KYRRHOS
Syria.
Town founded by the Macedonians, 70 km N-NW of Aleppo, an important strategic
position at the beginning of the Hellenistic period and
later under Roman rule. It was sacked by the Sasanians
in A.D. 256. In the 5th c. it experienced a brief renascence
as a center of pilgrimage under its bishop Theodoretus.
In the 6th c. Justinian fortified and adorned the town,
and in A.D. 637 it yielded to the Moslems.
It is at a bend of a tributary to the Afrin, not far from
their confluence. It forms a rough triangle, from the
acropolis to the W to the high cliff above the river to
the E. Bridges, ramparts, a great avenue, Christian sanctuaries, a theater, and a mausoleum are the principal
ancient remains.
The Byzantine bridges are still in use S of the town:
they cross first the Afrin, then its tributary. To the N
the bridge over the river is in ruins, but the ancient road
is visible beyond it.
The ramparts have square or semicircular towers and
date from the Byzantine period. An inscription on a gate
of the citadel gives the names of Justinian, Theodora,
Belisarius, and the domestikos Eustathius. The vast enclosure is of Hellenistic date, as are the polygonal blocks
preserved in various sectors. The acropolis was roughly
rectangular, with a gate to the outside and a gate to the
lower town. The lower town itself had three gates, to
the N, S, and E.
The orthogonal street plan dates from Hellenistic
times; the main axis is a wide street from the S to the
N gate, bordered by porticos. A spacious rectangular
enclosure has the ramparts to the W, and on its S and
E sides two monumental gates flanked by rectangular
towers; two other towers stand at the corners of the E
side, parallel to the great avenue. Inside this space (once
mistaken for an agora) was a church with three naves
and a narthex to the W; it has ancient fluted columns
and is built of materials of many colors. To the NE of
this sanctuary and E of the colonnade are the remains
of a large Christian basilica with several apses.
The theater is ca. 60 m from the avenue; it backs
against the hill of the acropolis and faces E. Only the
24 rows of the lower tier of seats survive; the upper tier
has disappeared. There are seats with backs in front of
the diazoma, and those next to the radial staircases have
elbow rests in the form of dolphins. The scaenae frons
had five doors, opening onto alternately rectangular and
semicircular exedras. The theater reveals the influence
of Antioch and Daphne and may date to the middle of
the 2d c. A.D.
The best-preserved necropolis is to the NW. A large
hexagonal mausoleum, reused as a Moslem sanctuary,
has pilasters at the corners of the ground floor. It is
crowned with an entablature, decorated with lions' heads,
that supports a skylight with windows which have archivolts and Corinthian pilasters. The skylight is capped by
a slender pyramid, with a capital adorned with acanthus
leaves at the top. The capital is big enough to carry a
statue.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
D. van Berchem, “Recherches sur la
chronologie des enceintes de Syrie et de Mésopotamie,”
Syria 31 (1954)
PI; E. Frézouls, “Recherches historiques
et archéologiques sur la ville de
Cyrrhus,”
Annales archéologiques de Syrie 4-5 (1955)
MPI; id., “Les théâtres
romains de Syrie,”
Syria 36 (1959); 38 (1961).
J.-P. REY-COQUAIS
