Jerash Propylaea Church

ChatGPT Introduction

from Chat GPT 5.1, 17 November 2025
sources: Brizzi et al. (2010), NIP Project

The Propylaea Church was installed inside the eastern propylaeum of the Artemis sanctuary at Jerash. Built in the sixth century CE, the church transformed a monumental Roman gateway and its triangular forecourt into a functioning Byzantine basilica. The underlying Roman structures, including the vaulted terrace, stairway, and paving of the approach, belong to the Antonine phase and provided the architectural platform reused by the Christian builders. The nave of the church measured about 38 by 10.8 metres, with double aisles and a semicircular apse founded partly on the Roman substructure. Its location at the threshold of the Artemis complex illustrates the late antique reoccupation of major civic monuments and their conversion into liturgical spaces.

Aerial Views, Plans, and Photos

Aerial Views

Jerash Propylaea Church in Google Earth

Jerash Propylaea Church

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Plans

Site Plans

Normal Size

Site Plan of Jerash

Plan of Jerash. North is to the right.

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Holger Behr - Wikipedia - Public Domain

from Wikipedia

Magnified

Site Plan of Jerash

Plan of Jerash. North is to the right.

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Holger Behr - Wikipedia - Public Domain

from Wikipedia

Area Plans

Propylaea Church and the Sanctuary of Artemis

Normal Size

Fig. 1 Plan of

Fig. 1

Jarash — the sancturay of Artemis

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Brizzi et al. (2010)

the sancturay of Artemis from Brizzi et al. (2010)
Plan of the Church

Fig. 1

Gerasa - Church of the Propylaea

from Iain Browning, Jerash and the Decapolis (London. Chatto and Windus, 1982), 145, fig. 83

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NIP Project

of the Propylaea showing Roman and Byzantine phases from NIP Project
Fig. 2 Multiphase plan

Fig. 2

Jarash — the area of East Propylaeum of the Sanctuary of Artemis.

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Brizzi et al. (2010)

of the area of East Propylaeum of the Sanctuary of Artemis from Brizzi et al. (2010)
Fig. 4 Phase 2a plan

Fig. 4

Jarash — the `Propylaea Church' complex — Phase 2a.

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Brizzi et al. (2010)

the `Propylaea Church' complex from Brizzi et al. (2010)
Fig. 7 Phase 2b plan

Fig. 7

Jarash — the `Propylaea Church' complex — Phase 2b.

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Brizzi et al. (2010)

the `Propylaea Church' complex from Brizzi et al. (2010)

Magnified

Fig. 1 Plan of

Fig. 1

Jarash — the sancturay of Artemis

Click on image to open in a new tab

Brizzi et al. (2010)

the sancturay of Artemis from Brizzi et al. (2010)
Plan of the Church

Fig. 1

Gerasa - Church of the Propylaea

from Iain Browning, Jerash and the Decapolis (London. Chatto and Windus, 1982), 145, fig. 83

Click on image to open in a new tab

NIP Project

of the Propylaea showing Roman and Byzantine phases from NIP Project
Fig. 2 Multiphase plan

Fig. 2

Jarash — the area of East Propylaeum of the Sanctuary of Artemis.

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Brizzi et al. (2010)

of the area of East Propylaeum of the Sanctuary of Artemis from Brizzi et al. (2010)
Fig. 4 Phase 2a plan

Fig. 4

Jarash — the `Propylaea Church' complex — Phase 2a.

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Brizzi et al. (2010)

the `Propylaea Church' complex from Brizzi et al. (2010)
Fig. 7 Phase 2b plan

Fig. 7

Jarash — the `Propylaea Church' complex — Phase 2b.

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Brizzi et al. (2010)

the `Propylaea Church' complex from Brizzi et al. (2010)

Photos

Normal Size

Fig. 9 Collapsed

Fig. 9

Jarash — the `Propylaea Church' complex — Collapsed debris in the presbiterium of the southern chapel.

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Brizzi et al. (2010)

debris in the presbiterium of the southern chapel from Brizzi et al. (2010)

Magnified

Fig. 9 Collapsed

Fig. 9

Jarash — the `Propylaea Church' complex — Collapsed debris in the presbiterium of the southern chapel.

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Brizzi et al. (2010)

debris in the presbiterium of the southern chapel from Brizzi et al. (2010)

Phasing

Entire Site

from Brizzi et al. (2010:347-358)

Phase	Period	Date	Description
1a	Roman Imperial	mid second century CE	Urban redevelopment of the eastern approach to the sanctuary began with the construction of a bridge over the Chrysorhoas and the terracing of the natural slope. Two parallel walls of limestone blocks, about 10 m wide and 25 m long, defined a roadway that climbed the steep slope of Wadi Jarash. A paving of thick limestone slabs, placed at right angles to the walls, sealed the earth-and-stone fill of the bridge visible along the eastern edge. Halfway up the slope a north–south terrace wall in limestone cut the side of the bridge and created a second terrace suitable for building east of the colonnaded street. Westwards, a barrel-vaulted tunnel, 4.2 m wide, terraced the slope and kept open a cross-route beneath the future church nave.
1b	Roman Imperial	second half of second century CE	Completion of the road between the bridge and the trapezoidal square. Portico colonnades were added along the first stretch of road after the bridge. Two limestone ashlar walls, about 4 m from the road, delimited the carriageway to north and south, running c. 23 m eastwards from the trapezoidal square. East of these, three vaults formed the basement of the ambulacra flanking the road. Part of the original paving, in regular limestone slabs, is preserved on the extrados of the tunnel vault, with a U-shaped channel cut into the slabs along the southern, eastern and northern edges of the road, indicating a drainage system and suggesting roofed porticoes. A restoration in the north-eastern corner of the northern ambulacrum, dated by pottery to the early third century CE, provides a terminus ante quem for this arrangement.
1c	Roman Imperial	early third century CE	Construction of the east propylaeum. The foundations of a triple triumphal arch cut the earlier bridge walls about 15 m west of the terrace wall, demolishing the previous structure. Two external pillars are partially preserved, with three lower thresholds for double doors between them. The lateral openings had fasciated frames with rectangular niches or windows above. Nine reused voussoirs in the church apse likely belonged to the arched central portal with a span of c. 4 m. A pedestal in the eastern side indicates four projecting columns. Pedestals for two rows of columns, identical to those of the propylaeum, were cut into the old road walls, creating colonnades that flanked the road. Standardized Corinthian orders with late-Severan capitals decorated both the propylaeum and the colonnades, dated by stratigraphy and architectural style to the early third century CE.
2A	Byzantine	mid sixth century CE	In the Byzantine period the whole area was transformed into a religious complex: a church erected on the site of the propylaeum, a colonnaded roadway, and buildings arranged around an atrium occupying the former trapezoidal square. The colonnaded roadway was roofed to create a central nave, 38.50 × 10.80 m,
2b	Byzantine	late 6th–early 7th century CE	Renovations reshaped the religious complex, adding new northern and southern porticoes to the atrium, raising floor levels, renewing pavements, and modifying internal rooms. A coin of Phocas provides a firm terminus post quem for this phase. The southern hall was converted into a small single-nave chapel with a semicircular apse, mosaic pavements, and stone altar bases. Adjacent rooms were repaired or reused, including a hall with a roughly restored mosaic and a storeroom with vessels and steps. Water installations were updated with terracotta pipes and a reused column drum as a fountain spout holder. Toward the end of this phase the complex suffered seismic destruction, seen in collapsed blocks across the presbyterium mosaic, cracked stone tiles in the eastern portico, and structural failures consistent with a strong earthquake. Lime heaps on the church floor may reflect aborted restoration following earthquake damage. Possible earthquakes include those of 633, 659, or 660 CE.
3	Umayyad / Early Islamic	7th–8th century CE	After the final Byzantine renovations, the entire complex was reused informally. Floors were no longer maintained, rooms were subdivided with rough walls, earlier mosaics were covered with beaten-earth surfaces, and domestic installations such as hearths and storage pits appeared. Pottery from this phase includes Umayyad common wares, cooking vessels, and lamps, along with residual Late Roman and Byzantine material. Architectural collapse from the preceding period remained visible: large wall blocks and architectural fragments lay embedded in occupation layers, and several rooms show evidence of reused rubble derived from earlier seismic damage. No organized rebuilding occurred. Near the end of Phase 3 the complex experienced additional structural failure.
After Phase 3		8th–19th century CE	The earthquake of 749 AD destroyed most of the standing structures and made the whole area unusable. In contrast with other areas of the site, no Abbasid pottery was found here, and no other finds earlier than Mamluk have been recorded in the excavations. In the mid 13th century the pottery is associated with various traces of campfires and occasional pens and shelters for animals. Concomitant with the arrival of Circassian refugees in 1878, was the practice of the reuse of building material and robbing from the ancient monuments In the area of the `Propylaea Church' there is evidence of a systematic robbing of the stone slab paving from east to west. It is possible that this spoliation was done in the first years of the 20th century and was resumed for a short period after 1934, the year of the last season of the American expedition.

Phase 2b Earthquake - 7th century CE

Discussion

References

Brizzi et al. (2010)

Phase 2B: Second Half of the Sixth to First Half of the Seventh Century AD

from Brizzi et al. (2010:356-357)

... The end of the use of the church complex has been related to the evidence for a seismic event well documented in the chapel. Here some of the collapsed blocks have been found still in situ on the mosaic of the presbiterium (Fig. 9). Before the reoccupation, the debris was only partially removed, possibly just for rescuing the liturgical furniture. Evidence of collapsed structures has also been recorded on the floor of the eastern portico of the atrium, where the stone tiles preserved an unmistakable cracking by pointing shots.

In the church, the last activities before the addition of a packed-earth floor, might be identified with the decommissioning of the church; these are three building-lime heaps found on the paving of the church in the south-western corner of the southern aisle. This evidence suggests either that some works of restoration were begun in the church and never completed, or that, after the earthquake and the abandonment of the church, new owners restored the building just to use it as a storage facility, or for similar purposes.

In the southern edifice of the atrium a gap in the occupation of the rooms has been recorded. Layers of eolic sand, indicating a period of abandonment, were noted in many cuts made for Byzantine structures before the reoccupation documented by new floors and features in each room.

The earliest ruinous seismic events in the region, following the first decade of seventh century, were recorded in September 633 AD, followed by two events in 659 AD and 660 AD (Russel 1985: 46–47).⁵⁹ We can assume that the church complex was suffered collapse brought about by one or more of the three earthquakes and, perhaps after an initial attempt to restore the function of the church, the whole complex was converted for different use.

Footnotes

59. We cannot definitely exclude localised earthquakes not recorded in known sources.

Boyer in Lichtenberger and Raja (2025)

from Boyer in Lichtenberger and Raja (2025:Table 2.2)

Century (AD)	Event (AD) attribution by original author	Reliability of interpreted evidence	Likely attributable seismic event (AD)	Locality	Plan ref.	Reference
7th	633–660	High	659	Propylaea Church	16	Brizzi, Seipo, and Baldoni 2010, 356–57.
8th	749	High	747–749	Propylaea Church	16	Brizzi, Seipo, and Baldoni 2010, 358.

Phase 3 Earthquake - 8th century CE

Discussion

References

Brizzi et al. (2010)

Phase 3: Second Half of the Seventh to mid Eighth Century AD

from Brizzi et al. (2010:357-358)

The contexts and the structures belonging to the Umayyad period were systematically ignored and removed from the area without documentation in the excavations from 1926 to 1934. In these conditions it is difficult to reconstruct the sequence for the whole area when only isolated pockets of in situ material can be documented for this period, and primarily only in the recently investigated area.

After the desecration of the church and the despoliation of the whole complex, partially ruined by a seismic event, the area was probably divided into different functional purposes.

The southern part of the church and the chapel were incorporated into the property belonging to an unexplored residence south of the excavation area⁶⁰. In the chapel the debris was razed and sealed by a packed-earth floor, extended to the southern aisle of the church. Finds from these pavements can be dated to the seventh century AD. It is likely that these areas were covered by provisional shelters relying on standing structures of the earlier phase⁶¹. The side door of the aisle and the corridor to the atrium were closed by limestone blocks. Benches in reused collapsed elements were set in the area of the chapel. A fireplace and a tabun were found adjacent to the external wall of the southern exedra, where reused marble and limestone slabs paved an open area. At the moment of the earthquake of 749 AD (Tsafrir-Foerster 1992; Ambraseys 2005) the area of the chapel and of the southern aisle were occupied by at least twenty large grey ware basins, containing a white powder rich in calcium carbonate, probably marble dust prepared for decorations in stucco or plaster coatings. A similar array has been found in the north-western corner of the northern aisle, including a packed-earth floor covering the whole area, a tabun and a bench abutting onto the western wall of the church.

Scarce evidence of this phase has been left in the nave. In the eastern portico of the atrium the passage to the surviving main gate of the church was cut off by two small walls. This gave open access from the court to the nave, which was perhaps partially reconverted to a passageway.

In the southern edifice the rooms on the ground floor, the original pavements were replaced by packed-earth floors. In the central room a tabun was found together with a small structure for storing pots. The upper floor collapsed in this room before the 749 AD and the debris was never removed, but in the western room benches reusing architectural elements from this collapse were documented.

The porticoes of the atrium were partitioned by crosswise stone walls. In the gallery of the southern one, the stone paving was removed and substituted by a packed-earth floor. The colonnade was blocked up by walls in small limestone blocks bound together with earth mortar. In the western corner, several pit kilns have been documented in this phase. On the plaster of the northern wall of the edifice, close to the painted supplications described in the phase 2b, a graffito inscription in Kufic letters mentions a supplication to Allah.

In the gallery of the eastern portico a sequence of packed-earth floors covers the Byzantine stone tiles. Besides the two walls mentioned above, a third wall was built south of the northern side door of the church, which had been transformed into a niche. In the southern half, two taban have been found in different levels and, in the south- eastern corner, a square platform in stone and earth, 2.45 × 2.85 m and 30 cm high, was built for an unknown purpose.

The subdivision of the roofed areas and the spread of the tabun fireplaces in almost every unit are more appropriate for the putting in place of numerous workshops or shops than that of a permanent dwelling. Despite the gaps in the documentation of the area in this phase, a general view of the investigated contexts suggests that the court of the atrium maintained in this phase its connection with the colonnaded street and became again a public area where several artisans and merchant shops occupied the three galleries of the porticoes and the two edifices.

Footnotes

60. The northern wall of this building has been dug up. This structure collapsed northwards in the mid 8th-century earthquake and fine polychrome plaster fragments, glass vessels and a stucco wall-lamp have been found in the debris.

61. There are no tiles in the aisle in the debris of the mid 8th-century earthquake, nor of the Byzantine roof nor of any reconstructed covering.

After the Earthquake of 749 AD

from Brizzi et al. (2010:358)

The earthquake of 749 AD destroyed most of the standing structures and made the whole area unusable. In contrast with other areas of the site, no Abbasid pottery was found here, and no other finds earlier than Mamluk have been recorded in the excavations. In the mid 13th century the pottery is associated with various traces of campfires and occasional pens and shelters for animals.

Concomitant with the arrival of Circassian refugees in 1878, was the practice of the reuse of building material and robbing from the ancient monuments.⁶² In the area of the Propylaea Church there is evidence of a systematic robbing of the stone slab paving from east to west.⁶³ It is possible that this spoliation was done in the first years of the 20th century and was resumed for a short period after 1934, the year of the last season of the American expedition.

Footnotes

62. It lasted legally until 1946, when it was banned during the British mandate in Transjordan.

63. An iron lever was found in the first preserved eastern row of slabs.

Boyer in Lichtenberger and Raja (2025)

from Boyer in Lichtenberger and Raja (2025:Table 2.2)

Century (AD)	Event (AD) attribution by original author	Reliability of interpreted evidence	Likely attributable seismic event (AD)	Locality	Plan ref.	Reference
7th	633–660	High	659	Propylaea Church	16	Brizzi, Seipo, and Baldoni 2010, 356–57.
8th	749	High	747–749	Propylaea Church	16	Brizzi, Seipo, and Baldoni 2010, 358.

Phase 2b Earthquake - 7th century CE

Seismic Effect	Location	Image(s)	Description
Collapsed blocks (collapsed walls) Cracked floors (from falling blocks from collapsed walls) Debris (from collapsed walls)	Propylaea Church Plan of Jerash. North is to the right. Click on image to open in a new tab Holger Behr - Wikipedia - Public Domain Fig. 7 Jarash — the `Propylaea Church' complex — Phase 2b. Click on image to open in a new tab Brizzi et al. (2010)	Fig. 9 Fig. 9 Jarash — the `Propylaea Church' complex — Collapsed debris in the presbiterium of the southern chapel. Click on image to open in a new tab Brizzi et al. (2010)	"The end of the use of the church complex has been related to the evidence for a seismic event well documented in the chapel. Here some of the collapsed blocks have been found still in situ on the mosaic of the presbiterium (Fig. 9). Before the reoccupation, the debris was only partially removed, possibly just for rescuing the liturgical furniture. Evidence of collapsed structures has also been recorded on the floor of the eastern portico of the atrium, where the stone tiles preserved an unmistakable cracking by pointing shots." - Brizzi et al. (2010:356-357)

Phase 3 Earthquake - 8th century CE

Seismic Effect	Location	Image(s)	Description
Collapsed Walls Debris (from collapsed walls)	Propylaea Church Plan of Jerash. North is to the right. Click on image to open in a new tab Holger Behr - Wikipedia - Public Domain Fig. 1 Gerasa - Church of the Propylaea from Iain Browning, Jerash and the Decapolis (London. Chatto and Windus, 1982), 145, fig. 83 Click on image to open in a new tab NIP Project		"The southern part of the church and the chapel were incorporated into the property belonging to an unexplored residence south of the excavation area ... The northern wall of this building has been dug up. This structure collapsed northwards in the mid 8th-century earthquake and fine polychrome plaster fragments, glass vessels and a stucco wall-lamp have been found in the debris." - Brizzi et al. (2010:357 and n.60) "The earthquake of 749 AD destroyed most of the standing structures and made the whole area unusable." - Brizzi et al. (2010:358)

Phase 2b Earthquake - 7th century CE

Modified by JW from Fig. 7 of Brizzi et al. (2010)

Deformation Map

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Modified by JW from Fig. 7 of Brizzi et al. (2010)

Phase 2b Earthquake - 7th century CE

Earthquake Archeological Effects chart

Earthquake Archeological Effects (EAE)

Rodríguez-Pascua et al (2013: 221-224)

of Rodríguez-Pascua et al (2013: 221-224)

Seismic Effect	Location	Image(s)	Description	Intensity
Collapsed blocks (collapsed walls) Cracked floors (from falling blocks from collapsed walls) Debris (from collapsed walls)	Propylaea Church Plan of Jerash. North is to the right. Click on image to open in a new tab Holger Behr - Wikipedia - Public Domain Fig. 7 Jarash — the `Propylaea Church' complex — Phase 2b. Click on image to open in a new tab Brizzi et al. (2010)	Fig. 9 Fig. 9 Jarash — the `Propylaea Church' complex — Collapsed debris in the presbiterium of the southern chapel. Click on image to open in a new tab Brizzi et al. (2010)	"The end of the use of the church complex has been related to the evidence for a seismic event well documented in the chapel. Here some of the collapsed blocks have been found still in situ on the mosaic of the presbiterium (Fig. 9). Before the reoccupation, the debris was only partially removed, possibly just for rescuing the liturgical furniture. Evidence of collapsed structures has also been recorded on the floor of the eastern portico of the atrium, where the stone tiles preserved an unmistakable cracking by pointing shots." - Brizzi et al. (2010:356-357)	VIII+ VIII+ VIII+

The archeoseismic evidence requires a minimum Intensity of VIII (8) when using the Earthquake Archeological Effects chart of Rodríguez-Pascua et al (2013: 221-224).

Phase 3 Earthquake - 8th century CE

Earthquake Archeological Effects chart

Earthquake Archeological Effects (EAE)

Rodríguez-Pascua et al (2013: 221-224)

of Rodríguez-Pascua et al (2013: 221-224)

Seismic Effect	Location	Image(s)	Description	Intensity
Collapsed Walls Debris (from collapsed walls)	Propylaea Church Plan of Jerash. North is to the right. Click on image to open in a new tab Holger Behr - Wikipedia - Public Domain Fig. 1 Gerasa - Church of the Propylaea from Iain Browning, Jerash and the Decapolis (London. Chatto and Windus, 1982), 145, fig. 83 Click on image to open in a new tab NIP Project		"The southern part of the church and the chapel were incorporated into the property belonging to an unexplored residence south of the excavation area ... The northern wall of this building has been dug up. This structure collapsed northwards in the mid 8th-century earthquake and fine polychrome plaster fragments, glass vessels and a stucco wall-lamp have been found in the debris." - Brizzi et al. (2010:357 and n.60) "The earthquake of 749 AD destroyed most of the standing structures and made the whole area unusable." - Brizzi et al. (2010:358)	VIII+ VIII+

The archeoseismic evidence requires a minimum Intensity of VIII (8) when using the Earthquake Archeological Effects chart of Rodríguez-Pascua et al (2013: 221-224).

References

Articles and Books

Brizzi, M., Sepio, D., & Baldoni, D. (2010). Italian excavations at Jarash 2002-2009: The area of the East Propylaeum of the Sanctuary of Artemis and the “Propylaea Church” Complex . Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan, 54, 345-370.

Lichtenberger, A. and Raja, R. (ed.s) (2025) Jerash, the Decapolis, and the Earthquake of AD 749 The Fallout of a Disaster Belgium: Brepols.

Websites

NIP Project

Earthquake Damage in Jerash between the 1st and 19th centuries CE

Map

from Lichtenberger and Raja (2025)
Table 2.2 List of seismic damage

Table 2.2

List of seismically induced damage recorded in Gerasa where the relaibility of the evidence is considered to be medium or high

Click on Image to open in a new tab

Lichtenberger and Raja (2025)

in Jerash between the 1st and 19th centuries CE from Lichtenberger and Raja (2025)

Figure 2.6

Plan of ancient Gerasa showing the location of earthquake-damaged sites referred to in Table 2.2

(after Lichtenberger, Raja, and Stott 2019.fig.2)

Click on Image to open in a new tab

Lichtenberger and Raja (2025)

Table

from Lichtenberger and Raja (2025)
Fig. 2.6 Map of seismic damage

Figure 2.6

Plan of ancient Geras showing the location of earthquake-damaged sites referred to in Table 2.2

(after Lichtenberger, Raja, and Stott 2019.fig.2)

Click on Image to open in a new tab

Lichtenberger and Raja (2025)

in Jerash between the 1st and 19th centuries CE from Lichtenberger and Raja (2025)

Table 2.2

List of seismically induced damage recorded in Gerasa where the relaibility of the evidence is considered to be medium or high

Click on Image to open in a new tab

Lichtenberger and Raja (2025)