Dor (Dora) - Pilgrims Church
Church Name, type, function
Site Name:
Dor (Dora)
Identification:
A pilgrims church located on the major coastal road - "Via Maris" connecting Egypt with Phoenicia and Syria.
Church name:
Pilgrims Church
Functional Type:
Pilgrims' church
Church type:
Basilical - Annex\es on N & S
Location
Coordinates, ITM system:
192.46
724.79
Coordinates, ICS system:
142.45
1,224.80
Geographical region:
Coastal plain
Topographical location:
The Byzantine church is located on the southeastern slope of Tel Dor.
Distance from nearest bishop-seat:
An episcopal see.
Distance from Roman roads:
Next to "Via Maris"
Provincial affiliation:
Palaestina I
Bishopric:
Dora
Source of knowledge
Epigraphy:
Archaeological remains
Excavated site
Excavators:
| Name | Date |
|---|---|
Leibovitch | February 1952 |
Dauphin | June 1979, 1980, 1983, 1994 |
General description
State of preservation/which parts were uncovered:
The mono-apsidal church, 18.5 m long and 14 m wide, was almost entirely excavated. It consisted of an atrium, a prayer hall with two aisles, an external apse and two attached lateral wings 4.25m wide, with several rooms and chapels (the southern wing was almost entirely destroyed by modern building activity; the northern one served as a baptistery). Each wing terminated with an apse on the east. The church complex extende over 1000 sqm compound.
Description
Illustrative material:
Atrium:
The rectangular atrium with a peristyle was 18.5 m long and 13.25 m wide. It was paved with stone slabs. The floor slabs covered the collapsed vault of a large cistern, 7.4 m long, 3.15 m wide and 3 m deep. The cistern collected the water from the roof by three plaster-lined channels.
Lateral walls:
The walls are 0.6 m thick, and were built of ashlars 0.35 - 1 m long. The ashlars were laid out as headers and stretchers. The internal sides of the walls were covered with plaster.
Nave:
The nave is 7.5 m wide and paved with mosaics.
Aisles:
The aisles are 2.5 m wide. At the eastern end of the southern aisle, under the floor, a tomb was discovered, which served for the cult of the relics (see under "Burial Loci" in "Detailed Description").
Bema, chancel screen and apse:
The apse is external, semicircular, with outer radius of 4 m. In the first phase its internal diameter was 5.5m; in the second - 3.2m.
Small finds
Small finds:
| Category | Description |
|---|---|
Coins | A tremessis coin of Constantine II (337-361 CE) was found on the phase 1 pavement of one of the rooms of the northern wing. |
Pottery | Egyptian storage jars, "Late Roman" and African Red Slip" bowls and plates, storage jars from Asia Minor and roof tiles. |
Glass | Window panes and glass chandelier. |
Metal objects | Iron nails, door bolts and fragments of a lead chandelier. |
Other | An episcopal ivory sceptre lacking its handle in a shape of a hand. The hand had three fingers, comprising episcopal blessing. Ring on one of the fingers (Leibovitch 1957: 35) |
Small finds illustrative material:
Detailed description
Structure
Orientation:
Facing east
Materials applied (walls):
Limestone
Materials applied (roofing):
tiles
timber
Atrium:
Yes
Water cistern:
Yes
Narthex:
No
Aisles:
2
East end:
External apse, round
Church Head/Chevet:
dead end aisles (mon-aps III)
Central Apse Category:
apsidal
Altar remains:
no remains
Ambo:
No
Apse shape:
Hemispherical
Synthronon:
No
Burial loci
Burials loci:
A grave with a remains of two skeletons is located at the eastern end of the southern aisle. The grave was covered with five stone slabs. In the most eastern stone slab there was a hole with a clay pipe. The pipe was probably used to pour oil into the grave. This suggests that the two people buried there were saints and were venerated in the church.
Baptism
Loci:
A baptismal basin located in the middle of the northern wing.
Font structure:
Masonry built
External shape:
rectangular
Internal shape:
rectangular
Upper galleries
Upper galleries:
above both aisles
Attached structures
Prothesis chapel / Diakonikon:
Apsidal chapel
Prothesis chapel / Diakonikon description:
The northern annex served as a baptistery with a rectangular basin. Its eastern room (room 9) was paved with a colored mosaic with geometric patterns. In its eastern part there was a stone step that probably gave access to an elevated area - a chancel - now destroyed. If so, this annex might have served symultaneously as a baptistry and a prothesis chapel. It is also a possible that the southern annex was a prothesis chapel. However, most of it was destroyed by modern activity. A tomb was uncovered near its end.
Baptistery:
Apsidal chapel
Baptistery description:
The baptistery, located in the northern wing, consisted of several units: A 8.7 m long space, paved with stone slabs in the west. This space - a kind of a courtyard, led into an antechamber, 5.2 m long, whose plaster floor was originally paved with marble slabs. The antechamber gave access to a shallow, plastered, rectangular basin or baptismal piscina, 4.4 m long, 2.1 m wide and 0.97 m deep (no. 7 in the plan). The eastern and western edges consisted of two steps. East of the baptismal basin there was a room, 6 X 4.5 m (room 9), paved with colored mosaics.
Architectural Evolution
| General outline | Dating material | Phase no. | Century | Within century |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Basilica church with semicircular external apse, dead end aisles and lateral chapels. A fire, signs of which were recorded on the phase 1 floors of the rooms of the northern wing, marks the end of phase 1 church.
| The church, including the lateral chapels, is attributed by numismatic evidence and an inscription to the mid 4th c., although, according to Jerome, in 366 Dor was still deserted. Coins of Constans II (337-361) were uncovered under the lower floor of a room attached to the church on the north (Dauphin 1999, 401). | Phase 1 | 4th c. | Second half |
General plan as in phase 1. The mosaic floors in the attached wings were raised. The nave and the aisles got mosaic pavement. | The second phase is attributed to the end of the 5th c. | Phase 2 | 5th c. | Late |
Destroyed by a fire which is indicated by a layer of ashes and collapsed rubble. The destruction does not date to the Persian invasion and maybe also not to the Arab Conquest, since a bishop of Dor is mentioned for the last time at 649 CE. It seems that the destruction took place around the mid 7th century. An affect of the Arab conquest cannot be excluded. A Muslim cemetery dated to the VIII-XIV centuries extended over the entire area. The eastern end of the northern wing was damaged by this activity. | Abandonment | 7th c. | Mid |
Post Arab conquest history:
Abandoned
Conclusions:
First phase, including the lateral chapels, is attributed by numismatics and an inscription to the mid 4th c. although according to Jerome, in 386 Dor was still deserted. Second phase attributed to the end of the 5th c (Dauphin, in Tsafrir 1993, 90-97; Dauphin, HA 106 [1996], 56, Ill. 75 [Hebrew]; Di Segni 1997, 435-38, inscr. 122). Destroyed in a fire which is indicated by a layer of ashes and collapsed rubble. A bishop of Dor is mentioned for the last time at 649 CE. It seems that the destruction took place around the mid 7th century; an affect of the Arab conquest cannot be excluded.