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The Archaeology of Beirut: A Report on Work in the Insula of the House of the Fountains

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 April 2011

Dominic Perring ,
Paul Reynolds  and
Reuben Thorpe
Dominic Perring
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of York, King's Manor, York YO1 7EP, UK. E-mail: .
Paul Reynolds
Affiliation:
Department of History and Archaeology, American University of Beirut, Lebanon. E-mail: .
Reuben Thorpe
Affiliation:
Albion Archaeology, St Mary's Church, St Mary's Street, Bedford MK42 OAS, UK. E-mail: .
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Abstract

This insula, which lay on the western margin of the earlier Iron Age city, was uncovered during post-war reconstruction work carried out in Beirut during 1994–6. Laid out in the Hellenistic period, the insula was filled out with a series of small courtyard houses after the Roman annexation. A public portico was added along a main street in the second quarter of the second century, before a period of relative inactivity. The district was revived and rebuilt in the middle of the fourth century and was home to a series of handsome town houses in the fifth century, before being devastated by earthquake in AD 551. The site was then left derelict until the early nineteenth century. This interim report sets these findings within their broader historical and archaeological context, as well as summarizing the results of recent work on the site's ceramics and stratigraphy.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 83 , September 2003 , pp. 195 - 229
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 2003

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References

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