DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.44946#0028
2
II. A. i. Ammonitis.
It is not difficult for one who has been upon the spot to understand at a glance
why all descriptions of this ruin have been so fragmentary and so unsatisfactory. The
huge building has completely collapsed, and the gigantic blocks of which it was built
are piled in heaps upon the foundations, so that it is not easy to trace even the out-
lines of the structure. So great are the dimensions of the building stones that they
could not be moved from where they lie without powerful machinery, (no one would
suggest that they be broken up by means of explosives), and no excavations can be
carried on, and no final restoration of the building can be made, until the great masses
of material are removed; so that it seems likely that investigations below the surface
must be indefinitely deferred. The Princeton Expedition arrived at ’Arak il-Emir on
October 13th, 1904, and remained six days. During that time a survey was made of
the whole area within which any ruins are found; a diligent, though unsuccessful,
search was made for unknown inscriptions, and a study of the ruins was made as
thorough as was possible under the adverse conditions. By digging at three points,
the only ones possible among the heaps of building blocks, the foundation course of
the building· was discovered, and the first course above the foundation was found to
be continuous on both sides. By removing fragments at the top, and crawling about
under the heaps of fallen blocks, other details of the plan were traced and measured ;
for the size of the blocks is so great that the interstices between them are large enough
to permit one to find his way far down among them, sliding, head first or feet first,
through tortuous passages, and often finding himself in a sort of cavern. In one such
place, I found a complete human skeleton, showing that the Bedawin know of these
passages and caverns, and, perhaps, that they have used them to hide the evidence
of crime. In two places, one at either end of the building, a large number of details
was extracted from the ruins with considerable difficulty; these, and all details lying
upon the surface, were photographed and measured. Those which we took out of the
debris were in a far better state of preservation. Drawings to scale of all these details,
and photographs of many of them, are given herewith, and the proposed restorations
here presented are the result of a piecing together of these fragments with reference
to their position in the ruins and in connection with the measurements and location of
those parts of the structure that are still standing.
Description of the Site.
It will be only a repetition of what others have done, to give a translation of the
passage in Josephus, and to describe the ruins and their surroundings; but it is impor-
tant to have the ancient reference, and a description of the site in its present condition
before us, in taking up anew the study of these ruins. I give the clauses of the ancient
reference separately, and comment upon them in order. Josephus, writing toward the
end of the first century of our era — about 250 years after the events which he descri-
bed had taken place, says :
(1) “He (Hyrkanos) called the place Tyros. This place is between Arabia and
Judea, across the Jordan, not far from Essebonitis”.
(2) “He also erected a mighty building,1 which he constructed of white stone even
1 in the Greek, translated turris, does not necessarily mean a palace, as translated by M. de Vogue, Bankes
and others. Josephus elsewhere applies the word to the fortress beside the temple at Jerusalem.
II. A. i. Ammonitis.
It is not difficult for one who has been upon the spot to understand at a glance
why all descriptions of this ruin have been so fragmentary and so unsatisfactory. The
huge building has completely collapsed, and the gigantic blocks of which it was built
are piled in heaps upon the foundations, so that it is not easy to trace even the out-
lines of the structure. So great are the dimensions of the building stones that they
could not be moved from where they lie without powerful machinery, (no one would
suggest that they be broken up by means of explosives), and no excavations can be
carried on, and no final restoration of the building can be made, until the great masses
of material are removed; so that it seems likely that investigations below the surface
must be indefinitely deferred. The Princeton Expedition arrived at ’Arak il-Emir on
October 13th, 1904, and remained six days. During that time a survey was made of
the whole area within which any ruins are found; a diligent, though unsuccessful,
search was made for unknown inscriptions, and a study of the ruins was made as
thorough as was possible under the adverse conditions. By digging at three points,
the only ones possible among the heaps of building blocks, the foundation course of
the building· was discovered, and the first course above the foundation was found to
be continuous on both sides. By removing fragments at the top, and crawling about
under the heaps of fallen blocks, other details of the plan were traced and measured ;
for the size of the blocks is so great that the interstices between them are large enough
to permit one to find his way far down among them, sliding, head first or feet first,
through tortuous passages, and often finding himself in a sort of cavern. In one such
place, I found a complete human skeleton, showing that the Bedawin know of these
passages and caverns, and, perhaps, that they have used them to hide the evidence
of crime. In two places, one at either end of the building, a large number of details
was extracted from the ruins with considerable difficulty; these, and all details lying
upon the surface, were photographed and measured. Those which we took out of the
debris were in a far better state of preservation. Drawings to scale of all these details,
and photographs of many of them, are given herewith, and the proposed restorations
here presented are the result of a piecing together of these fragments with reference
to their position in the ruins and in connection with the measurements and location of
those parts of the structure that are still standing.
Description of the Site.
It will be only a repetition of what others have done, to give a translation of the
passage in Josephus, and to describe the ruins and their surroundings; but it is impor-
tant to have the ancient reference, and a description of the site in its present condition
before us, in taking up anew the study of these ruins. I give the clauses of the ancient
reference separately, and comment upon them in order. Josephus, writing toward the
end of the first century of our era — about 250 years after the events which he descri-
bed had taken place, says :
(1) “He (Hyrkanos) called the place Tyros. This place is between Arabia and
Judea, across the Jordan, not far from Essebonitis”.
(2) “He also erected a mighty building,1 which he constructed of white stone even
1 in the Greek, translated turris, does not necessarily mean a palace, as translated by M. de Vogue, Bankes
and others. Josephus elsewhere applies the word to the fortress beside the temple at Jerusalem.