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Dhat Ras Temple Ground Level
 The ground level has three main areas:
cella, adyton, and staircase. Except for the staircase, these
areas are the worship areas of the temple.
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Cella - The
cella probably was the area where people would gather and
worship the deity. This area is an open-air room measuring
7.20 meters north-south and 6.35 meters east-west. These
measurements do not account for the spaces beneath the two
arches on each side. The floor is inset on all sides and
slopes toward the south. The floor is made of ten rows of
ashlar stones, which comprise the
ceiling of the subterranean level. The floor has four drains,
two on each side, which lead to the cistern below the temple.
[
Photo] The inset floor and drains, along with the Nabateans’
propensity to store water, indicate that the temple was
designed to catch rainwater. Furthermore, we found neither
buttresses nor any type of
springer to suggest some type of
roof support.
As stated above, two arches were built into
the east and west walls. The arches measure 2.45 meters wide,
2.50 meters high, and .94 meters deep. They do not extend to
the floor but rather about half a course above it. There is no
indication of the use of the areas within the arches or that
the arches themselves were more than decoration.[
Photo]
Notice the pockmarks around the arches. These marks are
symmetrical in that they form a line or follow the design of
the building. Someone hammering nails into the wall, nails
that would have held paneling, created these marks. Sometimes,
ancient people used marble as paneling. A local man found such
a piece of marble at the site, which even has a nail in the
center of it!! [
Photo1
& Photo 2]
 Above the arches and on all four walls of
the cella are two cornices. The
first one is about .30 meters wide and protrudes out .18
meters. The top of this cornice is 3.60 meters from the floor
on the north side. (The other sides vary in height because of
the sloping floor.) The second cornice is smaller, about .20
meters wide, and measures about 6.20 meters from the top of
the cornice to the floor. These cornices are purely
decorative.
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 Adyton - The
adyton is the holiest place of the temple, an area
probably restricted to temple priests. The adyton of the Dhat
Ras temple is on the north side of the
cella and measures 4.30 meters wide and 3.35 meters deep.
The adyton has a roof in the shape of a
barrel vault, with the vault running with the depth of the
room. The arched roof is quite high measuring 5.38 meters high
at the apex of the arch. [
Photo]
The lower cornice
of the cella continues into the adyton 3.35 meters above the
floor and just below the barrel vaulted ceiling. The cornice
serves as the base of a large niche
in the center of the back wall. The niche has a barreled back
and a vaulted top. It measures 1.50 meters high, .70 meters
wide, and .55 meters deep in the center. Unlike the niches in
the external southern wall, this one does not have pilasters
or a pediment. The Nabateans probably placed a statue or image
of the temple’s deity inside the niche. A
door on the right side of the adyton is the entrance to the
staircase that leads to the attic.
The doorway includes a .27 meters ascending step and measures
1.74 meters high and .65 meters wide.
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Staircase - The staircase to the
attic is built into the northeast corner of the temple, in the
back, right corner of the adyton.
[
Photo] The staircase makes three 90-degree, right angle turns. These
turns are necessary in order for the staircase to fit within
the space of the wall. [
Photo] The builders placed a slit window in
the east wall, above the landing at the first 90-degree turn.
This window, measuring .12 meters wide and about .60 meters
high, provides light for the lower section of the staircase.
 After three turns and 14 steps, the
stairway ends at a passage leading 90 degrees to the right and
left. Both passages lead up an additional five steps.
The passage to the right leads to a large window in the east
wall. This window, measuring an estimated .55 meters wide and
1.60 meters high, provides light to the upper staircase. A
window similar to this one can be seen in the Qasr Al-Bint
temple at Petra. [
Photo] The passage to the left leads to the
attic, and after two 90-degree
turns and nine additional steps, to the roof over the attic
and the adyton area.
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