Enpherest - MANTLE

Temple of Rabbos

Kanawat (Kanatha), Hauran, Syria

2nd/3rd century CE

The temple is a Cointhian Hexastyle* peripteral and faces toward the east, with a double row of six columns on the front, single rows of nine on the sides, and a single row of seven in the rear, the latter being a very unusual arrangement, probably adopted to regulate the intercolumniation. 

For years, this temple was believed to honour Helios, but an inscription discovered in 2002 shows that it was dedicated to a local god, Rabbos.

Seven of these columns are still standing to their full height. Only the plan of the exterior wall of the cella can be traced, but this shows a series of pilasters corresponding to the columns with only a narrow pteroma between. The whole temple stood on a podium, paved with large slabs of stone which formed the ceiling of a basement within the podium, and was approached by a flight of steps between two parotids on the east front of the temple. 

Originally there was probably a large paved court surrounding the whole building, and this has been shown in the plan though no data either for its existence or extent were found, other than the paved courts that surround many temples of the same period in the Hauran.

Pictures here recolorized for the first time using playback

Sources: 1, 2

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Some Garnets! For your health

Art by Lea Yunk

A song that me and a friend are working on.

Temple C (Kalybe of Kanatha)

Kanatha (Qanawat), Hauran, Syria

2-3rd century CE

The Temple was a square structure, whose entrance façade, was made of of a four-pillar propylon, nestled between corner pillars facing north. This array, resembling the distyle in antis is quite rare in classical architecture. The four column had corbels designed for placing statues at about half their height. This decorative element is also quite rare in classical architecture, and is found only in a few sites in Syria. The space between the two main pillars in is greater than the spaces between the side pillars and it carried a Syrian gable, with its curve towards an arch is still visible.

The two long east and west walls of the temple were smooth. They stand behind the pilasters of the propylon and connect to the south wall of the temple, i.e. to a wall in the center of which is the apse. The southern wall, that is, the wall in front of the entrance, was designed as having a semicircular apse with adjacent rectangular rooms on both sides. Both rooms opened to the north, that is, towards the inner space of the temple.

 Inside the rounded wall of the apse were three ornate niches, rounded in the outline, which were arranged symmetrically: a niche with a larger opening in the center and next to it smaller niches. The inner space of the temple, which is located between the apse wall and the propylon at the entrance, and between the two long walls wasn’t roofed. Entering the temple through the Syrian gable- crowned  propylon, one would find himself standing in a rectangular plaza that stretched in front of the two-story wall with a semi-circular niche in the center, covered by a half-dome in which the emperor’s statue stood.

A Kalybe (κάλὑβη) is a type of temple found in the Roman East dating from the first century and after. They were intended to serve as a public facade or stage-setting, solely for the display of statuary.They were essentially stage-sets for ritual enacted in front of them. The kalybe has been associated with the Imperial Cult.

below: remains of geometric wall painting on western conch of adyton

Sources: 1, 2, 3