Selected images from our new CURIOSity Digital Collection, “The Forgotten Cities.”
These images are from al-Rusafah (Sergiopolis).
Basilica of St. Sergios is in the walled city of Rusafa (Arabic: الرصافة Ruṣāfa,) known in the Byzantine era as Sergiopolis (Greek: 'city of Saint Sergius') and briefly as Anastasiopolis ('city of Anastasius'). It is located in the Roman province of Euphratensis, in modern-day Syria. The city had no natural springs or running water and depended on large cisterns to collect rainwater. One of the unique aspects of the buildings in this site is the color of the local rock used in its construction. Pink crystalline gypsum rock used in these buildings give soft pinkish and rosy color under the sun.
Basilica A is a monumental church at the center of a larger complex of buildings, including a mosque near the southeastern corner of Rusafa. The oldest section is the church itself and probably dates to the late fifth century AD. The complex evolved over several centuries and was modified numerous times.
