BSY_FB_06_p025

25

Bābisḳa

that they were markets or bazaars.

The lower story ^ wall ^ of the buildings is plain,
broken only a doorway ornamented with a
simple disc, while the upper story often
has windows in the rear wall. The wares
of the merchants were doubtless displayed
in the lower colonnade in the daytime and
placed in the dark chamber behind for
security at night. The upper story may
have been a dwelling or a series of dwellings
opening by a broad doorway upon the upper
colonnade - The dividing floors of these
colonnades was invariably of wood while
the roof is usually of stone slabs.

A smaller colonnade than the above described
which may have belonged to either a house
or a shop bears a Syriac insc. giving the
name of the owner and the date 596 A.D.
"according to the reckoning of Antioch" (E.L. insc. 6.)

Another small house bears a GK. insc.
(W.K.P insc 26.) giving the name of the owner of the house
his profession (an architect) and the date - April, 589 A.D.