Unearthing Houses in Porphyreon and Chhim. Structure, Spatial Development, and Decoration of Domestic Spaces in Late Antique Phoenicia

• Authors: Waliszewski, Tomasz , Burdajewicz, Julia

Abstracts

EN

Porphyreon (Jiyeh/Nebi Younis) and Chhim were large rural settlements situated on the coast of modernday Lebanon, north of the Phoenician city of Sidon. As attested by the remains of residential architecture, they were thriving during the Roman Period and late Antiquity (1st–7th centuries AD). This article presents the preliminary observations on the domestic architecture uncovered at both sites, their spatial and social structure, as well as their furnishing and decoration, based on the fieldwork carried out in recent years by the joint PolishLebanese research team. The focus will be put on the wall painting fragments found in considerable numbers in Porphyreon. The iconographical and functional study of the paintings betrays to what extent the inhabitants of rural settlements in the coastal zone of the Levant were inclined to imitate the decoration of the urban houses known to them from the nearby towns, such as Berytus, but also from religious contexts represented by churches.

Keywords

EN

domestic architecture; house furnishing; wall paintings; rural agglomeration; late Antiquity; Porphyreon; Chhim; Phoenicia

• Publisher: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
• Journal: Światowit
• Year: 2019
• Volume: 58
• Pages: 173-195

Dates

published

2020-09-11

Contributors

author

Waliszewski, Tomasz

author

Burdajewicz, Julia

Identifiers

DOI

10.31338/0082-044x.swiatowit.58.10