History of mediæval art . s, and indeed to all the architectural monuments of thecountry, than is to be found in any other Roman province. This isespecially the case with the group of cities in the district of Haow-ran, south of Damascus, where the lack of timber was most felt, andwhere it had been found necessary to construct even the roof andceiling of stone. In order to reduce the width of the plan, so as topermit the employment of stone lintels, a complicated system ofprojecting brackets and supporting arches was introduced. In more SYRIAN BASILICAS. 49 northern tracts a fine limestone fav
History of mediæval art . s, and indeed to all the architectural monuments of thecountry, than is to be found in any other Roman province. This isespecially the case with the group of cities in the district of Haow-ran, south of Damascus, where the lack of timber was most felt, andwhere it had been found necessary to construct even the roof andceiling of stone. In order to reduce the width of the plan, so as topermit the employment of stone lintels, a complicated system ofprojecting brackets and supporting arches was introduced. In more SYRIAN BASILICAS. 49 northern tracts a fine limestone favored accurate workmanship andmasonry, and there was also timber sufficient to supply the mostnecessary beams. Because of this freedom from the cramping re-strictions of the south we meet here with a series of buildings which,if less original, were of greater artistic perfection. The develop-ment of the facades was particularly effective, as for instance in theBasilica of Turmanin. {Fig. 28.) The portico, formed by a round. Fig. 28.—Basilica of Turmanin in Syria. arch, is flanked upon either side by low towers; these rise in twostories to the height of the nave, where they are terminated by ga-bles, and are provided with broad, square-headed windows, each ofwhich is divided by a small column. The detail of the stone-cuttingis of especial beauty, the influence of the debased style of Baalbecand Palmyra being less evident than that of early Phoenician archi-tecture. The Golden Portal of Jerusalem, which dates to the sixthcentury, perhaps offers the closest parallel to this sharp and exactcarving. A change was made, however, during the reign of Justinian(A. D. 527-565), and the brilliant development of the concentric planwas begun in the East. Ravenna, it is true, appears in the advance 4 50 EARLY CHRISTIAN AND BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE. of the movement, but this city had been affected rather by Byzan-tine than by Roman influences, even as early as the time when itwas chosen by Hon
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