Enpherest - MANTLE

Inktober 2018, part 2 (6-10)

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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