Product Code Database
, Jordan]]A cardo (: cardines) was a north–south street in Ancient Rome cities and military castra as an integral component of Urban planning. The cardo maximus, or most often the cardo, The City Walls of Pompeii: Perceptions and Expressions of a Monumental Boundary by Ivo van der Graaff, M.A. dissertation. Graduate School of The University of Texas, p. 90. was the main or central north–south-oriented street.
/ref> Being the hinge the turning point of the doors, the word cardo would also be used to designate other “turning points”, like the North Pole of the sky, or the four cardinal directions (quattuor cardines orbis terrarum).Notice that the English expression cardinal keeps the original root of cardo; cf. J. Y. and W. W., “Cardo” in 'A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities'
/ref>
Also the “the principal line laid down in surveying land was called cardo",J. Y. and W. W., “Cardo” in 'A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities'
/ref> which is also applied to the first street of a city: the street around which the city would be structured.
Most Roman cities also had a Decumanus, an east–west street that served as a secondary main street. Due to varying geography, in some cities the decumanus is the main street and the cardo is secondary, but in general the cardo maximus served as the primary street. The forum was normally located at, or close to, the intersection of the decumanus and the cardo.
The main north–south thoroughfare, the cardo maximus, was originally a paved avenue approximately 22.5 meters wide (roughly the width of a six lane highway) which ran southward from the site of the Damascus Gate, terminating at an unknown point. The southern addition to the cardo, constructed under Justinian I in the 6th century AD, extended the road further south to connect the Church of the Holy Sepulchre with the newly built Zion Gate.Avigad 1984: 226. Along its length, the roadway was divided into three parts: two colonnaded covered walks flanking a 12 meter wide road.Avigad 1984: 221. The shaded porticoes provided separation of pedestrian traffic from wheeled carts, shelter from the elements, space for small-scale commerce, as well as opportunities for residents and visitors to gather and interact.At least until the end of the Byzantine Empire, the open space of the agora or forum was still the locus of economic activity in the city. The cardo most likely did not eclipse the open markets in economic importance until after the Islamic Conquest. See Kennedy 1985: 4–5, 12–13. The central open pavement provided commercial access as well as ritual space. The cardo
Simple bases supported monolithic shafts, spaced 5.77 meters apart.Avigad 1984: 221; Chen 1982: 45. The shafts supported Byzantine-style Corinthian order – intricately carved, but more stylized versions of their Classical counterparts. Although this combination of elements was uniform the preserved examples display some variation in the profile and size of the bases, and in the pattern of the capitals.Avigad 1984: 221, Fig. 273. Despite aesthetic differences, the approximate height of the base, column, and capital units of the colonnade was five meters, a height which contributed to the spaciousness of the porticoes.Avigad 1984: 221. The wall of the cardo
The line of the cardo maximus is still visible on the Jewish Quarter Street, though the original pavement lies several meters below the modern street level. In the 7th century, when Jerusalem fell under Muslim rule, the cardo became an Arab-style marketplace. Remains of the Byzantine cardo were found in the Jewish Quarter excavations beginning in 1969.See Geva 2000 for the final report on stratigraphy of the area. Volumes 1–3 have been published, and the Byzantine cardo is expected to be included in the 4th volume.
In 1971, a plan for preserving the ancient street was submitted by architects Peter Bogod, Esther Krendel and Shlomo Aronson.Avigad 1984: 216. Their proposal relied heavily on the sixth century Madaba Map, a mosaic map of Jerusalem found in 1897 in Madaba, Jordan. The map clearly showed the Roman cardo as the main artery through the Old City. The architects proposed a covered shopping arcade that would preserve the style of an ancient Roman street using contemporary materials. Their plan was based on the hope that archeologists would find remains of the southern end of the cardo, an extension of the north–south Roman thoroughfare built during the Byzantine era (324–638).
Time was of the essence and mounting pressure to repopulate the Jewish Quarter led to the construction of a superstructure which allowed the residential buildings to be built. At the same time, the archaeologists continued to work below. The project was 180 meters in total and was divided into eight sections to allow for construction teams to move quickly from one section to another. By 1980, 37 housing units and 35 shops were built, incorporating archaeological finds such as a Hasmonean wall from the second century BC and rows of Byzantine Empire columns. The combination of old and new is also visible on the Street of the Jews, where the shops have been set into old vaults and the gallery is covered by an arched roof containing small apertures to allow for natural lighting.
The cardo maximus connected the forum to another complex that extended from the present Al-Azariyeh building to Riad Al Solh Square. Archaeological excavations uncovered two successive levels of the street, the oldest dating to the 2nd century CE. The later, wider street was laid out during the 4th century AD. The floors of the colonnades on both levels of the cardo maximus were embellished with mosaic pavements. These were covered, in the 6th century CE, with a thin coat of white lime plaster. Fragments of the floors remained in use until the 19th century. Roman columns were re-used in the foundations of later buildings constructed within the pavement of the cardo, reducing the main street of Roman Berytus into a small alley.Saghieh-Beydoun, Muntaha, 'Allam, Mahmoud, 'Ala'Eddine, Abdallah and Abulhosn, Sana (1998–9), "The Monumental Street Cardo Maximus and the Replanning of Roman Berytus", Bulletin d'Archéologie et d'Architecture Libanaises 3:95-126.
|
|
