DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.36287#0034
TOPOGRAPHY OF NORTHERN CENTRAL SYRIA,
I 2
that exist there to-day are near the modern villages or hidden away in smati depres-
sions in the mountain. At present the main sources of livelihood of the people are
their scant crops of wheat and barley, and their small hocks of diminutive goats.
The 30th of October was a most interesting day and one in which we met with more
success than usual. We started off toward Behyo, one of the largest ruined towns
in the Djebel il-Ala, and then came in turn to Kefr Kila and Bshindelaya. Bshin-
delaya is extensive and boasts of several inscriptions. One of its most notable struc-
tures is a tomb which is hewn out of the solid rock below the surface of the ground.
Over the broad entrance there is a long Greek inscription, giving a date equivalent to
134 A.D.* This tomb was discovered by M. de Vogue," but we made an attempt
to amplify his work by taking photographs of the tomb and by securing a paper squeeze
of the inscription, from which to make a plaster cast. We were not successful at first
on account of the strength of the sun's rays, which beat down directly upon the paper,
but the following day the task was again undertaken and was then accomplished after
a struggle. The effect of the sun was to blister the paper so that it did not retain the
exact form of the stone's surface and of the letters. In order that it might be carried
readily, the squeeze had to be cut into seventeen sections. These were put in one of
the large wooden boxes brought for this purpose as a part of our equipment.
Not far from this tomb there is a large house standing in the midst of what was
evidently a garden. Just south of the building was a courtyard with a stone pave-
ment and in its center a cistern, which is still used by the natives. While we were
there some women brought their earthenware jars and, filling them with the water from
the old cistern, carried them away on their shoulders. The house may have been the
residence of an official, though we found no inscription on it or near by that gave even
a suggestion of its history.
Toward the west and some five or six hundred yards away from this house are the
scattered ruins of another section of Bshindelaya, for which a native gave me the name
of Karrus. ^ They are not of great interest, but we found there a fragment of a Greek
inscription, and a portion of one in SyriacT A little later a second part of the latter
was discovered, but we searched in vain for the third part to complete this inscription.
There are also two Greek inscriptions built into the walls of the modern houses.^
From Bshindelaya our party rode northward to Kasr il-Gharbl, following the
roughest path that we had thus far encountered. Our horses managed to carry us
over it without accident. This ruin, consisting of a mortuary chamber and several con-
necting buildings, is not an important one. We did not stop long but soon remounted
our horses and rode back by way of Ma'sarteh and Bshindelinteh to Kalb Lauzeh.
Upon arriving at camp we were amused to learn that a messenger sent to Kefr
i See Part III, inscr. 8. 3 ggg p 5 Part III, pp. 37 IF.
3 La Syrie Centrale, p. n6. 4 Part IV, p. 12.
I 2
that exist there to-day are near the modern villages or hidden away in smati depres-
sions in the mountain. At present the main sources of livelihood of the people are
their scant crops of wheat and barley, and their small hocks of diminutive goats.
The 30th of October was a most interesting day and one in which we met with more
success than usual. We started off toward Behyo, one of the largest ruined towns
in the Djebel il-Ala, and then came in turn to Kefr Kila and Bshindelaya. Bshin-
delaya is extensive and boasts of several inscriptions. One of its most notable struc-
tures is a tomb which is hewn out of the solid rock below the surface of the ground.
Over the broad entrance there is a long Greek inscription, giving a date equivalent to
134 A.D.* This tomb was discovered by M. de Vogue," but we made an attempt
to amplify his work by taking photographs of the tomb and by securing a paper squeeze
of the inscription, from which to make a plaster cast. We were not successful at first
on account of the strength of the sun's rays, which beat down directly upon the paper,
but the following day the task was again undertaken and was then accomplished after
a struggle. The effect of the sun was to blister the paper so that it did not retain the
exact form of the stone's surface and of the letters. In order that it might be carried
readily, the squeeze had to be cut into seventeen sections. These were put in one of
the large wooden boxes brought for this purpose as a part of our equipment.
Not far from this tomb there is a large house standing in the midst of what was
evidently a garden. Just south of the building was a courtyard with a stone pave-
ment and in its center a cistern, which is still used by the natives. While we were
there some women brought their earthenware jars and, filling them with the water from
the old cistern, carried them away on their shoulders. The house may have been the
residence of an official, though we found no inscription on it or near by that gave even
a suggestion of its history.
Toward the west and some five or six hundred yards away from this house are the
scattered ruins of another section of Bshindelaya, for which a native gave me the name
of Karrus. ^ They are not of great interest, but we found there a fragment of a Greek
inscription, and a portion of one in SyriacT A little later a second part of the latter
was discovered, but we searched in vain for the third part to complete this inscription.
There are also two Greek inscriptions built into the walls of the modern houses.^
From Bshindelaya our party rode northward to Kasr il-Gharbl, following the
roughest path that we had thus far encountered. Our horses managed to carry us
over it without accident. This ruin, consisting of a mortuary chamber and several con-
necting buildings, is not an important one. We did not stop long but soon remounted
our horses and rode back by way of Ma'sarteh and Bshindelinteh to Kalb Lauzeh.
Upon arriving at camp we were amused to learn that a messenger sent to Kefr
i See Part III, inscr. 8. 3 ggg p 5 Part III, pp. 37 IF.
3 La Syrie Centrale, p. n6. 4 Part IV, p. 12.