DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.32867#0327
CHAPTER VIII
ARCHITECTURE AND SCULPTURE OF THE
DJEBEL IL-HASS AND THE DJEBEL SHBET
IF one travels eastward from the lower portions of the Djebel Barisha about fifty
miles, across the monotonous, gently rolling plain, he will come to two groups of
hills as different in formation and character from the mountains he has left in the
west as if they were in a totally dififerent part of the world. The hills rise at a regu-
lar angle from the barren plain to form two broad plateaus : that farther west is of
oblong shape, as may be seen from the map, and is known as the Djebel il-Hass;
the other is approximately circular and is called the Djebel Shbet. In place of the
rugged and uneven crags of pale-gray limestone that make up the picturesque masses
of the mountains of the west, he will find smooth slopes and flat surfaces, strewn
with broken fragments of black stone. These hills are a part of the long, narrow
lava formation that may be traced southward through the plain, by Andarin and
Selemiyeh, to Homs, and then again through the flat lands east and south of Damas-
cus, by Dmer, il-Hidjaneh, and Harran il-'Awamid, to the conical volcanic mountains
of the Hauran. We hear of these groups of hills from the Arabic geographers of the
middle ages. The Djebel il-Hass is now only sparsely settled, and the Djebel Shbet
is barren and deserted, the resort of Bedawin tribes who frequently visit Djubb Zebed
to draw water from the ancient well.
I
ARCHITECTURE
IT would be difficult to find a better illustration of the influence of native material
upon architecture than that afforded by the ruined buildings of this region. The
dates of the buildings here correspond with those of the later buildings in the lime-
stone districts of Northern Syria, for they extend from the fourth to the seyenth cen-
295
ARCHITECTURE AND SCULPTURE OF THE
DJEBEL IL-HASS AND THE DJEBEL SHBET
IF one travels eastward from the lower portions of the Djebel Barisha about fifty
miles, across the monotonous, gently rolling plain, he will come to two groups of
hills as different in formation and character from the mountains he has left in the
west as if they were in a totally dififerent part of the world. The hills rise at a regu-
lar angle from the barren plain to form two broad plateaus : that farther west is of
oblong shape, as may be seen from the map, and is known as the Djebel il-Hass;
the other is approximately circular and is called the Djebel Shbet. In place of the
rugged and uneven crags of pale-gray limestone that make up the picturesque masses
of the mountains of the west, he will find smooth slopes and flat surfaces, strewn
with broken fragments of black stone. These hills are a part of the long, narrow
lava formation that may be traced southward through the plain, by Andarin and
Selemiyeh, to Homs, and then again through the flat lands east and south of Damas-
cus, by Dmer, il-Hidjaneh, and Harran il-'Awamid, to the conical volcanic mountains
of the Hauran. We hear of these groups of hills from the Arabic geographers of the
middle ages. The Djebel il-Hass is now only sparsely settled, and the Djebel Shbet
is barren and deserted, the resort of Bedawin tribes who frequently visit Djubb Zebed
to draw water from the ancient well.
I
ARCHITECTURE
IT would be difficult to find a better illustration of the influence of native material
upon architecture than that afforded by the ruined buildings of this region. The
dates of the buildings here correspond with those of the later buildings in the lime-
stone districts of Northern Syria, for they extend from the fourth to the seyenth cen-
295