A BYZANTINE-PERIOD MONASTERY AT ḤURA

A building identified as a monastery, probably associated with the nearby Byzantine settlement at Ḥorbat Ḥur, was paved with four mosaic pavements containing four Greek inscriptions and one bilingual inscription in Greek and local Syriac. The inscription in the prayer hall indicates that the building was a monastery, probably founded in 575 CE. The monastery’s cemetery, located to its southwest, was well-preserved including four sealed graves of adult males, possibly monks. The mosaic art in the monastery deviates from the period’s trends, depicting figurative images and implicit crosses. This, and the location of the monastery, suggest that the monastery served a diversified Christian population.