Leclercq, H. "Narthex." In Dictionnaire d'archéologie chrétienne et de liturgie, Vol. 12, cols. 888f. Paris, 1935.
Monneret de Villard, U. Les Couvents près de Sohag, Vol. 2, pp. 111ff. Milan, 1926.
______. "La basilica cristiana in Egitto." In Atti del IV congresso internazionale di archeologia cristiana, Vol. 1, pp. 302ff. Rome, 1940.
Orlandos, A. K. Basilik». Athens, 1952.
Simaykah, M. Guide sommaire du Musée copte. Cairo, 1937.
Strube, C. Die westliche Eingangsseite der Kirchen von Konstantinopel in justinianischer Zeit. Wiesbaden, 1973.
Völkl, L. "Archäologische Funde und Forschungen in Röm-Montecassino-Syracus-Vaticano." Römische Quartelschrift für christliche Altertumskunde und Kirchengeschichte 48 (1953):237ff.
peter grossmann
Nave A nave is the main area of a basilica church lying between two or more side aisles usually separated from it by rows of columns. It is higher than the aisles, the part of its walls above the aisle roof forming the clerestory. The nave extends from the west wall (the return aisle in Egyptian churches) to the transept (transverse arms) or, if there is no transept, to the triumphal arch that forms the opening to the sanctuary or apse. The east end of the nave, in front of the sanctuary, is occupied by the presbytery surrounded by cancelli. Until the eighth century, the altar stood in the presbytery, but when the khurus was interposed between the apse and the nave, the altar disappeared from the nave.
In Egyptian basilica churches the nave usually has a saddleback (pitched) roof (see below). In early Christian times some village churches with relatively narrow naves had a barrel-vault roof (see "vault" below). But vaulting was not in general use until the late Middle Ages, in churches such as those at Dayr al-Suryan and Dayr Anba Bishoi.
المراجع
Monneret de Villard, U. "La basilica cristiana in Egitto." In Atti del IV congresso internationale di archeologia cristiana, Vol. 1. Rome, 1940.
Orlandos, A. K. Basilik», pp. 154ff. Athens, 1952.
PETER GROSSMANN
Niche A niche is a recess in a wall. It may hold useful objects or decorative objects, such as statues, or may itself be a decorative element.
Practical niches inside buildings serve as cupboards. Intended to store objects that might be lost or broken if left on the floor, they are usually at a convenient height. They may be divided into several compartments by the insertion of horizontal boards and provided with doors so that they can be closed. Some may have a high parapet in front to hold loose goods. Sometimes a large main niche will be flanked by two smaller, shallower side niches, as in ancient Roman houses in the Fayyum, a symmetrical arrangement for the display of images of gods and ancestors. Similar arrangements can be found in several hermitages at Kellia. There are also very small niches, usually beside a staircase, to hold an oil lamp.
When cupboard niches are built into the wall during the construction of a building, they are rectangular and usually topped by a small arch or, less commonly, a lintel. When they are cut into a wall after it is built, possible in principle only with crude brick constructions, they are generally shapeless and have a rounded interior. Not infrequently they even go around the corner of a room. In rooms that have frequently been altered, such niches result in very irregular wall structure.
Niches constructed for decorative reasons or religious purposes are more elaborate. Since the deep, shadowed area of a niche forms a strong visual contrast with the otherwise flat wall, niches were used as decorative elements. In Roman temples and other public buildings, alternating rectangular and semicircular niches, holding