Εμφανίζονται 5 τίτλοι με αναζήτηση: Πληροφορίες για τον τόπο στην ευρύτερη περιοχή: "ΒΟΣΤΡΑ Αρχαία πόλη ΣΥΡΙΑ" .
Bosra (Busra) Syria. A royal Nabataean city in the Hauran plain, Bostra was annexed by
Trajan in A.D. 106, becoming chief city of the Roman province of Arabia and the
camp of Legio III Cyrenaica. An important Christian city in the late Byzantine
period, Bostra was fortified by Justinian, then seized by the Moslem Arabs in
A.D. 637.
Bostra was built of black basalt; the modern town lies over the ancient
one, and many houses are constructed of reused stones. The wall surrounding the
ancient city is very nearly oval. The rampart is best preserved on its W face,
where it is ca. 4 m thick. The only gate still standing is that to the W, a high
bay with semicircular arches, flanked by two square towers; in front of the gate
there is an open place oval in shape. The main avenue is the decumanus, running
from the W gate to the E end of the city. It was paved and was lined with porticos,
the column shafts of which can still be seen. At the intersection of the decumanus
and cardo, a tetrapylon stood in the center of a circular area. To the E, on the
N side of the decumanus, was a vaulted cryptoporticus ca. 100 m long, lit by slits
arranged in the steps of the porticos. Farther E is a monumental arch more than
12 m high and 18 m wide; it has a great semicircular bay flanked by two small
ones; arches cut in the other direction permitted passage along the decumanus.
The facade facing the decumanus has pilasters with Corinthian capitals and brackets
for statues. At the N angles of the lateral faces and on either side of the central
bay, to the S, are engaged columns with Ionic capitals, marking the beginning
of the porticos.
At the S end of the street is a remarkably well-preserved theater,
built in the second half of the 2d c. A.D. and transformed into a fortress at
the end of the 8th c. It is built on level ground and strictly integrated into
the city plan. The hemicycle, which is slightly over half a circle and has a diameter
of more than 100 m, faces N. Its three tiers of 14, 18, and S rows of seats are
crowned by a portico with a composite colonnade. Interior galleries, stairways,
and admirably built vomitoria made for easy circulation; the direct access to
the middle and upper stories and to the tribunals above the vaulted paradoi is
remarkable. The orchestra is paved with stone. The scaenae frons, over 26 m high,
is decorated with two rows of Corinthian columns in pink Egyptian granite, and
flanked by two tall folded-back wings that have steps and loges descending laterally
to the stage. Equally noteworthy are the vast side foyers, into which the paradoi
are incorporated by a series of arcades. Coherent both architecturally and organically,
this theater is considered the most perfect of all Roman and Italian theaters.
To the W of the theater there was probably a stadium; S of it was
the hippodrome, which could accommodate 30,000 spectators. Only a few seats have
been found.
To the E of the street and S of the decumanus are the ruins of baths
of the Roman period, covered by modern houses, and called the S, W, or Trajan's
baths. Designed on a T-shaped plan, they opened to the N through an 8-columned
portico and two semicircular, arched doorways with a niche between them. The first
room was the apodyterion, an 8-sided oblong hall with four semicircular recesses
in the oblique sides. It was roofed with a flattened arch of volcanic scoriae.
In the entrance axis was a wide arch leading to the tepidarium, and beyond that,
in the same axis, to another room with a large window in its S wall. Both rooms
had transverse cradle vaults. On either side, to E and W, are a series of rooms
and exedras; the vaulting of the latter is still intact.
Farther along the decumanus are four tall, well-proportioned Corinthian
columns with hexagonal bases, on a line diagonal to the intersection of the avenue
and a cross street. Behind them was the broad curve of the apse of a nymphaeum.
On the other side of the street are tall, slender Corinthian columns, one of which
carries an entablature fragment supported by a pilaster; they were part of a late
monument not identified. The facade is at an oblique angle to the street plan.
The cross street is edged in part by an Ionic colonnade now included in the walls
of houses; it leads N to the Omar mosque. This monument, of the early Omayyad
period was built of magnificent reused marble columns with Corinthian and Ionic
capitals. On the other side of the street are the baths and, some 50 m to the
NE, more baths, now badly damaged.
At the top of the decumanus is the so-called Nabataean gate, with
its great semicircular bay decorated with round pilasters and engaged columns
surmounted by characteristic crocket capitals. Beside it, to the SE, is the building
commonly known as Trajan's palace. It can be seen only from the E, where a large
well-built basalt wall decorated with two superimposed rows of semicircular niches
and rectangular doors gave on to two stories of outer porticos now gone. The palace
formed an enormous rectangle with an E entrance opening onto a large porticoed
courtyard. The residential wings, which were several stories high and had angle
towers, were on the N and S sides. The first story in the N wing contained a spacious
apartment with an entrance to the N, great apses to the E and W, and a deep rectangular
exedra to the S.
To the NE is the 6th c. cathedral. Its square nave was completely
covered by a large cupola supported by four semi-cupolas. Farther N is a rectangular
basilica with pediments. The long S and N sides are lined with low porticos and
pierced with windows; the W gable wall contains a great arch, while that to the
E has an elliptical arch opening onto a semicircular apse and in the pediment,
a row of three rectangular windows with an axial window over them. Remarkably
simple in design and decorated with elegant molding, this basilica, which was
used as a church, probably dates from Christian times. To the N are the ruins
of a little apsidal structure built in the same style and with the same methods.
To the NW inside the surrounding wall is a great oblong-shaped excavation
with springs flowing at the bottom of it. It is often referred to as the Naumachia,
and may have been built in antiquity.
J. P. Rey-Coquais, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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