone built bench runs along its western and southern walls, being interrupted by three openings: two lead to a annexed rooms and one, between the side rooms, leads to a stone paved ante-space outside the church. It was its main doorway. To its west there was an entrance to a western annexed room (a diakonikon / prothesis chapel). In the eastern wall of the aisle there is another opening 1.10 m wide, leading first outside and then to a lateral room (a southern pastophorium). A small domical niche (35 cm wide, 50 cm deep and 1 m above  floor level), was discovered in the wall between the doorway to the pastophorium and the chancel screen of the bema. On the floor beneath the niche a fragment of rectangular marble chest (a reliqוary), 7.6x12 cm in dimensions was found, indicating that the niche was asociated with cult of relics. Its short side was decorated with a cross in a medalion. A (missing) plack was fixed to the longer side. Two beds were installed next to the southern screen of the bema. 

Bema, chancel screen and apse: 

The bema, U-shaped, 8 m wide and 5.2 m long, was raised some 60 cm (3 steps) above the nave. There are three openings in the chancel screen: one in the center, leading to the nave, and two lateral openings, at both ends, to the aisles. An ambo in a form of semi-circle (1.1 m wide and 1.1 m deep) and made of hewn stones, projects from the northwest corner of the bema. The apse is internal, 6 m wide and 3.2 m deep. The inner face of the apse was plastered and has traces of red color. A column base and traces of three other bases of the ciborium were found. The altar was located at the apse chord. An empty reliquarium was found in the depression in the floor under the altar. Three phases of mosaic floors were discovered in the bema-apse unit.

Lateral spaces: 

A doorway to the north of the apse, 0.8m wide, led out of the church via a stone paved area. A bench was built along the southern wall of this area. To the south of the apse, a door 1.1m wide (open inward, into the aisle), led to a lateral room, which was added to the church in later phases and its function is unclear. Its walls are built of brick and small stones, different in its masonry than the external wall of the adjacent apse. Seemingly, here as well originally there was a passage. 

Small finds

Detailed description

Structure

Orientation: 
Facing east
Materials applied (walls): 
Limestone
Brick
Atrium: 
No
Narthex: 
Yes
Aisles: 
2
Number of nave columns in a row: 
Total
6
East end: 
Internal apse
Church Head/Chevet: 
single opening flanking the apse (mon-aps V )
Central Apse Category: 
apsidal
Bema type: 
U shaped with two lateral openings
Elevation of Bema above nave: 
3 steps up
Altar remains: 
imprints
Altar reliquiarium type: 
Depression in the floor
Altar location: 
On the apse cord
Ciborium: 
A column base and traces of three another bases of the ciborium were found. in the apse.
Ambo: 
Yes
Ambo remains: 
platform
Ambo location: 
N
Ambo materials: 
Lime stone
Apse elevation: 
Flush with the bema
Synthronon: 
No

Pastophoria

Pastophoria loci: 
S
Description and function of southern: 
To the south of the apse, a doorway led to a lateral room, which was added to the church in a later ‎phase. Its function is not clear.‎

Cult of relics

Cult of relics loci: 
under altar
elsewhere
Reliquiaries: shapes and contents: 
An empty limestone reliquarium was found in the depression in the floor of the bema, under the altar. Below the niche between the doorway to the lateral room to the north of the apse and the chancel screen of the bema, a fragment of rectangular marble chest was found. This may indicate that the niche was also related to the cult of the relics.

Burial loci

Burials loci: 
A single grave was found dug into the mosaic between the northern column of the portico and the eastern wall of the narthex.

Attached structures

Prothesis chapel / Diakonikon: 
Simple rectangular room
Prothesis chapel / Diakonikon description: 
Situated at the southwest side of the church. 6.2 X 4.2 m in dimensions. Brick walls on stone foundations. The flat roof of this room probably rested on two arches. Mosaics paved floors. In the eastern part of the room parts of four legs of an offering table remained in situ. The inscription uncovered there is dated to ca. 560 CE.

Architectural Evolution

Phase name (as published)General outlineDating materialPhase no.CenturyWithin centurySubphase A - Within century
First Phase
Basilical church with single internal apse. Portico in front of the single western entrance; main entrance on the south. First built at the 2nd half of the 5th (on epigraphical grounds). One of the two rooms appended on the S, E of the S entrance (room E), was paved by mosaics slightly later (phase Ia).

Epigraphy. One of the two rooms appended on the SE of the s entrance (room E) was paved by mosaics slightly later (Sub phase A).

Phase 1
5th c.
Second half
Late
Second Phase
This is the main phase of the church. The nave became slightly smaller after the narthex was added. The annexed chapel (room F) was appended on the S, W of the S entrance. An opening was made in the eastern wall of the northern aisle, which led out of the church (this doorway was later blocked). Benches were added along the walls of the aisles and the southern side of the bema. The ambo was also added at this phase. Major alterations of the mosaic floors.

According to the inscriptions and mosaic styles, this phase was dated to ca. 560.

Phase 2
6th c.
Mid
Third Phase
Replacements of the mosaic floors, especially in the apse and bema.

An inscription in front of the altar is dated to Nov. 570, under Justin II. 

Phase 3
6th c.
Second half
Set on fire and abandoned probably at the beginning of the 7th century.
Abandonment
7th c.
Early
Conclusions: 
First built at the 2nd half of the 5th (on epigraphical grounds). One of the two rooms appended on the S, E of the S entrance (room E), was paved by mosaics slightly later (phase Ia). In Phase IIa, dated to ca. 560, the annexed chapel (room F) was appended on the S, W of the S entrance. Phase III, expressed in alterations in the apse and bema, is dated by an inscription to Nov. 570, under Justin II. Abandoned and set on fire several decades later (Hizmi in Tsafrir 1993, 160, 162-63; idem. in Bottini et al., 1990, 245-264; Di Segni, ibid., 265-274).

Herodion; Khirbet Firdaus; el Fureidis - Northern Church

Church Name, type, function

Site Name: 
Herodion; Khirbet Firdaus; el Fureidis
Identification: 
According to Callistus (HE, ed. Migne PG 1865: 124), empress Eudocia built a hospital in Phordisia for 400 patients suffering from the "holy sickness" (leprosarium). J. Zias believes that the place mentioned in this source might be identified with Herodium, known as el Fureidisin Arabic. Associated perhaps with a Gnostic or Jewish-Christian sect.
Church name: 
Northern Church
Functional Type: 
Parochial
Dedication: 
St. Michael
Church type: 
Basilical - Basilica with an annexed chapel

Location

Coordinates, ITM system: 
222.83
619.53
Coordinates, ICS system: 
172.82
1,119.50
Geographical region: 
Judean Desert
Topographical location: 
In the middle of the northern section of Lower Herodium.
Provincial affiliation: 
Palaestina I
Bishopric: 
Jerusalem

Source of knowledge

Epigraphy: 

Archaeological remains

Bibliograpy: 
Ovadiah, A. and De Silva, C. G., 1981
Netzer, E., Birger, R. and Peled, A., 1987
Di Segni, L., 1990
Netzer, E., 1990
Netzer, E., 1993
Chachy, R. , Kalman, Y. and Porat, R. (eds.), Forthcoming
Abbreviation for Journals and Series

General description

State of preservation/which parts were uncovered: 
A basilical church with a quadrangular apse flanked by two lockable pastophoria and a two units annex on the north. 

Description

Illustrative material: 
Narthex: 

The entrance to the church was from the courtyard to the south of the building. The entrance door led to the narthex, in its narrow, southern wall.

Façade and entries: 

From the narthex three doors led to the church hall.

Nave: 

The church hall was 10.4 m long and 8.5 m wide. The nave was separated from the aisles by two rows of four square-sectioned pillars. The upper galleries were supported by arches. A built bench ran around three of the walls.

Bema, chancel screen and apse: 

The U-shaped bema was raised one step above the floor of the nave and was separated from it by a chancel screen. The excavator mentions evidence of an ambo in front of the bema, which was cancelled while the church was still in use. In the center of the square bema evidence of an altar was found, as well as of a reliquary set in the floor, beneath the altar. The inner apse was rectangular in shape.

Lateral spaces: 

The apse was flanked from north and south by two lateral rooms. A small plastered baptismal font was found in the center of the southern room.

Small finds

Detailed description

Structure

Orientation: 
Facing east
Materials applied (walls): 
Limestone
Atrium: 
No
Narthex: 
Yes
Aisles: 
2
Colonnades / Arcades: 
Arcade of pillars
Number of nave columns in a row: 
Total
4
East end: 
Internal apse
Church Head/Chevet: 
monoapsidal with lockable pastophoria (mon-aps II)
Central Apse Category: 
quadrangular
Bema type: 
U shaped without lateral openings
Elevation of Bema above nave: 
1 step up
Altar remains: 
base plate
Altar reliquiarium type: 
Base plate with a central depression
Altar location: 
In the middle of the bema
Ambo: 
Yes
Apse shape: 
Quadrangular
Synthronon: 
No

Pastophoria

Pastophoria loci: 
N & S
Description and function of northern: 
Simple, lockable, rectangular room with mosaic floor.
Description and function of southern: 
A small plastered baptismal font was found in the center of the southern room.

Cult of relics

Cult of relics loci: 
under altar
Reliquiaries: shapes and contents: 
A reliquary set in the floor, beneath the altar.

Burial loci

Burials loci photos and plans: 
Burials loci: 
Under the eastern wall of the church an earlier burial tomb with several loci was revealed. Probably, it was connected to the cult of relics of Bethlehem children, executed by Herod.

Baptism

Loci: 
A small plastered baptismal font was found in the center of the southern room.
External shape: 
square
Internal shape: 
square
Ben-Pechat type: 
1a

Upper galleries

Upper galleries: 
above both aisles

Attached structures

Prothesis chapel / Diakonikon: 
Simple rectangular room
Prothesis chapel / Diakonikon description: 
A unit of three rooms was attached to the northern wall of the church. The western, smallest room, entered from the narthex, had a staircase that led to an upper galleries. The central room had no special features. The eastern room was the largest one, 7.5 X 3.5 m and probably served as a chapel.

Architectural Evolution

General outlineDating materialPhase no.CenturyWithin century
Phase I is the single phase of the church. Basilical church with internal quadrangular apse, two lockable lateral rooms, narthex, galleries and a side chapel attached from the north. The N chapel might be a later addition.

Probably the earliest basilical church of the site, end of 5th or the 1st half of the 6th c. The dating is based on the style of the mosaics, inscriptions and architectural comparisons.

Phase 1
5th c.
Late
Abandonment
7th c.
Conclusions: 
The earliest among the three local churches; end of 5th or the 1st half of the 6th c. according to epigraphy and mosaics styles. The N chapel might be a later addition. Continued in use into the Early Arab period (Netzer, in Tsafrir 1993, 225, 231-232).

Herodion; Khirbet Firdaus; el Fureidis - Eastern Church

Church Name, type, function

Site Name: 
Herodion; Khirbet Firdaus; el Fureidis
Identification: 
According to Callistus (HE, ed. Migne PG 1865: 124), empress Eudocia built a hospital in Phordisia for 400 patients suffering from the "holy sickness" (leprosarium). J. Zias believes that the place mentioned in this source might be identified with Herodium, known as el Fureidisin Arabic.
Church name: 
Eastern Church
Functional Type: 
Parochial
Church type: 
Basilical - Annex\es on the south

Location

Coordinates, ITM system: 
222.83
619.53
Coordinates, ICS system: 
172.82
1,119.50
Geographical region: 
Judean Desert
Topographical location: 
In Lower Herodion
Provincial affiliation: 
Palaestina I
Bishopric: 
Jerusalem

Source of knowledge

Epigraphy: 

Archaeological remains

Bibliograpy: 
Netzer, E., Birger, R. and Peled, A., 1987
Di Segni, L., 1990
Netzer, E., 1990
Netzer, E., 1993
Chachy, R. , Kalman, Y. and Porat, R. (eds.), Forthcoming
Abbreviation for Journals and Series

General description

State of preservation/which parts were uncovered: 
Basilica with a two units annex on the S. The eastern part was not preserved. 

Description

Illustrative material: 
Narthex: 

The church was entered from a narrow narthex by three doors.

Nave: 

The church hall was 12.3 m long and 8.3 m wide. The aisles were separated from the nave by two rows of four monolithic columns. Of the eastern part of the church only the foundations were preserved.

Bema, chancel screen and apse: 

The bema was U-shaped. The apse was internal, semicircular, 1.7 m in radius, flanked by two lateral rooms.

Lateral spaces: 

Only the western part, with a lockable opening of the southern pastophorium was preserved. It is assumed that the northern one was of the same shape. 

Small finds

Detailed description

Structure

Orientation: 
Facing east
Materials applied (walls): 
Limestone
Atrium: 
No
Narthex: 
Yes
Aisles: 
2
Number of nave columns in a row: 
Total
4
East end: 
Internal apse
Church Head/Chevet: 
monoapsidal with lockable pastophoria (mon-aps II)
Central Apse Category: 
apsidal
Bema type: 
U shaped without lateral openings
Elevation of Bema above nave: 
1 step up
Altar remains: 
no remains
Ambo: 
No
Apse elevation: 
Flush with the bema
Synthronon: 
No

Pastophoria

Pastophoria loci: 
N & S

Baptism

External shape: 
other
Internal shape: 
square
Ben-Pechat type: 
9d

Attached structures

Prothesis chapel / Diakonikon: 
Simple rectangular room
Prothesis chapel / Diakonikon description: 
The eastern side room, 7.8 X 2.9 m, attached on the south. It contained an inscription in a tabula ansata, just beside the entrance.
Baptistery: 
Apsidal chapel
Baptistery description: 
The western unit of the southern annex. An apsidal chapel (4.5 X 2.9 m). The font of type 9d, plastered, was located in the apse. Beneath the floor was found a tomb.
Burial room or chapel: 
Apsidal chapel
Burial room or chapel description: 
A tomb was cut in the baptismal chapel.

Architectural Evolution

General outlineDating materialPhase no.CenturyWithin century
The church has only one phase. Internal apse, flanked by two lateral rooms. Narthex in front of the church. Baptismal chapel and diakonikon / prothesis chapel attached on the south.

The dating is based on the style of the mosaics, inscriptions and architectural comparisons. Dated to the end of the 5th century or beginning of the 6th.

Phase 1
5th c.
Late
Abandonment
7th c.
Late
Conclusions: 
Built in the 2nd half of of the 6th c according to the mosaics style. Continued in use into the Early Arab period (Netzer, in Tsafrir 1993, 227, 231-232).

Herodion; Khirbet Firdaus; el Fureidis - Central Church

Church Name, type, function

Site Name: 
Herodion; Khirbet Firdaus; el Fureidis
Identification: 
According to Callistus (HE, ed. Migne 1865: 124), empress Eudocia built a hospital in the Phordisia for 400 patients suffering from the "holy sickness" (leprosarium). J. Zias believes that the place mentioned in this source is Herodium, known as in Arabic as el Fureidis.
Church name: 
Central Church
Functional Type: 
Parochial
Church type: 
Basilical - Annex\es on the north

Location

Coordinates, ITM system: 
222.83
619.53
Coordinates, ICS system: 
172.82
1,119.50
Geographical region: 
Judean Desert
Topographical location: 
In the center of Lower Herodium
Provincial affiliation: 
Palaestina I
Bishopric: 
Jerusalem

Source of knowledge

Archaeological remains

Bibliograpy: 
Netzer, E., Birger, R. and Peled, A., 1987
Netzer, E., 1990
Netzer, E., 1993
Chachy, R. , Kalman, Y. and Porat, R. (eds.), Forthcoming
Abbreviation for Journals and Series

General description

State of preservation/which parts were uncovered: 
The entire church was exposed, including an attached room (Diakonikon?) on the north.

Description

Illustrative material: 
Façade and entries: 

Due to the topography the main entrance to the church was through its southern wall, while in the western wall was only a small door, leading from a narrow corridor west of the church to the northern aisle.

Lateral walls: 

Heavy, well carved stones, some with decorations, were incorporated in the walls of the church and adjacent rooms. These stones are spolia from a nearby Herodian structure.

Nave: 

The church hall was 11.4 m long and 10.2 m wide; part of it, in the southwestern corner, was cut into the bedrock. Two rows of four monolithic columns separated the nave from the aisles.

Bema, chancel screen and apse: 

The U-shaped bema, raised two steps above the nave, was surrounded by a chancel screen. In the center of the bema was located the altar. The apse was internal, semicircular, 2 m in radius. The walls of the apse preserved traces of frescoes.

Lateral spaces: 

The apse was flanked by two lateral rooms. In the southern room a baptismal font was discovered.

Small finds

Detailed description

Structure

Orientation: 
Facing east
Materials applied (walls): 
Limestone
Materials applied (roofing): 
tiles
timber
Atrium: 
No
Water cistern: 
No
Narthex: 
No
Aisles: 
2
Colonnades / Arcades: 
Arcade of columns
Number of nave columns in a row: 
Total
2
East end: 
Internal apse
Church Head/Chevet: 
monoapsidal with lockable pastophoria (mon-aps II)
Central Apse Category: 
apsidal
Bema type: 
U shaped without lateral openings
Bema type text: 
The U-shaped bema, raised two steps above the nave, was surrounded by a chancel screen. In the center of the bema was located the altar.
Elevation of Bema above nave: 
2 steps up
Altar remains: 
imprints
Altar location: 
On the apse cord
Ambo: 
No
Apse elevation: 
Flush with the bema
Apse shape: 
Hemispherical
Synthronon: 
No

Pastophoria

Pastophoria loci: 
N & S
Description and function of northern: 
Lockable room of unknown function.
Description and function of southern: 
In the southern room a baptismal font was discovered.

Baptism

Loci: 
In the southern room a baptismal font was discovered.
Font structure: 
Monolithic
External shape: 
circular
Internal shape: 
cruciform
Ben-Pechat type: 
9a

Attached structures

Prothesis chapel / Diakonikon: 
Trapezoidal room
Prothesis chapel / Diakonikon description: 
Two doorways in the western part of the northern wall of the church led to a large, trapezoidal room, 6.4 X 4.4 m, orientated north - south and divided to two parts by an arch. Along the western and northern walls of this room ran built benches with elevated sides.

Architectural Evolution

General outlineDating materialPhase no.CenturyWithin century
Basilical church with internal apse. The main entrance was through its southern wall. A baptismal font was discovered in the southern room flanking the apse. On the north, a trapezoid room divided into two parts by an arch, was attached to the church. Although its orientation is north - south, it is possible that this room served as diakonikon or a prothesis chapel. The nave, aisles, bema and the northern room were laid with mosaic floors decorated with various geometric patterns.

This church was perhaps the latest of the three basilical churches of Lower Herodium. Its construction date is not clear; probably not earlier than the end of the 5th century or beginning of the 6th. An earlier Byzantine phase was found under the western half of the church - perhaps just a chapel above a small barrel-vaulted tomb, or only a burial room with no chapel above. But since no more detailed information was provided regarding this earlier phase, only the basilical phase is refered here.

Phase 1
6th c.
Early
Abandonment
7th c.
Second half
Conclusions: 
The latest among the three local basilical churches; late 6th c. according to the mosaics style. Continued in use into the Early Arab period (Netzer, in Tsafrir 1993, 232).

Beit 'Anun (Bethennim) - Northern Church

Church Name, type, function

Site Name: 
Beit 'Anun (Bethennim)
Identification: 
Also known as Beit 'Enun or Beit Einun. Affiliated with Beth Anoth of the Second Temple and the Roman-Byzantine period.
Church name: 
Northern Church
Functional Type: 
Parochial
Church type: 
Basilical - Free standing basilica

Location

Coordinates, ITM system: 
211.99
607.84
Coordinates, ICS system: 
161.98
1,107.84
Geographical region: 
Judean Hills
Topographical location: 
On a high hill overlooking Beit Einun.
Distance from nearest bishop-seat: 
ca. 22 km south of Jerusalem.
Distance from Roman roads: 
On the road between Aristobulias and Jerusalem.
Provincial affiliation: 
Palaestina I
Bishopric: 
Jerusalem

Source of knowledge

Archaeological remains

Surveyed site
Excavated site
Excavators: 
Name
Magen
Bibliograpy: 
Magen, Y., 1990
Magen, Y., 2012
Abbreviation for Journals and Series

General description

State of preservation/which parts were uncovered: 
The church was opened during the building of the house. The building works hardly damaged the church. Poor preservation of the northern aisle and the apse. The southern and parts of the eastern walls were preserved to a high of 30-60 ‎cm.‎ The narthex was only partially excavated.

Description

Illustrative material: 
Narthex: 

The narthex (12.6 X 4.7 m) is partially excavated. It was paved with coloured mosaics.

Façade and entries: 

Three entrances led into the church hall from the narthex. The central entrance was 1.8 m wide. Two narrow side openings were later blocked (probably during the Mameluke period). Near the main entrance good quality building stones and architectural elements were found, originally belonging to the church facade.

Lateral walls: 

Of the walls, only the southern and parts of the eastern were preserved to a high of 30-60 cm. They were built of hewn stones and plastered from the interior.

Nave: 

The church hall (12.6 X 17.8 m.) was divided by two rows of five columns into a nave and two aisles.

Aisles: 

Each aisle is 2.5 m wide. The northern aisle is almost completely destroyed, while the southern preserved better, including parts of the mosaic pavement.

Bema, chancel screen and apse: 

The bema measures 4.83 X 3.10 m. It was surrounded by a limestone chancel screen. It is clear that the bema undergone alternations, but the excavations of this area have note been completed. At the last phase the bema raised 55 cm. above the church floor. The apse was internal, but did not survived.

Crypt: See in the Detailed Description, crypt

Small finds

Small finds: 
CategoryDescription
Metal objects
Small crosses and a bell were found in the Byzantine tombs of the crypt
Jewelry
Stone beads, which belonged to the neckless
Small finds illustrative material: 

Detailed description

Structure

Orientation: 
Facing east
Materials applied (walls): 
Limestone
Materials applied (roofing): 
tiles
timber
Atrium: 
No
Water cistern: 
No
Narthex: 
Yes
Aisles: 
2
Colonnades / Arcades: 
Colonnade
Number of nave columns in a row: 
Total
5
East end: 
Internal apse
Church Head/Chevet: 
n/a
Central Apse Category: 
apsidal
Bema type: 
U shaped without lateral openings
Elevation of Bema above nave: 
2 steps up
Ambo: 
No
Synthronon: 
No

Crypt

Accessibility and description: 
Beneath the church a rock-cut tomb was found. Originally, this was a Second Temple period tomb that was refitted for burial for the use of the church and might be the reason for erecting the church. The crypt has two entrances: the southern opens outside the church walls, while the western is through a passage reaching to narthex. Near the church the other tombs, containing fragments of ossuaries, were found.
Function: 
Burial crypt; cult of the relics.
Crypt photos and plans: 

Architectural Evolution

General outlineDating materialPhase no.CenturyWithin century
Basilical church with internal apse and crypt.

Although it is evident that the church undergone some alternation, especially in the area of the bema, the poor state of preservation allows only to refer to the later phase. It was dated on the base of the mosaic patterns and building methods to the end of the 6th century or the beginning of the 7th.

Phase 1
6th c.
Late
Most probably that the Northern church of Beit 'Enun, like the Central church, went out of use following the earthquake of 749 CE.
Abandonment
8th c.
Mid
Post Arab conquest history: 
Unmodified

Ḥorvat Hanot - Church

Church Name, type, function

Site Name: 
Ḥorvat Hanot
Church name: 
Church
Functional Type: 
Pilgrims' church
Dedication: 
According to Christian tradition recorded by pilgrims, the site was the burial place of Goliath mentioned by Antoninus of Placentia (ch.31; 570 CE). This is presumably marked by an artificial heap of stones 7m high and 9m in diameter seen at the site.
Church type: 
Basilical - Basilica with an annexed chapel

Location

Coordinates, ITM system: 
204.53
624.38
Coordinates, ICS system: 
154.53
1,124.40
Geographical region: 
Judean Hills
Distance from nearest bishop-seat: 
15 miles from both Jerusalem and Eleutheropolis.
Distance from Roman roads: 
Located by the side of the Roman road between Jerusalem and Eleutheropolis (Beth Govrin).
Provincial affiliation: 
Palaestina I
Bishopric: 
Eleutheropolis

Source of knowledge

Epigraphy: 

Archaeological remains

Surveyed site
Surveyors: 
NameDate
Guerin
1863
Weiss, Zissu and Solimani
1990's
Excavated site
Excavators: 
NameDate
Shenhav
1985-86
Radashkovsky
Nov. 2015, March 2016
Bibliograpy: 
Shenhav, E., 1986
Shenhav, E., 1998
Shenhav, E., 2003
Di Segni, L., 2003
Weiss, D., Zissu, B. and Solimany, G., 2004
Site no. 129
Radashkovsky, I, 2020
Storchan, B. and Albag, R., 2021
Abbreviation for Journals and Series

General description

State of preservation/which parts were uncovered: 
In the 1985-86 excavations a W-E hall delineated on the north and south by two late thick walls and on the east by a much thinner wall were uncovered. The hall was decorated by two mosaic carpets and a 3 lines long Greek inscription. Another mosaic paved hall was partially uncovered 2m to the north. Storchan and Albag (2021) suggested that this was a monoapsidal church with a hall attached on the north. The western carpet of the prayer hall is earlier than the eastern one, and the Greek inscription, set at its eastern edge, seems to be still later (written partially on the  edge of the carpet), or contemporary with it. The building inscription (see under Epigraphy), dated epigraphically to the end of the 6th century (April 594), or early in the 7th century (April 609), seems to denote a late refurbishing of a pre-existing church. It was suggested that the northern hall was the diakonikon mentioned in the inscription (or a baptistery). In the 2015 and 2016 seasons an area immediately beyond the late, eastern wall was excavated. A subterranean burial chamber (2.4x2.6m; 1.4m high), accessed by two sets of four stairs descending from east to west was uncovered there. It might had held a coffin, or two troughs. According to Storchan and Albag it was accessed from the outside, from the east of the apse. One of the stone slabs that had covered the narrow staircase leading to the crypt was still preserved in situ. The tomb was located in a N-S hall roofed by two arches. An entrance with a threshold in the south marks the entrance from the bema to the southern aisle, where traces of a mosaic floor were also discerned. Storchan and Albag suggested to trace in one of the photos the course of the apse (mentioned as well in the inscription), The central location of the crypt in the eastern part of the building suggest that we have to do here with a memorial chapel and that the church was a pilgrims church, as is suggested by the Arabic name of the site - Khirbet el Khan.  In the 1990's surveys several cisterns, a vast winepress and other installation as well as a rock-cut pool were recorded. The winepress was excavated in the 2015-2016 seasons. The fact that the church was a component of a larger architectural complex that includes the winepress suggest a monastery that also served as a road station. A building located to the north of the chapel might had served as a hospice (see sitemap) 

Description

Illustrative material: 
Lateral walls: 

The Byzantine walls flanking the nave from the north and from the south were incorporated into the later, Ayyubid, structure.

Nave: 

4.9m wide. Two mosaic carpets decorating the nave were uncovered. At the eastern edge of the eastern carpet, presumably in front of the bema with the underlying crypt, a 3 lines long Greek inscription was found. It mentions several architectural components: a prostheke, an apse (konche), a diakonikon, and the refurbishing in paintings and revetment of the end wall of the presbitery. The prostheke may refer to the underground tomb (theke), rather than to the nave.

Aisles: 

Storchan and Albag observed the bases of five piers to the south of the nave, and three to its north separating it from the two aisles that did not survived. The intercolumniation is 1.5m. According to them the aisles were dead-end.  

Bema, chancel screen and apse: 

According to the reconstruction of Storchan and Albag, the burial crypt accessed from the outside, was located beneath the bema. A well cut corner of ashlars located farther to the east of the apse may mark the north-western corner of an elaborate entrance to the crypt. This corner is attached to the eastern pier of a northern roofing arch. The bottom course of two other piers were still preserved on either side of the western wall of this space. These piers carried two arches that had supported a flat roof. No remains of a chancel screen were preserved. Several architectural members (bases and pilaster capitals) of a small order, might had belonged to a canopy that had adorned the altar and the underlying crypt.

The elevation of the single slab serving as a roof of the staircase leading down to the crypt, and that of the sill of the southern room, mark the elevation of the bema floor, being, of course, higher than the level of the mosaic floor to its west. A mosaic patch at an higher elevation indicates that the bema was mosaic paved.  

On the NW two square stones, seemingly for supporting two legs of an ambo were incorporated in the mosaic floor. 

Lateral spaces: 

According to Storchan and Albag the aisles were dead-end, so there were no pastophoria. 

Crypt: See in the Detailed Description, crypt

Small finds

Detailed description

Structure

Orientation: 
Facing east
Materials applied (walls): 
Limestone
Aisles: 
2
Number of nave columns in a row: 
Total
5
East end: 
External apse, round
Church Head/Chevet: 
single opening flanking the apse (mon-aps V )
Central Apse Category: 
apsidal
Bema type: 
U shaped
Altar remains: 
no remains
Ciborium: 
A pier cap and a base of a small order might had belonged to the ciborium set above the altar and the underlying burial crypt.
Ambo: 
Yes
Ambo remains: 
legs
Ambo location: 
N
Ambo description: 
Two stones, serving seemingly to support the legs of an ambo, were incorporated in the mosaic floor near the NW corner of the bema.
Ambo materials: 
Lime stone
Ambo placement: 
On the Mosaic floor
Apse shape: 
Hemispherical

Pastophoria

Pastophoria loci: 
S
Description and function of southern: 
An threshold of an opening leading to a mosaic-paved southern room (partially preserved), might have served as the diakonikon mentioned in the Greek inscription.
Pastophoria photos and plans: 

Crypt

Accessibility and description: 
Located under the bema, it was accessed through an east-west descending staircase of 8 stairs arranged in two sets of 4. The burial chamber is 2.4x2.6m in dimensions and 1.4m high. It might have held a coffin at its center, but no remains were uncovered.
Function: 
Burial crypt.
Crypt photos and plans: 

Burial loci

Burials loci: 
In the crypt, under the bema.

Attached structures

Prothesis chapel / Diakonikon: 
Quadrangular chapel
Prothesis chapel / Diakonikon description: 
A diakonikon might have been the partially preserved mosaic paved room uncovered to the north of the chapel, or the southern room to the south of the bema. (The term "prostheke" - an annex - mentioned in the inscription could have likewise referred to one of these spaces.

Architectural Evolution

General outlineDating materialIconoclastic evidenceIconoclastic evidence commentsPhase no.CenturyWithin century
The western mosaic panel of the prayer hall of the chapel should be attributed to this phase, as well as the crypt under the bema.

6th century, acording to the patterns of the western carpet. In any case, this phase predate the eastern mosaic carpet and the Greek inscription on its eastern edge mark the second phase of refurbishing.

Yes
The animal and bird figures in the medallions of the western carpet as well as in the scuta pattern of the eastern carpet were defaced and repaired with the same tesserae replaced at random.
Phase 1
6th c.
The eastern carpet and the Greek inscription set at its eastern edge, in front of the bema, mark this phase. The inscription might even been later than the carpet, since its third line was set over the edge of the carpet.

The  inscription, dated according to the indiction and the month, and according to its paleography, is attributed to April 609 CE, rather than April 594 (Di Segni 2003). The diakonikon, mentioned in the inscription, is also of this phase.   

Yes
Phase 2
7th c.
Early

Iconoclastic activity evident in the mosaic floors of the prayer hall, indicates that the church continued to be in use until after the first quarter of the 8th c. It was abandoned thereafter. Perhaps in the later part of the 8th c. The almost absolute lack of the finds from the Byzantine period led the excavators to suggest that the church was abandoned before the earthquake of 749, which destroyed the building. In the Ayyubid and Mameluke periods the site served as a road station (Khan). 

Yes
Abandonment
8th c.
Mid
Conclusions: 
The burial crypt under the bema suggests that the structure served as a memorial chapel. It is not known for whom. An artificial heap of stones 7m high recorded at the site might had marked the burial place of Goliath, who was killed by David in the Ella Valley, farther down along the road leading from Jerusalem to Eleutheropolis. According to Di Segni (2003), the site might have served as a road station with a chapel in which monks from a nearby monastery were officiating. The abbot, recorded in the inscription, was also the priest of this chapel. But the fact that the chapel is one component of a larger architectural complex, including an elaborate wine-press, a pool and other installation uncovered at the site, may suggest that it was a monastery after all.

Ḥorvat Tinshemet - St. Bacchus

Church Name, type, function

Site Name: 
Ḥorvat Tinshemet
Identification: 
The excavators propose to identify Horvat Tinshemet with Bethmelchi, which appears on the Madaba Map as Bethomelgezis.
Church name: 
St. Bacchus
Functional Type: 
Private estate
Dedication: 
St. Bacchus
Church type: 
Basilical - Free standing basilica

Location

Coordinates, ITM system: 
196.18
656.07
Coordinates, ICS system: 
146.17
1,156.10
Geographical region: 
Shephelah
Provincial affiliation: 
Palaestina I
Bishopric: 
Diospolis

Source of knowledge

Epigraphy: 

Archaeological remains

Bibliograpy: 
Dahari, U., 1996
Dahari, U., 1998
Dahari, U., 2012
Abbreviation for Journals and Series

General description

State of preservation/which parts were uncovered: 
The entire church was excavated, including atrium, narthex and the church hall.

Description

Illustrative material: 
Atrium: 

The atrium measures 9 X 10 m. It was entered from the west. In the northeastern corner was another door, leading to the oil press, attached to the atrium from the north. The floor of the atrium was paved with white mosaic. A round medallion in its center depicts a cross and Greek inscription. On the eastern side of the atrium four steps lead to the narthex. At the foot of the steps is another inscription, mentions St. Bacchus.

Narthex: 

The narthex measures 2.8 X 10.3 m. It was entered from the atrium by a single door in the middle of the western wall. The narthex was paved with colorful mosaic.

Façade and entries: 

Three doorways lead to the church hall from the narthex: a center one, 1.5 m wide and two side openings, 0.9 m wide each.

Lateral walls: 

The walls of the church were built of fine limestone ashlars.

Nave: 

The church hall is square, 10.35 X 10.35 m., not including the apse, which protruded to the east. The nave is 4.76 m wide, separated from the aisles by two rows of 3 columns, standing on stylobats. The floor is covered with a mosaic, decorated with geometric and floral motifs.

Aisles: 

Each aisle is 2.2 m wide.

Bema, chancel screen and apse: 

The bema was U-shaped, with a single entrance in the center of the marble chancel screen. At the center of the bema was found a marble altar 0.60 X 0.64 m. Under the altar was located a marble reliquary of which only a marble lid fragment was found.

Small finds

Small finds: 
CategoryDescription
Pottery
Jars, found mainly in the atrium, Oil lamps, jug, flask and roof tiles.
Glass
Glass windows (fragments), glass lamps.
Stone vessels
Limestone and basalt basins, fragments of marble chancel screen, altar and reliquary and a marble medallion of Tyche.
Metal objects
iron nails, needle, ring, bronze fibula and oil ladle.
Coins
Three coins dated to the 4th, 6th and 8th centuries.
Small finds illustrative material: 

Detailed description

Structure

Orientation: 
Facing east
Materials applied (walls): 
Limestone
Materials applied (roofing): 
tiles
timber
Atrium: 
Yes
Water cistern: 
No
Narthex: 
Yes
Aisles: 
2
Colonnades / Arcades: 
Arcade of columns
Number of nave columns in a row: 
Total
3
East end: 
External apse, quadrangular
Church Head/Chevet: 
dead end aisles (mon-aps III)
Central Apse Category: 
apsidal
Bema type: 
U shaped without lateral openings
Bema type text: 
The bema was U-shaped, with a single entrance in the center of the marble chancel screen.
Elevation of Bema above nave: 
1 step up
Altar type: 
Marble, table like
Altar reliquiarium type: 
Base plate with a central depression
Altar location: 
In the middle of the bema
Ambo: 
No
Apse elevation: 
Flush with the bema
Apse shape: 
Hemispherical
Synthronon: 
No

Cult of relics

Cult of relics loci: 
under altar
Reliquiaries: shapes and contents: 
Under the altar was located a marble reliquary of which only a marble lid fragment was found.

Upper galleries

Upper galleries: 
above both aisles

Architectural Evolution

General outlineDating materialIconoclastic evidencePhase no.CenturyWithin century
Basilical church with external apse and dead end aisles. Atrium, narthex and oil press attached to the atrium from the north.

The church is single phased, and was erected together with the oil press. On base of parallels to other church mosaics, the excavators propose the construction date of the church to the beginning of the 6th century. 

No
Phase 1
6th c.
Early
According to pottery and other finds (mainly of Late Byzantine, Umayyad and Abbasid periods), the church was abandoned and destroyed in the second half of the 8th century.
Abandonment
8th c.
Second half
Post Arab conquest history: 
Unmodified

Ḥorvat Hesheq - ST. GEORGE

Church Name, type, function

Site Name: 
Ḥorvat Hesheq
Church name: 
ST. GEORGE
Functional Type: 
Private estate
Dedication: 
The church was dedicated to St. George
Church type: 
Basilical - Free standing basilica

Location

Coordinates, ITM system: 
225.71
761.95
Coordinates, ICS system: 
175.71
1,261.95
Geographical region: 
Western Galilee
Distance from nearest bishop-seat: 
Horvat Hesheq located within a boundaries of the Diocese of Sepphoris, 20 km north of the city.
Distance from nearest settlement: 
The church is a solitary structure located at a distance of approx. 150 m north of Horvat Mahoz, which is a relatively large (30 dunams), unidentified Byzantine settlement.
Provincial affiliation: 
Palaestina II
Bishopric: 
Sepphoris

Source of knowledge

Epigraphy: 

Archaeological remains

Excavated site
Excavators: 
NameDate
Aviam
1985-1988
Aviam and Cohen-Tavor
2017, 2018
Bibliograpy: 
Aviam, M., 1990
Di Segni, L., 1990
Aviam, M., 1993
Di Segni, L., 1993
Aviam, M., 2002
Kohn-Tavor, A., 2021
Abbreviation for Journals and Series

General description

State of preservation/which parts were uncovered: 
The tri-apsidal basilica with a prothesis chapel attached on the north and an atrium above a water cistern in the north. It is well preserved, with walls rising up to a height of 1 m and the central apse standing to a height of about 4.5 m above ground level. Only small parts of the atrium and the narthex were excavated. Inside the church mainly the eastern part was excavated. In the 1st Phase it was a mono-apsidal basilica with two pastophoria flanking the apse. The foundation of the church was dated to 519 CE by a Greek mosaic inscription set at the entrance to the nave, facing east. In the 2nd Phase the church-head was transformed to tri-apsidal and an apsidal hall was attached to the church on the north. This is clearly indicated by a seam on the outside of the eastern wall.

Description

Illustrative material: 
Atrium: 

Only a small section of the atrium was excavated. Presumably, it consisted of an inner court surrounded by porticoes. The atrium was built over an arched water cistern. The southern wal of the cistern was brocken through.

Narthex: 

The narthex or exo-narthex, 2 m wide, served as the eastern portico of the atrium. Three entrances led in to the basilica. Another opening, farther north, led to the atthached prothesis chapel / diakonikon. 

Façade and entries: 

Three entrances led to the church hall from the narthex. The central was wider than the two lateral. A stone lintel was found in-situ above the northern entrance. It is evident that originally, the lintel was decorated with a metal cross and apparently with letters Α Ω. The middle and southern lintels were found brocken, but on both of them there are indications for attaching a cross in the center.

Lateral walls: 

The church was built of ashlar stones bonded with cement on the external facade and part of the interior, while other parts were made up of a dry mixture of mortar and small stones. Access was possible only from the north.

Nave: 

The church hall, 11 m long and 8.5 m wide, was divided by two rows of three columns, probably with Corinthian capitals, to a nave and two aisles. The floors of the nave and the aisles were covered with colored mosaics with geometric patterns.

Aisles: 

The southern aisle was excavated to its full length; the northern one, only partially (in 2017), near its eastern end. Both ends were apsidal. At the center of the southern apse an altar base with depressions for four legs and a reliquary depression (found empty), in the middle, was discovered. It measured 35 X 30 cm and had a marble lid with a hole.

Bema, chancel screen and apse: 

The internal, semi-rounded apse is preserved to an elevation of about 4.5 m above ground level - up to the string course. The bema is elevated 40 cm above the nave. It was surrounded by a marble chancel screen without lateral openings. The posts of the screen were made of hard limestone. The opening in the screen, was flanked by two secondery tables, each marked by four depressions with small marble bases made of soft limestone, for inserting their legs. The altar base (50 X 90 cm in dimensions) with a reliquarium depression were standing in front of the apse. An existence of ciborium above the altar is indicated by fragments of columns of smaller order, and by two Corinthian capitals that were found near the altar.

Lateral spaces: 

In the 1st Phase it was a mono-apsidal basilica with two pastophoria flanking the apse. In the 2nd Phase the church-head was transformed to tri-apsidal and an apsidal hall was attached to the church on the north. This is clearly indicated by a seam on the outside of the eastern wall.

The lateral apses, installed in Phase 2, were dry-built within a rectangular external frame of the pastophoria built of ashlars bonded with cement. An altar base with four leg-depressions and a central one for a reliquary, was installed in the southern apse. 

Crypt: See in the Detailed Description, crypt

Small finds

Small finds: 
CategoryDescription
Stone vessels
On the mosaic floor of the nave a small reliquarium, 20 X 30 cm and a part of a marble large flat dish were discovered.
Metal objects
A short distance from the reliquarium was a bronze mounting of an overhead lamp, with the glass handles still attached.
Pottery
At the eastern part of the southern aisle a large number of jar sherds were discovered, probably from vessels that had toppled from the galleries. Also in the southern aisle as well as in the nave, many roof tiles were found.

Detailed description

Structure

Orientation: 
Facing east
Materials applied (walls): 
Limestone
Materials applied (roofing): 
tiles
timber
Atrium: 
Yes
Water cistern: 
Yes
Narthex: 
Yes
Aisles: 
2
Colonnades / Arcades: 
Arcade of columns
Number of nave columns in a row: 
Total
3
Capital types: 
Corinthian
East end: 
Internal apses
Church Head/Chevet: 
tri-apsidal
Central Apse Category: 
apsidal
Bema type: 
U shaped without lateral openings
Elevation of Bema above nave: 
1 step up
Altar remains: 
base plate
Altar type: 
Marble, table like
Altar reliquiarium type: 
Base plate with a central depression
Altar location: 
On the apse cord
Secondary tables: 
At the back of the chancel screen, to the right and left of the entrance to the bema were found four recesses with small marble bases of soft limestone for inserting the legs of two tables. At the center of the southern apse stood another table, evident by four leg-depressions and a central reliquary depression in a base-plate made of limestone.
Ciborium: 
An existence of ciborium above the altar is evident by fragments of small columns and two Corinthian capitals of a smaller order that were found near the altar.
Ambo: 
No
Apse elevation: 
Flush with the bema
Apse shape: 
Hemispherical
Synthronon: 
No

Lateral Apses Function

Location: 
N & S
Northern apse description and function: 
Hidden in the debris, but its existence is recognizable.
Southern apse description and function: 
The apse served for the cult of the relics, evident by the reliquary found in the floor of the apse, under a secondary table.

Crypt

Accessibility and description: 
A burial tomb, accessed from the south was partially built as a crypt, partially rock-cut below the southern aisle and a part of the nave. Seemingly this was the common tomb of the members of the family of the deacon Demetrius, who built this private church (see Epigraphy).
Function: 
Burial crypt.

Cult of relics

Cult of relics loci: 
under altar
S apse
Reliquiaries: shapes and contents: 
Three reliquaries were discovered in the church: in the central apse, in the southern apse and a portable reliquary in the nave. The reliquary in the central apse was set in the middle of a stone altar base plate, located on the apse cord, sunk in the floor, so that only the top 15 cm had protruded above floor level. The reliquary in the southern apse was also cut in the center of a stone altar base plate that stood in the apse. It measures 30 X 25 X 15 cm and had a marble lid with a hole in its center. Four drills in the corners of the lid served to secure it in its place by pouring in melted lead into which four iron pegs were set. The "portable" reliquary was made of limestone, measuring 27 X 17 X 12 cm and decorated with a cross. It had a bronze spout in the center of one of its long faces. The cover (not found), was a sliding lid.

Burial loci

Burials loci: 
Under the floor of the southern aisle, in its center, was located the burial crypt addressed above. It was reachable only from the outside of the church, from the south, through an entrance, 60 X 70 cm in dimensions, once having a stone door. It seems that it served as the family memorial.

Upper galleries

Upper galleries: 
above both aisles
Galleries description: 
Their existence is suggested by the debris of mosaic frags, and balustrade members. Access by a wide staircase installed in an attached northern hall, once suggested, was refuted in the 2017 excavations, indicating that this hall was an apsidal prothesis chapel / diakonikon.

Attached structures

Prothesis chapel / Diakonikon: 
Apsidal chapel
Prothesis chapel / Diakonikon description: 
This apsidal chapel with a roof retained by lateral arches (remains of three were exposed), was uncovered only in the 2017 excavations. Its western part is poorly preserved.

Architectural Evolution

General outlineDating materialIconoclastic evidenceIconoclastic evidence commentsPhase no.CenturyWithin century
A mono-apsidal church with two pastophoria flanking the apse. It had an atrium and a narthex. Burial chamber under the southern aisle. Water cistern under the atrium.

The foundation of the church was dated to 519 CE by a Greek mosaic inscription set at the entrance to the nave, facing east. 

Yes
The excavators mention a damage that was caused to panels with human or zoomorphic motifs. The date of the iconoclasm is uncertain but, according to the excavators, it took place already after the abandonment of the church but, before the final destruction.
Phase 1
6th c.
Early
The mono-apsidal church was converted to tri-apsidal. An annexed apsidal chapel was annexed to the north of the northern aisle, lengthwise, as is indicated by the seam on the outside of the eastern wall.
Phase 2
6th c.
Second half
The church was abandoned in an orderly manner presumably as a result of the Persian conquest. After a short period of desertion, letting earth penetrating in, it fell in ruins.
Abandonment
7th c.
Early