12400 - Beit Jimal - ST. STEPHEN

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Beit Jimal - ST. STEPHEN

Church Name, type, function

Site Name: 
Beit Jimal
Church name: 
ST. STEPHEN
Functional Type: 
Memorial
Dedication: 
St. Stephen
Church type: 
Basilical - Basilica with an annexed chapel

Location

Coordinates, ITM system: 
197.87
625.81
Coordinates, ICS system: 
147.86
1,125.80
Geographical region: 
Judean Hills
Topographical location: 
On a hill.
Distance from nearest bishop-seat: 
ca. 13 km northeast of Eleutheropolis and ca. 24 km southwest of Jerusalem.
Provincial affiliation: 
Palaestina I
Bishopric: 
Eleutheropolis

Source of knowledge

Epigraphy: 

Archaeological remains

Bibliograpy: 
Gisler, M., 1917
Abel, F. M., 1919
Gisler, F. M., 1923
Ovadiah, A., 1970
Strus, A., 1988
Strus, A. and Gibson, S., 2005
Magen, Y. and Kagan, E. D., 2012
79-81, no. 206.
Abbreviation for Journals and Series

General description

State of preservation/which parts were uncovered: 
Basilical church with a narthex, rectangular external apse, dead end aisles and two units annex on the south. Only the southeastern part of the basilica and the annexed wing were uncovered. The estimated dimensions of the basilica are 11.6 X 8.5 m.

Description

Illustrative material: 
Narthex: 

Apparently double narthex, internal and external. The internal measures 8.5 X 2.5 m.

Façade and entries: 

Three entrances led to the nave and aisles from the narthex. Only the southern entrance has been found.

Lateral walls: 

The walls are 0.8 m thick.

Nave: 

The nave, 5 m wide, is separated from the aisles by two rows of three columns, resting on stylobates. The distance between the columns is 2 m. The nave is paved with a colored mosaic in geometric patterns. A partially prrserved Greek inscription of at least five lines, placed within a circular frame is set into the nave's mosaic floor near the entrance to the bema.

Aisles: 

The dead end aisles are 1.75 m wide. In the southern wall of the southern aisle there are two entrances leading into the southern annexed wing. A square stone at the eastern end of the aisle, led over the mosaic floor, might have served as a base of a secondary table for the placement of relics. 

Bema, chancel screen and apse: 

The bema is U-shaped, without lateral openings. Remains of the chancel screen were found. The 1922 excavations indicated that the apse was semicircular rather than quadrangular (following the earlier publication of Abel (1919, reproduced by Ovadiah 1970). It was 2.5 m deep and 3.8 m wide.

Lateral spaces: 

The aisle are "dead-end". A square stone, 0.75x0.75m in dimensions placed over the mosaic floor at the eastern end of the northen aisle might had supported a secondary table for a relic. 

Crypt: See in the Detailed Description, crypt

Small finds

Detailed description

Structure

Orientation: 
Facing east
Materials applied (walls): 
Limestone
Materials applied (roofing): 
tiles
timber
Narthex: 
Yes
Aisles: 
2
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: 
quadrangular
Bema type: 
U shaped without lateral openings
Altar remains: 
no remains
Ambo: 
No
Apse elevation: 
Flush with the bema
Synthronon: 
No

Crypt

Accessibility and description: 
The crypt, rock cut and comprising of two spaces, was located under the floor of the southern aisle, at its eastern end. The second space extended under the sanctuary. A flight of six steps led down into the crypt from the square, eastern room of the southern wing. The crypt had two oval spaces. The first smaller than the second, located farther north. The passage between the two was blocked at some later time.
Function: 
According to one tradition, the crypt was the burial place of St. Stephen, the protomartyr.

Attached structures

Prothesis chapel / Diakonikon: 
Quadrangular chapel
Prothesis chapel / Diakonikon description: 
A unit of at least two interconnected rooms was annexed along the whole southern wall of the church. It looks like a quadrangular chapel, though no screen was discerned. The western, elongated room is rectangular, extending west even beyond the narthex. Its floor was white mosaic paved. In its northern wall was installed an opening to an underlying cistern. The eastern, square room had two openings in its northern wall. One connecting it to the southern aisle; a staircase installed in the second led down to the crypt. The room was paved in crude mosaic pavement, 0.34m higher than the floor of the basilica. The floor of the western unit is still 0.14m higher.
Baptistery: 
Quadrangular chapel
Baptistery description: 
Abel (1919) suggested that the long hall attached to the basilical church on the south served as a baptistery, due to the fact that a water cistern is located underneath. No baptismal font was uncovered. It might had rather served as a prothesis chapel (see above). The water cistern extended also northward under the southern aisle. Its mouth is in the passage connecting the aisle and the said hall.

Architectural Evolution

General outlineDating materialPhase no.Century
Basilical church with a narthex, rectangular external apse, dead end aisles and two units annex on the south.

Dated to the 5th - 6th centuries, mostly on the base of the mosaics style.

Phase 1
5th-6th c.

No dates are given.

Abandonment
Unknown