Butler, Howard Crosby: Publications of an American Archaeological Expedition to Syria in 1899 - 1900 (Band 2): Architecture and other arts (New York, 1903)

CHAPTER XIV

SCULPTURE IN TEIE DJEBEL HAURAN

THE sculpture of the Djebel Hauran has a character all its own, which is, to a
certain extent, the result of the use of basalt as a medium. It differs widely from
the sculpture of corresponding periods in the limestone region of Northern Central
Syria, and presents no analogies to that of the basalt country of the north. Its his-
tory seems to have run parallel with the history of architecture in the locality. It
began with the early Nabataean period, flourished and declined with the rise and fall of
Roman sway, and found its latest expression in the very crude work of the Christian
period.

SuwedA. altar. A good example of the sculpture of the Nabataean period is to be
seen in a little altar found at ‘Ireh, and now in the Seraya at Suweda. This monument

has been mentioned repeatedly by
travelers and scholars who have
seen it. A photograph of it appears
in Baron von Oppenhcim’s “Vom
Mittelmeer zum Persischen Golf,”
and its inscription, in Nabataean
characters not earlier than 50 a.d.,
has been published several times. 1
The altar measures .45 m. x .39 m.
x .24 m. Its principal face is carved
with the figure of a bull in relief
within a sunken panel, the frame of
which, above and below, bears the
inscription. Above the panel, at
either end, appear two of the horns
of the altar, and between these is a narrow frieze ornamented with raised bands form-

'Part IV, Nab. insc. 3.

Front of altar from ‘Ireh.

4H