Samaria (Sebaste; Sebastiya) - Latin Cathedral of St. John the Baptist
Church Name, type, function
Site Name:
Samaria (Sebaste; Sebastiya)
Identification:
According to some traditions, the prophets Elisha and Obadiah, and John the Baptist were buried in Sebaste (Hieron. Ep. 108, 13). Sebaste was also considered as the place of execution of St. John the Baptist (Theodosius, II (CCSL, CLXXV, 115; ELS, 232, no. 302). See: Pringle 1998 (Vol. II): 283-8; Bagatti 2002 (Samaria): 75-76.
The Latin Cathedral was located to the east of the Roman city, outside its walls, on the site of a cemetery (Clermount-Ganneau 1896: II, 332f; Hamilton 1944: 59-61, Fig. 24; Avigad 1978: 1049; Petrozzi 1973: 305-9. figs. 116-8; by Pringle 1998: 288). The location of the Byzantine church of the 4th century that preceded it, was most probably also in this area, where prophets Elisha and Obadiah, as well St. John the Baptist, could be buried. The tomb of St. John, located in the central nave of the Crusader's church, might have been venerated there already from the Byzantine period, or even earlier. At least Pringle (p. 283) was inclining to identify this Latin church as being built on the site of the earlier, Byzantine one.
Ca. in 808 CE Commemoratorium de Casis Dei noted that the church was lying in the ruins, only the Tomb of St. John was still venerated on the spot. In 1106-9 Russian abbot Daniel had seen the new Cathedral in Sebastiya.
In 1145 the silver reliquary with the burnt remains of John the Baptist, Elisha and Obadiah was found. The Latin patriarch William initiated the building of the new Cathedral for the commemorating of the sacred remains.
Church name:
Latin Cathedral of St. John the Baptist
Functional Type:
Memorial
Dedication:
St. John the Baptist
Church type:
Unknown
Location
Coordinates, ITM system:
218.07
686.80
Coordinates, ICS system:
16,807.00
1,186.00
Geographical region:
Samaria Hills
Topographical location:
The cathedral was located to the east of the Roman city, outside of its fortress walls, on the site of its cemetery (Clermount-Ganneau 1896: II, 332f)
Distance from Roman roads:
Ca. 2.5 km north of the road from Neapolis (Nablus) to Caesarea
Provincial affiliation:
Palaestina I
Bishopric:
Sebaste
Source of knowledge
Literary sources:
Archaeological remains
Surveyed site
Surveyors:
| Name | Date |
|---|---|
Robinson and Smith | 1830s |
Guerin | 1860s |
Conder and Kitchener | 1880s |
Zertal | 1980s |
History:
According to some traditions, the prophets Elisha and Obadiah, and John the Baptist were buried in Sebastiya (Ep. 108, 13). Also Sebaste was considered as the place of the St. John execution (Theodosius, II (CCSL, clxxv, 115; ELS, 232, no. 302). In 361-2, during the reign of Julian the Apostate the chapel and the bodies of St. John the Baptist, Elisha and Obadiah were burnt, though the ashes of the relics were salvaged by the monks from the monastery of Abbot Philip in Jerusalem (Philostorgius, Hist. Eccles., vii, 4 (ed. Bidez, 80); Rufinus, ii, 28 (PL, xxi, 536-7); ELS, 231, n.1; Wilkinson 1977: 169). Petrus Diaconus, who visited the Holy Land in the 12th century, but actually quoted the source of the 4th century CE (Egeria, 384 CE) in his itinerarium, mentioned a church of the 4th century CE (De Locis Sanctis V6). Paula had visited the Tomb of St. John the Baptist in 404 CE (Jerome, Epist., cviii, 13, 4 (CSEL, LV, 322-3; trans. Wilkinson, 51-2). The description of the martyrium appeared in the mid of the 5th century CE. It was given by John Rufus in 512: "This place was in effect a particular chapel of the church (temple), enclosed by grilles, because there are two caskets covered with gold and silver, in front of which lamps are always burning; one is that of St. John the Baptist and the other that of prophet Elisha; a throne, covered by a cloth, on which nobody used to sit, is also places in that spot." (Plerophoriae, xxix (PO, VIII, 70; ELS, 232, no. 301). In later sources, for example in the itinararium of the 6th century CE of Antoninus of Placentia, no ecclesiastical building was mentioned (Antonini Placentini Itinerarium 6). Marinus, bishop of Sebastiya, had visited the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE, among other 6 bishops from Samaria. A limestone lintel, bearing the Greek inscription with the mentioning of bishop of Sebastiya, Stephanos, was found incorporated into the walls of the tomb of Sheikh Sha'aleh (ca. 2 km southeast of Sebastiya).
Joannes Phocas, a Cretan pilgrim, visited church in 1185. He described his visit to the Cathedral:
"In the middle of the city is the prison into which he was thrown because of the accusations against Herodias, and there also his head was cut off. This prison is underground, and has twenty steps leading down to it. In the centre of it is an altar containing the spot where he was beheaded by quard. On the right of the altar is a coffin in which is preserved the body of Saint Zacharias, the Father of Forerunner. And on the left side is a second coffin in which lies the body of Saint Elizabwth his mother. And in the walls on either side of the Prison rest the remains of several other saints and of the disciples of the Forerunner. Above the Prison is a church in which lie two coffins carved in white marble. The one on the right contains the dust of the body of the venerable Forerunner after it was buried, and the other the body of the Prophet Elisha. Above this, in the church, the left hand of the Forerunner is displayed in a gold vessel, and this itself is completely encased in gold. (ch. xii (PG, cxxxiii, 940; ELS, 235-6. no. 312; trans. Wilkinson, 322); cf. PPTS, v, 15-16) (By Pringle 1998: 286).
In 1187 the Cathedral was roobed and converted into the mosque. The Christians were still allowed to visit it. Burchard of Mount Sion visited the Tomb of St. John in 1283 and described it as "made of marble after the fashion of the Lord's Sepulchre" (ch. vii, 17 (ed. Laurent, 52-3; by Pringle 1998: 287). The other pilgrims of the 14th-15th centuries CE (Johm Poloner, Burchard of Mount Sion, Francesco Suriano) also decsribed the tombs of the saints decorated with the marble. Probably, marble details were reused after the Byzantine church. But more apparently the marble details, mentioned by pilgrims, were ancient sacrophagi. Fr. B. Morosini described them as "two very fine square tombs of marble, very white with festoons and leaves", so probably they were Roman in date (1514; Bagatti 1949: 156 n. 3, by Pringle 1998: 287).
General description
State of preservation/which parts were uncovered:
There were at least two Byzantine churches in the city, but no structures within it have been clearly identified as such. Two Crusader churches, one part of a monastery, were discovered (differed usually as Greek Orthodox (near Augusteum) and Catholic Cathedral (outside the ancient polis).
According to Crowfoot and Pringle, the Crusader's Latin Cathedral was built on the foundations of the Byzantine church, with the reuse of its details. Though the foundation are difficult to reveal under the Crusader walls, we were able to find the apse, built behind the Crusader church (it might be seen as separately standing on the D. Roberts drawing, before the site was settled). A number of shafts, capitals, bases and other architectural members, which we had revealed at the site, are might be dated to the Byzantine period. The others are Roman and could be reused in the church as spolia.
Also there is an opinion (Crowfoot 1942: 37), that a civil basilica, discovered by the Harvard Expedition (Reisner, G. A., Fisher C. S. and Lyon D. G. 1924 (Vol. II): Pls. 12, 16), once was used as a Byzantine church. In the archaeological report it was reflected that the basilica had two apses, a large on the upper level, the smaller on the lower. The larger apse was dismantelled in order to reach the lower one, which was a tribunal. Meanwhile, the upper apse could be a part of the Byzantine church (though not oriented to the east). Due to the scarcity of the information in the report, no examination of this idea might be done, as the second apse was dismantelled after the excavations.
Description
Illustrative material:
Bema, chancel screen and apse:
During our recent survey (Tarkhanova, Shkolnik, in 2019) we were able to reveal the apse, built from large and well elaborated ashlars, still preserved as standing separately to the east from the Crusader enclosure[1]. Unfortunately there was no opportunity to take the measurements. The outer side of the apse is locked with the modern Arab houses and unreachable for investigation.
According to the preliminary stylistic analysis, the apse, most probably, was built during the Byzantine period. Nine rows of nicely carved curvilinear stones were preserved, with the complete arched window in the center, higher than the level of the retained wall (located along the main axis; see description further). The semidome of the apse collapsed in the times unmemorable and no traces of it might be traced. On the ashlars of the third course of masonry, in the center of the apse the relief cross was carved (see description further). All the surface of the inner side of the walls was covered with thin plaster layer (probably, in the Late Islamic period or later). There are well traceable vertical seams between the early (Byzantine?) and later (Crusader?) masonry near the western shoulders of the apse. Also the grooves and sockets were preserved on the stylobate of one-stepped bema. Gray-marble shafts were reused in the construction of the apse and in the revetment of the floors in front of it, though it happened definitely in the later periods, when it was reused not for liturgical purposes anymore (the apse was partially blocked with the rudely built wall). According to the character of the masonry, shape of the window, style of the relief cross and construction of the bema – the apse might be dated to the Byzantine period, thus it could have been eastern part of the church.
[1] The apse might be seen as separately standing on the D. Roberts drawing, before the site was settled.
Small finds
Detailed description
Structure
Orientation:
Facing east
Materials applied (walls):
Limestone
Aisles:
2
Capital types:
Corinthian
Crypt
Accessibility and description:
The burial tombs preceded the erection of the Byzantine church. Actually, there are two of them now in the nave of the Crusader's church, both rebuilt during the Islamic rule with the Roman, Byzantine and Crusader's spolia. They were traditional burial chambers with arcosolia and burial vaults (kokhim) on their sides. In Byzantine time its walls and floors were revetted with marble slabs and tiles (see architectural members section). Near the church one more magnificent Roman mausoleum with lavishly decorated sarcophagi was preserved.
Function:
The tomb was venerated as the Tomb of St. John the Forerunner apparently from the 4th century CE. Even converted into the mosque in 12th century, it still serves as the pilgrimage center till nowadays.
Crypt photos and plans:
Burial loci
Burials loci:
Medieval pilgrims described two marble tombs, which were probably the marble sarcophagi, that John Phocas and other pilgrims after him saw inside the church. The tombs of St. John the Baptist, prophets Elisha and Obadiah, as weel as parents of St. John (Zachariah and Elisabeth) were venerated in the church from the earliest time. The tomb of of St. John, covered with a dome, was located in the fifth bay (from the east) of the Crusader's church, repeating the location of the tomb/crypt (?) in the Byzantine church.
Architectural Evolution
| Phase name (as published) | General outline | Phase no. | Century | Within century |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Byzantine | Probably, the church that was described by Egeria in 383, was built on this very site. It was still mentioned by the pilgrims in the 5th century CE. In the 6th century it could be already ruined. It was mentioned as ruined in 808. | Phase 1 | Early Christian / Byzantine | |
Crusader's | Rebuilt in the second half of the 12th century (1145-1170). | Phase 2 | 12th c. | Second half |
Looted in 1187 by the army of the Saladin's nephew (Husam al-Din Muhammad). Partially converted into the mosque. | Abandonment | 12th c. | Second half |