331. Samā’ Sirḥān | سما السرحان

al-Mafraq Governorate

Church of Saint Gorge, converted into a mosque.

JADIS no. 2620003

MEGA no. 7570, church 35080

Coordinates: 32°28'04.2"N 36°14'30.6"E

32.467833, 36.241833

Plan: broad rectangular by conversion of the church nave into a Muslim prayer hall and by blocking the semicircular former apse by inserted basalt masonry (fig. 331. 6). The S wall of the church is broken in the middle probably to insert the miḥrāb niche; no trace of it, however, survives.

Measurements: 118,72 m²

Exterior: unknown.

Interior: 9.46 x 12.55 m

Building Materials: basalt blocks, laid in horizontal courses without mortar; interior floor out of rectangular limestone slabs; in the interior of Muslim prayer hall wall plaster.

Construction details: two-sided masonry with rubble earth fill in the interior.

Preservation: ruined, not in use.

Inscription(s): Various Greek inscriptions in the exterior area, to the SE a number of Greek tombstones without indications of Christian confession. A lintel in the so-called monastery (1) refers to the year 519 of the Provincia Arabia (= A.D. 624-625):

Transcription: (Bader 2009, 44 no. 20): οἰκωδώμε[ι]σαν τοῦ ἒτους φιθ’ τῆς ἐπ(α)ρ(χείας).

Translation: “(They) built (it) in the year of the province 519” ([= 624-625 AD] PPUAES III A 3, 45 no. 25). Probably related to this inscription is another Greek inscription (2) from the same compound referring to the building: Facsimile (PPUEAS III A 3, 44 no. 24).

Transcription: κ(ύρ)ιε ὠ θ(εὸ)ς τοῦ ἁγίου Γεωρ|γίου βοήθισον. Γεωρ[γ]ίου καὶ |Σε(λ)ομάνης Σεργίου οἱὸς με(τ)’ ἂλλων.

Translation: “Oh Lord, God of Saint George, help (us). The son of George and Selomane, daughter of Sergius, (built this) with others.” (PPUAES III A 3, 44 no. 24). A third inscription (3) was reported by Mittmann 1970, 196 no. 33.

Transcription: ...ες Γεοργίου Δ (or δι..?)...|...[οἰκοδ]όμη- σεν ἒτι φι[θ‘ (?)].

Translation: “...of Georgius...made built it. In the year 519(?)” (Mittmann 1970, 196 no. 33).

On a basalt lintel an Arabic inscription (1.34 x 0.35 m) in three lines (4), copied by E. Littmann (PPUAES; RCEA III, no. 4703 = TEI no. 2345) in the courtyard of an isolated building at the NE of the site. It is not certain whether it belonged to the mosque.

Transcription (after RCEA XII, no. 4703 = TEI no. 2345):

Translation: “Bismillāh (In the name of Allāh, the most Merciful, the most Compassionate).‘Omar ibn ‘Abd Allāh ibn Sulṭān in the date four and seventy and sixhundred” (H 674 = AD 1275/76).

Date(s): The church of Saint George was dedicated in 624/625 AD, and it was converted after 636 AD into a mosque. It is under dispute whether this happened soon after the victorious battle at the Yarmūk or much later. In case inscription no. 4 belongs to the mosque, it would give H 674 / AD 1275/76 as an absolute date. For parallel cases of conversions in the Ayyubid-Mamluk period cf. the mosques at Jel’ād (no. 175), al-Khaṭabīyeh (no. 202) and Reḥāb (no. 304). The intentional blocking of the apsidial Christian altar zone can be observed in many other churches of the area, cf., for instance, at Umm aṣ- Ṣurāb (no. 412), Umm al-Jimāl (no. 403), Mnīfa (no. 254) and others.

Traveler Reports: none known.

Bibliography: PPUAES II A 2, 83-87 figs. 64-65; III A 2, 44-45 nos. 24-25; Creswell 1969, I, 492; Mittmann 1970, 196 no. 33; King 1983, 146-148 figs. 3-4 pl. 31 a-b; Guerin 2001/2, 266, n° 131; Rjoub – Housan 2013, 477 no. 23.