WEST PORTICO OF THE ARCHED BUILDING
The north-south oriented structure located to the north of the Early Byzantine Church 4 and to the west of the Arched Building measures 4.32x11.60 m (Fig. 1). Paved with baked clay bricks it was originally covered with a roof carried by columns on the west and east (Fig. 2).
This portico is also the east portico of the Alley 2 extending north from the Colonnaded Street (Fig. 3). A similar portico is expected to be found to the west of the Alley 2, in the unexcavated area.
In the first phase (Late Hellenistic – Early Roman Imperial period) of the Arched Building and thus the portico, the access to the portico should have been from the south (Fig. 4). However, when the Early Byzantine Church 4 was built on its south in the fifth-sixth centuries its entrance of the first phase was blocked.
In the first phase a wall separated the portico and the Arched Building but in the fourth century this portico and the wall were rearranged. A wall with a height of 3.20 m was built between the portico and the Arched Building and columns with a height of 3.90 m were put up on it. Similarly, a wall with a height of 1.21 m was built bounding the portico on its west and columns of 4.21 m in height were put up on it (Fig. 5).