The Transition from the Temple of Jupiter to the Great Mosque of Damascus in Architecture and Design

Authors

  • Kamil Sobczak Instytut Archeologii Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/2084-140X.05.10

Keywords:

Hadad, Temple of Jupiter Damascenus, Great Mosque of Damascus, Roman architecture, Islamic architecture

Abstract

Great Mosque of Damascus was built between 705 and 715 by the Umayyad Caliph al-Walid I. However, the origins of this building dates to the distant past. At first it was a location of an ancient Aramaean temple dedicated to the god Hadad. With Hellenization the temple was dedicated to Zeus and in the first century BC the Romans transformation it into the Temple of Jupiter Damascenus. In 391 Emperor Theodosius converted the temple into Christian Cathedral of Saint John. Erection of the mosque by Caliph al-Walid I was under strong influence of earlier constructions. Meaning and consequences of such transitions, from the Roman temple (there is almost no data of the Aramaic building) through the Christian Cathedral to the Islamic mosque is an interesting process. Issue not only within the art and architecture, but what is more, in a religious aspect of the continuity of sacred space.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Gaius Plinius Secundus, Naturalis Historiae, [in:] Historia naturalna, trans. I. Zawadzka, T. Zawadzki, Wrocław–Kraków 1960.
Google Scholar

Josephus Flavius, Antiquitates Judaicae, [in:] Dawne dzieje Izraela, trans. Z. Kubiak, J. Radożycki, Warszawa 2001.
Google Scholar

Arnaud B., Firs Farmers, Archeo 53, 2000, p. 56–59.
Google Scholar

Ball W., Rome in the East: The Transformation of an Empire, London–New York 2002.
Google Scholar

Bloom J. M., Creswell and the Origins of the Minaret, Muq 8, 1991, p. 55–58.
Google Scholar

Bounni A., Du Temple paien a la Mosquée: note préliminaire sur le cas de la Mosquée Omeyyade de Damas, [in:] Sacralidad y Arqueología, Antigüedad y Cristianismo XXI, ed. A. González Blanco, J. M. Blázques Martínez, Murcia 2004, p. 595–605.
Google Scholar

Burns R., Damascus: A History, Abingdon 2007.
Google Scholar

Cecota B., Ekspansja arabska na tereny bizantyńskie (632–718) oraz początki organizacji kalifatu, [in:] Bizancjum i Arabowie. Spotkanie cywilizacji, VI–VIII wiek, ed. T. Wolińska, P. Filipczak, Warszawa 2015, p. 298–345.
Google Scholar

Cohen G. M., The Hellenistic Settlements in Syria, the Red Sea Basin, and North Africa, Berkeley–Los Angeles–London 2006.
Google Scholar

Creswell K., The evolution of the minaret, with special reference to Egypt, BMag 48, 1926, p.134–140.
Google Scholar

Djafar Abd el-Kader, E., Un orthostate du temple de Hadad a Damas, Sy 26, 1949, p. 191–195.
Google Scholar

Dussaud R., Le Temple de Jupiter Damascénien et ses transformations aux époques chrétienne et musulmane, Sy 3, 1922, p. 219–250.
Google Scholar

Flood F. B., The Great Mosque of Damascus: Studies on the Makings of an Umayyad Visual Culture, Leiden 2001.
Google Scholar

Flood F. B., Umayyad Survivals and Mamluk Revivals: Qalawunid Architecture and the Great Mosque of Damascus, Muq 14, 1997, p. 57–79.
Google Scholar

Freyberger K. S., Untersuchungen zur Baugeschichte des Jupiter-Heiligtums in Damasku, DMi 4, 1989, p. 61–86.
Google Scholar

Grafman R., Rosen-Ayalon M., The Two Great Syrian Umayyad Mosques: Jerusalem and Damascus, Muq 16, 1999, p.1–15.
Google Scholar

Greenfield J. C., Hadad, [in:] Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, ed. K. van der Toorn, B. Becking, P. W. van der Horst, Leiden–Boston–Koln 1999, p. 377–382.
Google Scholar

Hohlfelder R. L., Beyond Coincidence? Marcus Agrippa and King Herod’s Harbor, JNES 59, 2000, p. 241–253.
Google Scholar

Khalek N., Damascus after the Muslim Conquest: Text and Image in Early Islam, Oxford 2011.
Google Scholar

Miller J. M., Syria: Land of Civilizations, NEA 64, 2001, p. 122–131.
Google Scholar

Parpola S., National and Ethnic Identity in the Neo-Assyrian Empire and Assyrian Identity in Post-Empire Times, JAAS 18, 2004, p. 6–22.
Google Scholar

Skupińska-Lovset I., Kulty na et-Tell. Źródła archeologiczne, SBO 3, 2011, p. 109–125.
Google Scholar

Śliwa J., Sztuka i archeologia starożytnego Wschodu, Warszawa–Kraków 1997.
Google Scholar

Watzinger, C., Wulzinger K., Damaskus. Die antike Stadt (Wissenschaftliche Veröffentlichungen des deutsch-türkischen Denkmalschutz-Kommandos), Berlin–Leipzig 1921.
Google Scholar

Downloads

Published

2015-12-30

How to Cite

Sobczak, K. (2015). The Transition from the Temple of Jupiter to the Great Mosque of Damascus in Architecture and Design. Studia Ceranea, 5, 311–320. https://doi.org/10.18778/2084-140X.05.10

Issue

Section

Articles