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Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, Vol. 17, No 3, pp. 97-119
Copyright © 2017 MAA
Open Access. Printed in Greece. All rights reserved.
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.1005494
THE SOURCE OF INSPIRATION OF THE PLAN
OF THE NABATAEAN MANSION AT AZ-ZANTUR IV
IN PETRA: A SPACE SYNTAX APPROACH
Saad Twaissi
Department of History and Archaeology, United Arab Emirates University, P.O.BOX 15551, Al-Ain, United
Arab Emirates (saad.twaissi@uaeu.ac.ae)
&
Department of Archaeology, Al-Hussein Bin Talal University, P.O.BOX 20, Maan, Jordan
Received: 08/08/2017
Accepted: 29/09/2017
ABSTRACT
The Nabataean Mansion at az-Zantur in Petra is one of the most elaborated architectural monuments has so
far been discovered, and still among the few excavated Nabataean domestic architecture in the region. It co-
vers a large area (1200m in area), and was richly decorated with mosaic, opus sectile, fresco and molded
stucco. The date of its first two phases has been established on stratigraphic sequence of pottery, coins and
cross-cultural evidence to the Nabataean period of the first century AD. The origin of the plan of this man-
sion, however, may be considered as a matter of debate. The excavator has suggested that this mansion was
inspired by Ptolemaic palatial architecture, e.g the Palazzo delle Collonne in Cyrenaica. Here we argue, on
space syntax method (SSM) basis, another possible source for the plan of this mansion i.e. the "Seleucid Gov-
ernor Palaces'. Space Syntax analysis has wide application in and for archaeology including understanding
features of social architecture, functional pattern of buildings, social identity, amongst others. The SSM
method will be applied to compare, beside the spatial layout, the syntactic values and genotypes of the Nab-
ataean mansion at az-Zantur-Petra with other palatial architecture in the Hellenistic Near East i.e. with the
recently discovered Seleucid governor palace in Syria.
KEYWORDS: Nabataean mansion, Petra, Palatial architecture, Seleucid governor palaces, Space Syntax
method
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Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, Vol. 17, No 3, (2017), pp. 97-119
1. INTRODUCTION
The rediscovery of Petra in 1812 by Burckhardt
(Burckhardt, 1822, 420-433) had opened a new scope
of studies in the ancient Near eastern civilizations,
i.e. the study of the Nabataean civilization which
flourished in the southern Levant and Northwest
Arabia from 4th century BC to early second century
AD, with Petra as its main urban centre. The long
history of research on Nabataean civilization, never-
theless, brought very little conclusion on their do-
mestic life and domestic architecture, although clas-
sical sources described their houses of the first cen-
tury BC as luxurious and costly (Strabo, 16.4.20-26).
It was until the late 1980s when the Swiss university
of Basil start to investigate for evidence on Nabatae-
an domestic architecture. They were successful in
discovering a number of villas at the south-western
corner of the ancient city centre of Petra, an area lo-
cally known as az-Zantur (Kolb and Stucky, 1993;
Stucky et.al, 1991,1994,1995; Stucky 1995). One of the
most magnificent of these elaborated houses was a
Nabataean mansion which was excavated in the
years 1996-2001 at az-Zantur IV (Kolb et.al., 1997;
Kolb and Keller, 2002; Kolb 2007)
Excavations revealed a 1200m2 mansion (Fig.1)
with three phases of occupation: phase I dated from
the early first century AD; phase II dated to late first
century/second century AD, this phase being repre-
sented by minor alterations and additions to the in-
terior decoration and some architectural features.
The last phase dated to the late Roman period and
ending with the earthquake of 363 AD (Kolb and
Keller, 2001, 311). What is of concern here are the
first two phases. The discovery of this mansion has
led to a new line of Nabataean studies, i.e. the Naba-
taean urban and domestic life as well as Nabataean
domestic architecture. One of the main research is-
sues attached with this mansion is the origin of its
plan. The excavator has, in several publications, con-
cluded that: "the Nabataean mansion of az-Zantur IV
must be seen in conjunction with Ptolemaic proto-
types, which themselves were inspired by Macedo-
nian architecture" (Kolb et al 1999: 266; Kolb, 2001,
439 ff, 2007,168). It is the aim of this paper, however,
to support another source of inspiration or the origin
of the plan of this mansion: that the origin of this
mansion should be found in the Seleucid governor
palaces. The argument is based on new method ap-
plied in the study of domestic architecture in ar-
chaeology i.e. the space syntax analysis. It will bring
to the attention the close similarities in the spatial
layout and syntactic values of the recently discov-
ered Seleucid governor palace at Jebel Khalid on the
Euphrates in Syria (henceforth 'Jebel Khalid palace')
with the Nabataean mansion at ez-Zantur IV in Petra
(henceforth 'the Nabataean mansion'), supported by
more numerical syntactic analysis for both palaces.
2. DESCRIPTION OF THE BUILDINGS
CONCERNED
2.1. The Nabataean Mansion
This mansion covers an area of about 1200m2 , and
it is of square-like plan with main entrance opened
in the middle of the northern wall (Fig.1). Its exterior
façade was richly decorated with painted stucco and
block relief sculpture of Nabataean deities. The re-
mains of this decoration suggest that it was decorat-
ed with Doric entablature (Kolb and Keller 2001: 312-
315). The main entrance open onto courtyard (no.28
Fig. 1) (Kolb and Keller 2001: 315), which forms the
main space through which the different parts of the
mansion communicated (Kolb and Keller 2000: 360-
361). To the south it is connected with a small, nar-
row room (room 20, Fig. 1) (Kolb and Keller 2000:
360). To the east, it is connected with a long narrow,
corridor; 14m x 2.3m (no.25. Fig.1) (Kolb and Keller
2001: 316), which leads to the reception/guest sector
in the central part of the mansion, and open to the
eastern sector through various doors, and through
corridor 23 it communicates with the private sector
of the householders. This corridor was separated by
a door from corridor 43 at the south end (Kolb and
Keller 2000, 360-361).
Figure 1:Plan of the Nabataean mansion in Petra (adopted
from Kolb and Keller, 2002, 280, fig.1)
The central part, which is represented by halls 15
and 19 serves as the reception/guest sector (Kolb
and Keller 2000: 256) and ends with exedra 7 (Kolb et
al 1999, 264) which is flanked by two banqueting
rooms (17 and 6) (Kolb et al 1998: 260) (Fig.1). Exca-
vations in the debris of this room revealed a huge
number of gilded and painted stucco fragments
(Kolb and Keller 2001: 319), attesting to the very lux-
urious nature of the mansion in general and the im-
THE SOURCE OF INSPIRATION OF THE PLAN OF THE NABATAEAN MANSION AT AZ-ZANTUR IV IN PETRA
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Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, Vol. 17, No 3, (2017), pp. 97-119
portance of this room in particular. Room 6 was
floored with limestone flags covered by a black-and-
white mosaic with geometric pattern of triangles and
squares (Kolb et al 1998: 260-262). Room 1 opens onto
hall 15 through a door, and was lavishly decorated
in architectural style (Kolb et al 1997: 234-240; 1998:
264-265).
The householder’s/private sector dominates the
north-western part of the mansion (Kolb and Keller
2000: 256) and is represented by central courtyard 5,
surrounded by rooms 26, 18, 27, 22. This sector com-
prises a kitchen in room 26 (Kolb and Keller 2000:
360), and another exedra-like room, room 27, flanked
by two domestic rooms 30 and 28. Courtyard 5 and
exedra 27 separated from each other by a “ distylos in
antis” in a similar manner to rooms 19 and 7. Moreo-
ver, room 27 was decorated with painted stucco sim-
ilar to that of room 6 (Kolb and Keller 2000: 364-365).
The south-western part of the mansion accommo-
dates a heated-floor winter living room (room14)
with furnace 29 to the west of it. The floor of this
room was suspended and supported by tile columns,
and was laid with hexagonal tiles and the room ceil-
ing was with a barrel vault (Kolb and Keller 2000:
361-362). The identity of rooms 24 and 12 is not de-
termined, but its relation with room 4 indicates its
domestic nature and it may have served as winter
living unit. This unit communicated with the private
sector through long narrow corridor 2, while the re-
ception/guest sector connected with it through cor-
ridor 11.
The private bathhouse dominating the south-
western corner of the mansion consisted of a caldari-
um (room 40) with its independent prefarnium (room
39) (Kolb and Keller 2002: 287-288).Room 38 served
as a fuel storage room for the prefarniums of rooms 14
and 40. The other part of the bath consisted of a
sweat room (room 52) and a presumed combination
of apodytarium and frigidarium in room 10 (Kolb and
Keller 2001: 289).
The eastern wing of the mansion representing the
servant sector consisted of courtyard 37 (8.2m X 4m)
which served as a supplementary courtyard for the
servants of the mansion (Kolb and Keller 2002: 284).
Room 16 served as a kitchen linked with the recep-
tion/guest sector through the small corridor 43, and
presumably rooms 35 and 36 served as storerooms
(Kolb and Keller 2001: 316). There was a small stair-
case between rooms 35 and 36 (Kolb 2007, 167)
It is worth noting that, the building underwent
some minor changes during the 4th century AD: the
western wall of room 16 was erased to foundations,
and a small L-shaped structures of unknown pur-
pose built along the southern wall. The excavator
also noted that there was a connecting door between
room 16 and room 35 and was blocked up during
this phase. Shoddily erected divisions between walls
of room 36, and newly installed taboun between
rooms 35 and 36 as well as a structure of unknown
purpose on the east side of room 35 were also dated
to this latter phase. These alterations changed the
character of the eastern wing.(Kolb and Keller,
2001,316; 2002, 284).
As for the origin of the plan of this mansion, the
excavator argues that the prototypes of this mansion
can be found in the Ptolemaic palatial architecture,
which themselves were inspired by Macedonian ar-
chitecture (Kolb et al 1999: 266; Kolb, 2001, 439 ff,
2007,168). He draw this conclusion on the basis of
one architectural feature, which is the layout of the
reception/guest sector which consists of central hall
with two columns in antis flanked by two halls. Nev-
ertheless, this conclusion seems to ignore the general
layout of the mansion.
Here the author would argue for a more Near
Eastern model for this mansion, mainly from the
Seleucid sphere of the Hellenistic world. It is known
that the Seleucids took over the palaces of their pre-
cursors, mainly the Achaemenid and other royal
palaces in that part of their empire without major
alterations, and hence the plan and the layout of the
palaces of the Seleucids kings and governors remain
of more oriental type, while Greek influence were to
be found only in the decoration and the architectural
elements (Nielsen 1994: 131). It is the purpose of this
paper to show more close similarity in the plan and
layout of the Nabataean mansion with Seleucid gov-
ernor palaces. One perfect example for comparison is
the recently discovered Seleucid governor palace at
Jebel Khalid on the Euphrates in Syria (Clarke, 2002).
2.2. The Jebel Khalid Palace
This palace was first recorded in 1984 and exca-
vated by the Australian National University in 1992,
1997 and 1999. The excavation has uncovered a Se-
leucid settlement on the west bank of the Euphrates
in North Syria . One of the main discoveries was a
governor palace with a total area of about 3200m2 on
the Acropolis of that settlement (Clarke 2002, vii-xi).
The building was planned around a colonnaded rec-
tangular central courtyard, 'room 26' with four
wings surrounding it (Fig.2). A stylobate was laid on
the four sides of this courtyard and the colonnade is
Doric in order (Clarke, 2002, 25). The eastern wing
includes rooms 13-18. Rooms 13 and 14 were entered
via a door and corridor from the colonnade. Room
14 also shows two stands made of stones and baked
clay evidently used for fires. It was identified as a
washroom with the fireplaces serving to heat water
and/or the room. There appears to be no direct ac-
cess from the kitchen (room 11) into room 13 (la-
trine), though adjacent kitchens and latrines are
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S. TWAISSI
Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, Vol. 17, No 3, (2017), pp. 97-119
standard, with drainage arranged external to the
dwelling. There was no any indication for the func-
tion of rooms 15 and 17. Room 18 however, seems to
have functioned only as a corridor to provide a very
private access into room 17 from the colonnade. It is
very plausible that room 18 might have also con-
tained a staircase to an upper storey but firm evi-
dence for this is lacking (Clarke, 2002, 40-42).
From the colonnade two lengthy vestibule-type
corridor rooms opened, one to the north (room 1),
and one to the south (room 23), extending nearly the
full length of the colonnade on these sides, allowing
immediate access to rooms 3, 11 and 12 on the north
wing and to rooms 20 and 21 on the south wing. Es-
sentially, however, these rooms acted as ante-
chambers to the audience and banqueting halls of
rooms 12 in the northern wing and room 20 in the
southern wing (Clarke, 2002, 25; 32-33). As for the
northern vestibule (room 1) the area was subdivided
at its western end by a cross wall to create a small
area (room 2) which open onto the colonnade (28).
Access to room 3, which is an outdoor area for reli-
gious rites performance with drum altar in situ, was
through room 1(Clarke, 2002, 33). In general, the
northern wing consists of a courtyard (room 12) sur-
rounded by eight rooms (rooms 4-11). The mode of
decoration and the grand architectural features of
room 12 as well as its scale (7.390m x 11.340m) sug-
gests that this was a large reception room suitable
for entertainment on a large scale, equipped with a
number of storerooms, food preparation rooms and
two kitchens on either side (Clarke, 2002, 37-40).
Rooms 4, 5 and 6 together formed a storeroom/food
preparation/kitchen complex with access into the
reception (room 12) via room 5 (Clarke, 2002, 33-34).
Two very large pithoi were found in situ in Room 8,
where a total of 34 clay loom weights stored in a
large pot and large number of basalt grinders where
found. Their presence means at least that it was an
unlikely venue for eating or sleeping, rather a maga-
zine room (Clarke, 2002, 36). One of the functions of
room 9 was to store an abundant supply of crockery
designed for catering for the entertainment of large
numbers (Clarke, 2002, 36). Room 11 was furnished
with a rectangular hearth built up against its south
wall indicating that, like rooms 5 and 6 on the other
side of room 12, it was a further cooking area
(Clarke, 2002, 37).
The southern wing consists of a vestibule (room
23) and a major entertainment room (room 20) with
two store-rooms and kitchens (rooms 19 and 21) ad-
jacent to either side of it. Its function as its equivalent
on the north side, room 1, is to provide a vestibule
area to the rooms of the southern wing. Room 19
was entered via room 20 only and was serving as a
food preparation and cooking area furnished with
raised hearth, similar to the one in room 11(Clarke,
2002, 41-42). Room 21, on the western side of room
20, had a similar function to room 19. Both rooms 19
and 21 were clearly designed to service room 20
which was decorated with two massive Doric col-
umns on a stylobate. Although the room itself had
been cleared of contents its function should be simi-
lar to that of room 12 in the northern section, i.e.
large-scale entertainment room or a banqueting hall
suitable for symposia and similar ceremonials
(Clarke, 2002, 42-43).
Figure 2: Plan of the Seleucid governor palace at Jebel
Khalid, Syria (adopted from Clarke, 2002, 26, fig.1)
The western wing consists of rooms 22 and 24-25.
This wing revealed the most intense reuse and reoc-
cupation of the whole complex which make it diffi-
cult to understand the precise function of its rooms.
In Room 22, however, two official Seleucid seals
were found, which best indicating the original use of
this room as for official administrative business or
for an armory and treasury (Clarke, 2002, 43-45).
3. AN ANALOGY BETWEEN THE NABA-
TAEAN MANSION AND JEBEL KHALID
PALACE
Having understanding the plans of both palaces
one can see much similarities between both build-
ings, regardless their scales, in terms of the spatial
layout and the function/s of the rooms. The south-
ern wing of both buildings are identical in plan, lay-
out and functions. The eastern wing of both build-
ings are also identical in the layout with much simi-
larities in functions. The northern part of the Jebel
Khalid which is consisting of a courtyard surround-
ed by rooms with much domestic function (see fig.2,
rooms 4-12), is also comparable to that of the Naba-
taean mansion which was interpreted as a domestic
THE SOURCE OF INSPIRATION OF THE PLAN OF THE NABATAEAN MANSION AT AZ-ZANTUR IV IN PETRA
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Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, Vol. 17, No 3, (2017), pp. 97-119
unit (see fig.1. rooms 5,27,22,26,30,18,and 33). One of
the main dissimilarity between the buildings is the
central colonnaded courtyard in Jebel Khalid, which
corresponds in its spatial layout to rooms20-
21,26,1,15,19,3,2,and 12 in the Nabataean mansion. It
seems that the designer of the az-Zantur favored to
have additional rooms in this part of the mansion
instead of the central courtyard. It is also suggested
that both buildings had been consisting of two sto-
ries, and the location of the staircase to the upper
story is identical in both cases, i.e room 18 in Jebel
Khalid Palace (fig.2) and room 8 in the Nabataean
mansion (fig.1). Do these similarities between both
buildings indicate that the genesis of the Nabataean
mansion is to be found in the Seleucid governor pal-
aces? To better demonstrate this issue and to give
more logical and mathematical-based support for
this idea a Space syntax analysis for both buildings
will be presented here and compared
4. SPACE SYNTAX
4.1. Introducing the method
Space Syntax is primarily a method to measure
the topological relationships between one space to
all other spaces. This method has been developed at
the Bartlett Unit for Architectural Studies at the Uni-
versity College of London since late 1970s by Bill
Hillier and Julienne Hanson (Hillier and Hanson,
1984).They developed a new way of describing and
analyzing the kinds of spatial patterns produced by
buildings and towns. They defined space syntax as a
set of techniques for quantifying and analyzing the
prosperities of architectural and urban space (Hillier
and Hanson, 1984). Another definition of space syn-
tax was introduced by Hillier (1999, 165): "a family of
techniques for representing and analyzing spatial layout
of all kinds". This means that it can be used to de-
scribe and analyze patterns of architectural space for
either single building or group of buildings or large
urban space. These techniques has wide implication
in many fields. It can be used for morphological
analysis of buildings, architectural plans and iteriors,
urban areas, and urban plans (Vrusho and Yunni-
tsyna, 2016; Behbahani, 2016). The aim of this tech-
nique is to describe different aspects of the relation-
ships between the morphological structure of
manmade environments and social structure
(Teklenburg et.al, 1993, 347). Archaeologists find
space syntax an active tool for their research inter-
ests "because it offers an uncomplicated way to quantify
spatial relationships that can be used to interpret or infer
social interaction"(Van Dyke ,1999, 461), and it has
been used in a wide range in archaeological research
projects since it mainly deals with architecture and
urban space which is of main interests of archaeolo-
gy (Ferguson, 1996; Fladd, 2017). In archaeology
space syntax was used to understand features of so-
cial structures of the ancient buildings or the settle-
ment (Foster 1989), and even social identity (Gra-
hame, 2000). It can also be employed to understand
the sources of architectural types (Hillier et.al, 1987;
Bafna, 2012). This method also employed by archae-
ologists to study prehistoric settlement architecture
(Cutting, 2003), and to investigate economic aspects
of historical settlements (Craane, 2009). Other ar-
chaeological projects adopted the method of space
syntax to analyze urban space of ancient cities
(Weilguni, 2011; Stöger 2011; 2015). This method also
used in archaeology to decipher function/s of build-
ings and their social contexts (Nevadomsky et.al,
2014); it is also used to understand social change
through analysis of changes in architecture of an-
cient societies (Reyman, 1996).
4.2. The Method
There are two basic measures in space syntax
analysis which forms the fundamentals of other spa-
tial measurements. These are the measurements of
symmetry/asymmetry and distributedness/non-
distributedness. These measures indicate whether
the space is integrated with or segregated from other
spaces in the system, i.e. distributed configuration
means that there is no just single space control the
access to the others, but there are more than one
route of access among spaces. The contrary (non-
distributed configuration) means there is only one
route to access a space from another. The overall
meaning of these measures is that symmetric and
distributed space indicates spatial integration, while
asymmetric and nondistributed space indicates spa-
tial segregation (Hillier and Hanson, 1984[2001], 143-
148). These are demonstrated through scoring two
main syntactic indicators, which are the Relative
Asymmetry (RA) and the Real Relative Asymmetry
(RRA) values of the space. The relative asymmetry
value can be calculated “by working out the mean depth
of the system from the space by assigning a depth value to
each space according to how many spaces it is away from
the original space, summing these values and dividing by
the number of spaces in the system less one (the original)
space“ (Hillier and Hanson, 1984[2001]: 108). After
calculating the mean depth of the space, its relative
asymmetry value can be calculated by the following
equation:
RA = 2(MD-1)/ K-2
Where:
MD: the mean depth of the space
The MD is calculated as MD= Total depth/K-1
K: the number of spaces in the system.
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Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, Vol. 17, No 3, (2017), pp. 97-119
If we to compare between systems of different siz-
es then the real relative asymmetry (RRA), which is a
value designed to compensate for size differences,
should be calculated. This value (RRA) can be calcu-
lated by dividing the relative asymmetry value of
the space (RA) by the D-value for K spaces in the
system (RA/D-value) (Hillier and Hanson,
1984[2001]: 109-113). The D-value of the system, ac-
cording to the whole number of spaces integrated in
that system was given by Hiller and Hanson (Hillier
and Hanson 1984[2001]: 112. table 3). The implica-
tion of these values is that, for the RA value it ranges
between zero and one and the lower the value is the
more accessible and more symmetric the space in
relation to the whole system, and the reverse indi-
cates little accessibility and more asymmetric the
space in relation to the whole system. The RRA val-
ue nevertheless, ranges between zero and infinite
and have the same implication of RA. In addition,
values of 0.4 to 0.6 indicate that the system is strong-
ly integrated and symmetric, whereas values tending
to 1 and over will be more segregated and asymmet-
ric (see Hillier and Hanson 1984 [2001]: 113).
The first and fundamental step in beginning the
analysis is to work out the mean depth of the system
from the space to be measured and this can be illus-
trated by what is called the Gamma analysis/map
(Hillier and Hanson 1984 [2001]: 147-148). Gamma
analysis is the syntactic analysis of the interior struc-
tures represented by a justified permeability graph
based on the 2D floor plan of the building (Hilllier
and Hanson, 1984, 143). All the spaces in the system
(structure or building) are illustrated as nodes linked
by routes of access lined from the entrance, or carrier
space (carrier space is the space want to be meas-
ured), to all successively accessible spaces. This will
result in a graph depicting the number of levels be-
tween the carrier space and the deepest space in the
system. Then, a depth value is assigned to each
space based on its shortest route of access from the
carrier space. Spaces that are one space away from
the carrier space receive a value of 1,spaces that are
two spaces away receive a value of 2, and so on.
Spaces of depth value of 7, for example, means that a
person has to cross 6 spaces before reaching it. Based
on the Gamma graph one can assign a depth value
for each space as well as the number of spaces at
each depth level. Then the total depth value of the
whole system from the root is calculated by sum-
ming up the multiplication of each depth level with
the number of spaces at that level. For example, in
the plan proposed in figure 3 there are 14 spaces in
the system plus 1 (the outside). The Gamma map of
this system (Fig.4) shows that there is 1 space at
depth level of 1; 4 spaces at depth level of 2; 4 spaces
at depth level of 3; 3 spaces at depth level of 4and 2
spaces at depth level of 5. The total depth value of
the system then calculated as : (1x1) + (2x4) + (3x4) +
(4x3) + (5x2) = 1+8+12+12+10. This means that the
total Depth Value of the system is 43. All other calcu-
lations for the carrier space will be based on this val-
ue. In this example, the Mean Depth value (MD) is
calculated as: 43/15-1 which is 3. 07. The Relative
Asymmetry value (RA) then calculated as 2(MD-1)/
K-2, i.e. 2(3.07-1)/15-2. Then RA= 4.14/13, i.e.
RA=0.318. According to Hillier and Hanson (1984:
112, table 3) the D-value of a 15 spaces system is
0.259. Then for our example the Real Relative
Asymmetry (RRA) of the system from outside is cal-
culated as RA/D- value of K, i.e. 0.318/0.259=1.2277.
Figure 3: a proposed plan of a building
Figure 4: Gamma map from outside for the proposed plan
Figure 5: Gamma map for room 6 in the proposed plan
excluding outside
Same process should be followed to measure oth-
er spaces. Space under measure become the carrier
THE SOURCE OF INSPIRATION OF THE PLAN OF THE NABATAEAN MANSION AT AZ-ZANTUR IV IN PETRA
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space and in this case the outside space can be ex-
cluded. For the same example if we want to measure
space 6 then the justified Gama graph will be as in
figure 5 with space 6 as carrier, then other measure-
ment will be calculated the same way explained
above but considering the D-value of 14 spaces be-
cause the outside is excluded. Each space in the sys-
tem then can be measured following the same steps.
Finally, for further illustration for the integration of
the space within the same system (building etc) is
the integration value (IV). This value reflects the ex-
tent to which that space organizes access and
movement within that system. The IV is calculated
for each space and Higher integration values of
spaces indicate that the space is less deep on average
from all other nodes which means that it is more in-
tegrated into the system. The IV is measured as the
inverse of RRA i.e. 1/RRA (Bafna, 2003, 21)
5. APPLICATION ON A CASE STUDY
As mentioned, the purpose of this paper a space syn-
taxe-based argument on the possible origin of the
plan of the Nabataean mansion in the Seleucid gov-
ernor palaces. For methodological reason it is im-
portant here to show what is considered as space in
space syntax. Because what is considered by archae-
ologist as a single spatial unit might be considered as
more than one space in space syntax methodology.
In space syntax a space is understood as an area in
the shape of a convex polygon, with boundary, in
which all points are equally visible to each other
(Hillier and Hanson, 1984, 772-77; 147). For method-
ological reasons new spaces were added to the pub-
lished plans of our case study (figs.6-7). These are
spaces (3a, 15a,18a,35b-d and 36c-e) in the Nabatae-
an mansion in (Fig.6), and spaces (13a, 14a-b and 27-
33) in the Seleucid governor palace in Syria (Fig.7).
In the case of the Nabataean Mansion the plan also
was modified to represents phases 1 and 2 by elimi-
nating the additions of the 4th century AD mainly in
the eastern wing of the mansion (Fig.6). All spaces of
both buildings were spatially and syntactically ana-
lyzed. The prefarnium (rooms 29 and 39) in the Nab-
ataean mansion were, nevertheless, excluded from
the analysis because it is applicable in space syntax
to exclude spaces that are without a social activity
(Ostwald and Dawes, 2011). Both were analyzed
from outside to set up the initial Gamma map of the
buildings (Fig. 8a-b) from which Gamma maps for
all other spaces were derived excluding the outside
(See APPENDIX at the end, Figs.9-18) The syntactic
measurements of each space include Depth (D),
Mean Depth (MD), Relative Asymmetry (RA), Real
Relative Asymmetry (RRA) and the integration val-
ue (IV). The result of this analysis is presented in
Tables (1-2) bellow.
Figure 6: Plan of the Nabataean mansion with new spaces
added and excluding additions of the 4th century AD
Figure 7: Plan of Jebel Khalid Palace with new spaces
added
Figure 8: Gamma maps from outside. a) Jebel Khalid pal-
ace; b) Nabataean mansion
104
S. TWAISSI
Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, Vol. 17, No 3, (2017), pp. 97-119
Table 1. Syntactic values of the Nabataean mansion
sr
Space no.
Space function
D
MD
RA
RRA
IV
1
outside
228
4.653
0.1522
1.1444
0.8737
2
28
Main Entrance courtyard
179
3.7291
0.1161
0.8602
1.1624
3
20
226
4.7083
0.1578
1.1688
0.8555
4
23
corridor
189
3.9375
0.125
0.9259
1.08
5
5
courtyard
183
3.8125
0.1196
0.8865
1.128
6
27
225
4.6875
0.1569
1.1623
0.8603
7
22
domestic
271
5.64583
0.1976
1.4644
0.6828
8
30
domestic
271
5.6458
0.1976
1.4644
0.6828
9
13a
connecting passage
273
5.6875
0.1994
1.4775
0.6768
10
13
passage
227
4.7291
0.1586
1.1754
0.8507
11
33
282
5.875
0.2074
1.5366
0.6507
12
18
small private bathing pool?
282
5.875
0.2074
1.5366
0.6507
13
18a
233
4.8541
0.164
1.2148
0.8231
14
26
kitchen
229
4.7708
0.1604
1.1885
0.8413
15
3
connecting passage
199
4.1458
0.1338
0.9915
1.0084
16
3a
connecting passage
184
3.8333
0.1205
0.893
1.1197
17
2
coridor
191
3.9791
0.1267
0.939
1.0648
18
12
winter living room?
185
3.8541
0.1214
0.8996
1.1115
19
4
winter living room?
232
4.8333
0.1631
1.2083
0.8276
20
24
?
232
4.8333
0.1631
1.2083
0.8276
21
25
corridor
162
3.375
0.101
0.7486
1.3357
22
43
corridor
169
3.5208
0.1072
0.7945
1.2585
23
9
staircase
255
5.3125
0.1835
1.3593
0.7356
24
8
Corridor leading to Staircase
208
4.3333
0.1418
1.0506
0.95175
25
16
kitchen
201
4.1875
0.1356
1.0047
0.9952
26
36
food preparation/service
199
4.1458
0.1338
0.9915
1.0084
27
36d
201
4.1875
0.1356
1.0047
0.9952
28
36b
food preparation/service
239
4.9791
0.1693
1.2542
0.7972
29
36c
food preparation/service
198
4.125
0.1329
0.985
1.0152
30
37
food preparation/service
284
5.9166
0.2092
1.573
0.6356
31
36e
food preparation/service
237
4.9375
0.1675
1.2411
0.8057
32
35d
stair
318
6.625
0.2393
1.773
0.5639
33
35c
stair room
271
5.6458
0.1976
1.4864
0.6727
34
35a
food preparation/storeroom
232
4.8333
0.1631
1.2083
0.8276
35
36a
food preparation/storeroom
240
5
0.1702
1.2608
0.7931
36
35b
food preparation/storeroom
216
4.5
0.1489
1.1032
0.9064
37
19
reception
161
3.3541
0.1001
0.742
1.3476
38
6
banqueting
252
5.25
0.1808
1.3396
0.7464
39
17
banqueting/ensemble room
252
5.25
0.1808
1.3396
0.7464
40
7
reception
205
4.2708
0.1391
1.0309
0.9699
41
1
243
5.0625
0.1728
1.2997
0.7693
42
15a
249
5.1875
0.1781
1.3199
1.3199
43
15
reception courtyard
203
4.2291
0.1374
1.0178
0.9824
44
21
250
5.2083
0.179
1.3265
0.7538
45
11
corridor
171
3.5625
0.109
0.8077
1.238
46
14
winter living room
218
4.5416
0.1507
1.1163
0.8957
47
38
fuel store
347
7.2291
0.265
1.9634
0.5092
48
40
caldarium
255
5.3125
0.1835
1.3593
0.7356
49
52
bath sweat room
255
5.3125
0.1835
1.3593
0.7356
50
10
apodytarium and frigidarium
212
4.4166
0.1453
1.0769
0.9285
-
Mean
228.48
4.7580
0.1598
1.1857
0.8951
Table 2. Syntactic values of Jebel Khalid palace
sr
Space no.
Space function
D
MD
RA
RRA
IV
1
outside
171
4.75
0.2142
1.3392
0.7466
2
16
Main Entrance courtyard
135
3.8571
0.168
1.031
0.9698
3
17
?
169
4.8285
0.2252
1.3816
0.7237
4
15
?
169
4.8285
0.2252
1.3816
0.7237
5
14a
passage
131
3.7428
0.1613
0.9898
1.0102
6
14b
passage
163
4.6571
0.2151
1.3197
0.7576
7
14
washroom
197
5.6285
0.2722
1.6703
0.5986
8
27
corridor
105
3
0.1176
0.7217
1.3855
9
13a
passage
163
4.6571
0.2151
1.3197
0.7576
THE SOURCE OF INSPIRATION OF THE PLAN OF THE NABATAEAN MANSION AT AZ-ZANTUR IV IN PETRA
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Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, Vol. 17, No 3, (2017), pp. 97-119
10
13
latrine
197
5.6285
0.2722
1.6703
0.5986
11
18
corridor/staircase
139
3.9714
0.1747
1.0723
0.9325
12
19
preparation and cooking area
209
5.9714
0.2924
1.794
0.5573
13
20
banqueting hall
175
5
0.2352
1.4435
0.6927
14
21
166
4.7428
0.2201
1.3507
0.7403
15
23
vestibule corridor
144
4.1142
0.1831
1.1238
0.8897
16
29
corridor
116
3.3142
0.1361
0.8351
1.1973
17
30
corridor
111
3.1714
0.1277
0.7836
1.2761
18
32
141
4.0285
0.1781
1.0929
1.0929
19
25
175
5
0.2352
1.4435
0.6927
20
24
175
5
0.2352
1.4435
0.6927
21
33
207
5.9142
0.289
1.7734
0.5638
22
22
armory and treasury
173
4.9428
0.2319
1.4229
0.7027
23
31
141
4.0285
0.1781
1.0929
1.0929
24
28
corridor
100
2.8571
0.1092
0.6702
1.492
25
26
central reception courtyard
107
3.0571
0.121
0.7423
1.347
26
1
vestibule corridor
114
3.2571
0.1327
0.8145
1.2276
27
3
religious performance
148
4.2285
0.1899
1.1651
0.8582
28
2
134
3.8285
0.1663
1.0207
0.9796
29
12
reception/banqueting hall
134
3.8285
0.1663
1.0207
0.9796
30
11
cooking room
141
4.0285
0.1781
1.0929
0.9149
31
10
161
4.6
0.2117
1.2991
0.7697
32
9
crockery storeroom
190
5.4285
0.2605
1.5981
0.6257
33
8
food magazine room
218
6.2285
0.3075
1.8868
0.5299
34
7
218
6.2285
0.3075
1.8868
0.5299
35
6
kitchen
190
5.4285
0.2605
1.5981
0.6257
36
5
food preparation
161
4.6
0.2117
1.2991
0.7697
37
4
storeroom
195
5.5714
0.2689
1.6497
0.6061
Mean
159
4.539140541
0.2079649
1.2767865
0.8554351
6. DISCUSSION
Beside the similarities in architecture and spatial
layout between the Nabataean mansion and Jebel
Khalid palace, the spatial analysis and the syntactic
values derived have also show that both buildings
share close syntactic values. The Gamma maps of
both buildings from outside (Fig.8) show that in both
cases corridors control the access to most spaces and
they are located in the second and third depth levels.
More gamma maps per se are given in the Appen-
dix. These corridors share very close RRA and IV
values (see Tables 1 and 2 to compare spaces 25, 43
and 11 in the Nabataean mansion with spaces 27-30
in Jebel Khalid palace). The central courtyard of Jebel
Khalid palace (space 26), which corresponds in its
position to spaces 20-21,26,1,15,19,3,24 ,and partially
12 in the Nabataean mansion. The central part of
these rooms is 19 which also has an exact equal RRA
and IV values to courtyard 26 of Jebel Khalid. In the
other hand, the Gamma maps also clearly show that
the ring access of spaces (27-30) of Jebel Khalid pal-
ace which encompass courtyard 26 also corresponds
to that ring access of spaces (28,23,5,2,12,11,19,43 and
25). Spaces which are in the same position and have
same function, e.g .space 8 of the Nabataean mansion
and space 18 of Jebel Khalid palace, also have a
semi-exact equal RRA and IV values. Furthermore,
the southern wings in both palaces which are corre-
sponding in position and function also have, syntac-
tically, close RRA values (see Tables 1 and 2 to com-
pare spaces 19-21 in Jebel Khalid palace with spaces
6, 7 and 17 in the Nabataean mansion) and both
wings also located at the fifth depth level. In general
both buildings share close values of Mean depth,
Mean RRA and Mean IV (see Tables 1 and 2). Do all
these architectural and syntactic similarities mean
that both buildings have cultural similarities and
share genotypes? For the author, all facts discussed
above strongly support the answer "yes", and sug-
gests that both buildings are sharing common back-
ground. However, there is another syntactic value
should be measured here which could be the final
proof for this answer. This value is called "the rela-
tivised Difference Factor" (H*). According to Hillier
and his colleagues (Hillier et.al, 1987, 365) difference
in integration values for different spaces in the sys-
tem is an indication of how culture built in spatial
layout. This difference can be numerically measured
through what Hillier et.al (1987, 365) called as the
"Difference Factor" (H) which is 'an entropy-based
measure'. For this purpose they offered the follow-
ing equation:
Where:
H: is the unrelativised difference factor for the
three RRA values (a,b and c)
a: is the minimum RRA value
b: is the mean RRA value
c: is the maximum RRA
t: is the ∑a+b+c
ln : is the natural logarithm of any number
106
S. TWAISSI
Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, Vol. 17, No 3, (2017), pp. 97-119
Then (H) can be relativised between ln2 and ln3 to
give a relative Difference factor (H*) between 0 and
2. H* value with 0 is the maximum difference factor
or the minimum entropy, and 2 is the minimum dif-
ference or maximum entropy. Thus H* is measured
by the following equation:
(Hillier et.al, 1987, 365)
Where: H is is the unrelativised difference factor
ln2: is the natural algorithmic value of number 2
which is 0.693147
ln3: is the natural algorithmic value of number 3
which is 1.098612
(https://www.mathpapa.com/calc/alg).
Values above 1 is indicating weak difference factor
while values below 1 tends to be strong difference
factor. Hillier and his colleagues, believe that this
measure is "able to express culturally significant typologi-
cal differences among plans because the two concepts on
which they are based have in themselves a kind of intrinsic
'social logic" (Hillier et.al, 1987, 365). The implication is
that if there are two or more houses/buildings with
similar H* value ± (e.g. 0.77-0.81) then cultural simi-
larities\pattern and genotype is likely exists within
the sample (Miana, 2014. 26-27).
As for the Nabataean mansion, with reference to Table 1:
a= 0.7420
b= 1.1857
c= 1.9634
t= 3.8912
then
H= -∑[0.1906 Xln0.1906]+[ 0.3047xln0.3047]+[0.5045xln0.5045]
H= -∑[0.1906x-1.657578]+[0.3047x-1.188428]+[0.5045x-0.684187]
H= -∑[-0.3159343668]+[- 0.3621140116]+[ -0.3451723414]
H= -[-1.0232207198]
H=1.0232207198
H*=
= 0.3300737198/0.405465
Then, H*= 0.8141
As for Jebel Khalid Palace, with reference to table 2
a: 0.6702
b: 1.2767
c: 1.8868
t: 3.8337
then
H= -∑[0.1748 x ln0.1748]+[ 0.3330 x ln0.3330]+[0.4921 x ln0.4921]
H= -∑[0.1748x-1.744113]+[ 0.3330x-1.099613]+[ 0.4921x-0.709073]
H= -∑[-0.3048709524]+[- 0.366171129]+[- 0.3489348233]
THE SOURCE OF INSPIRATION OF THE PLAN OF THE NABATAEAN MANSION AT AZ-ZANTUR IV IN PETRA
107
Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, Vol. 17, No 3, (2017), pp. 97-119
H= -[-1.0199769047]
H= 1.0199769047
ln2=0.693147
ln3=1.098612
H*=0.3268299047/
H*=0.8060
Thus, both Nabataean mansion and Jebel Khalid
palace have very close H* value (0.8141 and 0.8060
respectively) which means that cultural pattern and
genotype do exist.
7. CONCLUSION
This paper has arguing that the origin of the plan
of the Nabataean mansion discovered in Petra could
be found in the Seleucid governor palaces in the Near
East. It has brought to the attention the close architec-
tural similarities between the Nabataean mansion and
the newly discovered Seleucid governor palace at
Jebel Khalid on the Euphrates in Syria. Beside the tra-
ditional comparative method of art history, the author
implies a more numerical method to support his hy-
pothesis i.e. the space syntax method which now has
many implications in new archaeological researches.
The syntactic analysis has supported the preliminary
notes on the similarities between the plans of the two
buildings concerned. A further proof on the origin
was supported by the Difference factor value (H*)
which indicates a cultural and architectural genotypes
exists within the Nabataean Mansion in Petra and the
Seleucid governor palace in Syria. Based on these
facts the author concludes that there is common "ar-
chitectural DNA" between the two buildings.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The author would like to express his sincere thanks for Al-Hussein Bin Talal University and the Untitled Ar-
ab Emirates University, for the former grant him a sabbatical year to fulfill this research paper and the latter
offered him a position in the Department of History and Archaeology and full access to the university
sources which led this research to a successful conclusion.
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Appendix
The Gamma maps of the case study
Figure 9: Gamma maps for space outside,28,20,23,5,27,30,13a and 13 of the Nabataean mansion
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Figure 10: Gamma maps for spaces 22,33,18,18a,26,3,3a,2 and 12 in the Nabataean mansion
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Figure 11: Gamma maps for spaces 4,24,25,43,9,8,16,36 and36d in the Nbataean mansion
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Figure 12: Gamma maps for spaces 36b,36c,3736c,35d35c,35a,36a and 35b in the Nabataean mansion
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Figure 13: Gamma maps for spaces 19,6,17,7,1,15a,15,21 and 11in the Nabataean mansion
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Figure 14: Gamma maps for spaces 14,38,40,52 and10 in the Nabataean mansion
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Figure 15: Gamma maps for spaces outside, 16,17,15,14a,1414b,27 and 13 in Jebel Khalid palace
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Figure 16: Gamma maps for spaces 13a, 18,19,20,21,23,29,30 and 32in Jebel Khalid palace
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Figure 17: Gamma maps for spaces 25,24,33,22,31,28,26,1 and 3 in Jebel Khalid palace
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Figure 18:Gamma maps for spaces 2,12-4 in Jebel Khalid palace
