Karol Juchniewicz, Khaled As'ad, Khalil al Hariri

is dressed only on the joining surfaces, leaving the back rough, presumably to ensure better bonding
with the core of the wall.

The wall between tower Ts 29 and the beginning of the wall of the Camp of Diocletian is rein-
forced by towers adapted from existing tower tombs, designated by Wiegand as tombs 175,174,173,
173a, 173b, 173c. They have been given corresponding designations as defensive structures in the
fortifications, respectively Tt 30, Tt 31, Tt 32, Tt 33, Tt 34, Tt 35. Structural changes, if any, introduced
to facilitate the incorporation of the tombs in the defense wall, are difficult to establish. It is to be
expected that any entrances to the tombs found outside the circuit would have been blocked and that
the interior spatial arrangements of the tombs would have been adapted to the new function. While
this would have been a priority from the military point of view, there are reasons to believe that
nothing actually changed and that the tombs continued to function as burial places.There are exam-
ples of other tower tombs which were transformed into defensive towers and thus deprived of their
original function, but here there is absolutely no evidence of any changes inside the tombs connected
with their incorporation into the line of defenses. Quite clearly, at least some of the tower tombs in
this section were not desacralized despite being incorporated into the fortifications [Fig, 21].

A small gate, G4, is situated next to tower Tt 31, to the north of it. It is actually no more than
a passage through the wall with jambs in situ and a lintel lying nearby which is of the right size and
dressed in the same way. This passage was blocked at an unknown time.

Tower Tt 35 stands at the joining of the town wall and camp wall. There is absolutely no reason
to think that the two structures were separate.

The next structure is gate G5, the Northern Camp Gate, used today as an access road for the
excavations. It is fairly narrow, flanked by square towers Ts 36 and Ts 37. As in gate G3, the road
approaches the gate at an angle. There are evident differences in the construction of the two towers.
Ts 36 is clearly built onto the wall of a different kind of stone (white limestone) and in a different
technique than tower Ts 37 which is structurally integrated into the wall. Gate G5 stands at the end
of one of the camp's two principal streets. Via Principalis.

The camp fortifications are reinforced with square towers (Ts 38, Ts 39, Ts 40, Ts 41, Ts 42,
Ts 43, Ts 44, Ts 45, Ts 48, Ts 49) [Fig. 3], except for towers Tt 46 and Tt 47 which are incorporated
tower tombs 83 and 83a on Gawlikowski's plan, one on the west and the other on the south side. The
towers were not developed into U-shaped constructions. A small gate, G6, between towers Ts 44 and
Ts 45 led onto a small rock platform at the foot of Jebel Husayniyet. A fragment of the doorframe can
be seen sticking out from the heap of rubble. A break in the wall seen from inside the horreum a little
further on could represent yet another passage through the wall (G7).

The Damascene Gate (G8) at the end of the Transversal Colonnade is undoubtedly of the
greatest significance [Fig. 23]. The eastern flank consists of a fragment of wall and U-shaped tower
Tu 50 built around tower tomb 83c. On the west side the gate seems not to have been protected; the
camp horreum located against the inside of the wall in this spot may have been considered sufficient
protection. Any flanking fortification on the west would have interfered with the camp wall. The
gate had three passages, two side ones flanking a central one, but little can be said because of the cur-
rent state of preservation. The remains of architectural decoration suggest that the Damascene Gate
was built in the 2nd-3rd century AD. It was an ornamental gate, later incorporated into the wall.

Practically all the different phases of the fortifications around Palmyra are concentrated on
the spot of Tower Tu 50 [Fig. 17]. The wall from the Tetrarchy period was reinforced with a U-shaped
tower. As for the wall running from Gebel Muntar which disappears on the southern edge of Wadi
Qubur in the general area of tower Tu 50, its date remains a question for debate. The tower was
built around the tower-tomb 83c, annexing the southwestern corner of the tomb. The front of the
tower appears to be slightly turned to the southwest, thus falling out of line with the Damascene Gate.

The next three square towers, Ts 51, Ts 52 and Ts 53, are poorly visible under the rubble.
Next there is a U-shaped tower Tu 54 which repeats a known pattern. However, it is difficult to analyze
the architecture of the towers in sector EE, because of the current state of preservation [Fig. 4], Square
towers Ts 55, Ts 56 and Ts 57 are followed by U-shaped towers Tu 58 and Tu 60 [Fig. 18], the latter
having been partly excavated, separated by a square tower Ts 59; next come towers Ts 61, Ts 62 (with
breakwater) [Fig. 19], the Agora and tower Ts 63 and the Annex to the Agora. Palmyra's strongest
gate, the Theater Gate (G9), stands at the end of the Theater Colonnade. It was adapted from an arch

58

Studia Palmyrenskie XI