Die Bauornamentik von Resafa-Sergiupolis: Studien zur spataniken Architektur und Bauausstattung in Syrien und Normesopotamien (Resafa 6).

• Author: Downey, Susan B.
• Position: Book Review

Die Bauornamentik von Resafa-Sergiupolis: Studien zur spataniken Architektur und Bauausstattung in Syrien und Normesopotamien (Resafa 6). By GUNNAR BRANDS. Pp. xvi + 290, figs., plates. Mainz: PHILIPP VON ZABERN, 2002.

The city of Resafa-Sergiupolis in northern Syria is remarkably well preserved. Founded in the late fifth century A.D., it flourished under Byzantine rule as a pilgrimage center due to the presence of the relics of its native son, Saint Sergios. The site has been explored since the later nineteenth century, and systematic excavations begun in 1952 under the auspices of the German Archaeological Institute have greatly advanced our knowledge. Excavations have concentrated primarily on the fortification walls, the magnificent churches, and to a lesser extent, the water system, so that civic buildings, domestic architecture, and even the street layout within the city are relatively unknown.

In the book under review, Gunnar Brands studies the building ornament of the major buildings of the city, including basilicas A and B, a large centrally planned building, the city gates, and the great mosque, built during the period of Umayyad rule, but containing many spolia from earlier buildings. Brands' main goals are to attribute the architectural ornaments used as spolia to their original buildings, where possible, to establish the chronology of the buildings on the basis of both inscriptions and the style of ornament used on architectural members such as capitals, cornices, and the bemas of churches, and to make suggestions about the workshops that created the ornament.

The bulk of the book consists of a detailed analysis of individual buildings. An architectural description is followed by a catalogue of the ornamented architectural members and information about the date, patronage, and inscriptions, if present. He compares the architectural ornament of the buildings of Resafa to that in northwestern Syria (essentially the Massif Calcaire) and northern Mesopotamia (primarily the southeastern part of modern Turkey), and suggests that workshops from these two areas were responsible for the ornament. His task was complicated by a number of factors. The first and most obvious is the use of decorated architectural members as spolia within the site, which continued until the end of the city in the mid-thirteenth century.

Protective measures taken during the excavations of the 1950s and 1960s also created unanticipated problems. In order to...