Beer Sheba - Triconch Church
Church Name, type, function
Location
Source of knowledge
Archaeological remains
| Name | Date |
|---|---|
Fabian | 1990's |
| Name | Date |
|---|---|
Fabian | 1994 |
General description
Description
Partially exposed. Paved with a white mosaic with a polychrome carpet of geometric design in front of the centeral entrance.
Three entrances led from the narthex to the nave and aisles.
From the outside the structre appears rectangle. The four rooms built in the corner gave the internal space a cross-shape .
The church walls were covered by whith and colorful mosaic. The walls were plastered with traces of colorful frescos.
Against the northerrn wall and the northen side of the transept ran a plastered bench.
Paved by marble plates in the second phase. The corner columns at the intersection with the narthex were wider than the rest, suggesting a pyramidal roof above this intersection.
Seperated from the nave by two parallel rows of nine columns each. The early pavement of the northen aisle by white mosaics was retained aso in the second phase. A plastered bench ran along the northern wall of the northern aisle. Seemingly such was the case with the southern aisle.
At both ends of the transept are internal semi-circular conches. The conches were marble reveted and deleniated on their front by a screen of marble plates.
9X10 m. in dimensions. First paved by a colorful carpet, it was later expanded to the west, elevated, and repaved by an opus sectile and marble plates floor.
Two rectangular rooms were built in the NE and SE corners of the church, beyond the corresponding aisles (just 2m wide there). Entries were not preserved. Seemingly they served as lockable pastophoria.
Small finds
Detailed description
Structure
| Total |
|---|
9 |
A decorated mosaic and an inscription were found in the northern wing of the transept. A colorful carpet was set there in front of the conche,.
Sepreated from the nave by two parallel row of eight columns each. A Greek inscription facing east was set in the intercoluniation of the western colonade, to the west of the colorful carpet of the transept nave. The southern wing of the transept, nave and aisles alike, were paved by marble plates. A plastered bench was preserved along the walls of the northern wing.
Pastophoria
Attached structures
Architectural Evolution
| Phase name (as published) | General outline | Dating material | Iconoclastic evidence | Phase no. | Century | Within century |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Phase 1 | The Greek mosaic inscription laid in the floorof the northern wing of the transept (labbeled χειρίδιον in the inscription), is dated to 553 CE. | Phase 1 | 6th c. | Mid | ||
The mosaic floors of the nave and southern part of the church were replaced by a marble plates pavement. The bema was enlarged and elevated, being repaved by marble plates and opus sectile. A marble-reveted ambo was built over the mosaic floor beyond the NW corner of the bema. | General consideration. Umayyad pottery over the narthex floors sugges that the refarbishing of the church had preceded it. Hence it is suggested to date this refarbishing to the end of the 6th, or early 7th c. | Phase 2 | 6th-7th c. | |||
In the 7th c. the roof of the church collapsed. Domestic structures were installed and building stones were robbed. Abandoned already in the 7th century CE. | Abandonment | 7th c. | Mid |
Some of the rooms to the east of the church (see plan), seem to be contemporary. The largest in the plan might have been a courtyard, rather than a roofed hall.