DOI issue:
Heft 6
DOI article:Crouch, Dora P.: The ramparts of Palmyra
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26421#0016
has been digging the lower part of this wali, near the wadi, and reports that
it is entirely mud brick in this section, and apparently early first century
A.D.17.
MKK’, which was excavated by Starcky, consisted of a base of pisę, like
JJ, topped by roughly sąuared stones like MNE ,topped in turn by mud brick.
Since only a row of stone and a few rows of mud brick remain, one suspects
that this is one of the walls destroyed by a conąueror of Palmyra. By contrast,
a long stretch of LM still stands morę than a meter high. It appears to consist
of a solid core of concrete or mud, faceci with rectangular stones. This wali
is broken off near the bottom of the slope, but can be traced across the two
halves of the Valley of Tombs by the shaclow of its mound, just as KK’ is
visible from Gebel Muntar (see Figures 44, 45, 46).
Having completed a brief inventory of the ramparts of Palmyra, let us
return to them in a morę cletailed analysis, beginning with CDDEE. Although
this wali is for the most part drifted over, 3 to 4 courses are preserved for much
of its length; the first course is 85 cm to 1 m high, the others 65 to 75 cm18, for
a total standing height of 3 m. Some of the to wers are on an escarpment of
3 m17 18 19. The towers are quite irregularly spaced, from 3| to 7 m wide, and project
3 to 15 m. Most of the towers are rectangular or angular, but about one-third
are rounded. Examining the ruins in June of 1970, I found the following break-
down of towers:
41 rectangular
11 oddly shapecl angular
23 rounded
1 heap of rubble, probably a rounded tower
7 odd rounded
9 tombs
1 banquet hall
1 or 2 included buildings
4 heaps that might be bastions
98 total
The catagory „oddly shaped angular” includes otherwise normal smali
bastions which are turned at strange angles to the wali, trapezoidal bastions,
and other extensions or incorporations, such as included buildings that are
not tombs and are too insignificant to be listed separately. The banquet hall
is the one near the Nabo Tempie, and the „included buildings” are the one
south of Diocletian’s Camp, near the Damascus Gate, and the one just east of
Bel, though there may be two in this area. The fact that the gardens of the
17 Personal letter, December 1971.
18 Wiegajid, p. 40.
19 D. Van Berchem, Recherches sur la chronologie des enceintes de Syrie et de Meso-
polarnie, „Syria” XXXI, 1951, p. 257.
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it is entirely mud brick in this section, and apparently early first century
A.D.17.
MKK’, which was excavated by Starcky, consisted of a base of pisę, like
JJ, topped by roughly sąuared stones like MNE ,topped in turn by mud brick.
Since only a row of stone and a few rows of mud brick remain, one suspects
that this is one of the walls destroyed by a conąueror of Palmyra. By contrast,
a long stretch of LM still stands morę than a meter high. It appears to consist
of a solid core of concrete or mud, faceci with rectangular stones. This wali
is broken off near the bottom of the slope, but can be traced across the two
halves of the Valley of Tombs by the shaclow of its mound, just as KK’ is
visible from Gebel Muntar (see Figures 44, 45, 46).
Having completed a brief inventory of the ramparts of Palmyra, let us
return to them in a morę cletailed analysis, beginning with CDDEE. Although
this wali is for the most part drifted over, 3 to 4 courses are preserved for much
of its length; the first course is 85 cm to 1 m high, the others 65 to 75 cm18, for
a total standing height of 3 m. Some of the to wers are on an escarpment of
3 m17 18 19. The towers are quite irregularly spaced, from 3| to 7 m wide, and project
3 to 15 m. Most of the towers are rectangular or angular, but about one-third
are rounded. Examining the ruins in June of 1970, I found the following break-
down of towers:
41 rectangular
11 oddly shapecl angular
23 rounded
1 heap of rubble, probably a rounded tower
7 odd rounded
9 tombs
1 banquet hall
1 or 2 included buildings
4 heaps that might be bastions
98 total
The catagory „oddly shaped angular” includes otherwise normal smali
bastions which are turned at strange angles to the wali, trapezoidal bastions,
and other extensions or incorporations, such as included buildings that are
not tombs and are too insignificant to be listed separately. The banquet hall
is the one near the Nabo Tempie, and the „included buildings” are the one
south of Diocletian’s Camp, near the Damascus Gate, and the one just east of
Bel, though there may be two in this area. The fact that the gardens of the
17 Personal letter, December 1971.
18 Wiegajid, p. 40.
19 D. Van Berchem, Recherches sur la chronologie des enceintes de Syrie et de Meso-
polarnie, „Syria” XXXI, 1951, p. 257.
12