Page 200 - The Art & Architecture of the Ancient Orient_Neat

ARAMAEANS AND PHOENICIANS IN SYRIA

Figure 83. Southern gate of citadel, Zin^irli

older and built by a ruler of Sain al,30 and its plan is not Assyrian at all; for both the
north-west and the north-cast side of the main court consist of a bit-hilani.31 Both con­
tain paved bathrooms (Figure 80) with drains for waste water, and the adjoining small
rooms are probably bedrooms (3 and 8, see p. 168). The doors leading into the square
chambers flanking the porticoes are conjectural; the mass of masonry actually found in
one of these rooms probably supported a staircase.
To the Governor’s palace belong the barracks (C) built against the south-eastern curve
of the Citadel wall, at a point where the latter, and also the inner wall, could be manned
at a moment’s notice. The open space before them is believed to have served as a parking
place for war-chariots.32 The horses could be stabled on the ground floor of the barracks,
the troopers sleeping upstairs. The projecting piers shown in the plan would support a
wooden balcony by means of which the upper rooms were entered. This arrangement
would precisely resemble that of modern khans or local inns.
The north-west quarter of the Citadel had riot yet been completely uncovered when
the plan of figure 80 was made. Building E is the oldest; it was constructed by Kilamuva
a little before 800 b.c. An orthostat with an inscription referring to him building it has
been preserved. The rest of this great complex was built seventy or eighty years later by
Barrekub, who placed his own inscription in a corresponding position - the west jamb
of the portico - of building F.33 Our plan does not show clearly that both E and F con­
form, on the whole, to the bit-hilani, although there are some unusual features.34 An im­
pressive flight of stairs led up to the portico of building K. It had three columns resting
on decorated bases identical with those found at Tell Tayanat (Plate 154B). The two
buildings (E and F) face a large court which could be entered through a portal G
which already existed at the time of Kilamuva and was decorated with lions (Figure 87
left). But for ceremonial occasions under Barrekub entry was no doubt made from the
splendid court which he had built to the south of it and surrounded with colonnades.
The large bit-hilani (I) was presumably Barrekub’s palace. Another (H) was older.
An inner defence wall, which is only partially excavated, seems to have enclosed the
north-west part of the Citadel. Both buildings (H and I) are so denuded that the stair­
cases, on the right of their porticoes, appear as solid blocks of masonry.
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