DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45581#0007
64
II. A. 2. — Southern Hauran
stone appears as a building stone in the ruins of Kos^r il-Hallabat. In its northeastern
part are the foot-hills of the Djebel Hauran, which roll with gradually diminishing height
and abruptness toward the south and southwest, to settle into a gentle undulating sur-
face on the confines of the region which is shown upon our map. Here and there
conical tells, the craters, perhaps, of diminutive volcanoes, rise conspicuously above
the rolling surface; nowhere is there a considerable stretch of absolutely level plain.
The courses of many wadis wind tortuously over the uneven country, all of them finding
their way from the higher slopes of the Djebel Hauran. Three of them, the Wadi
Radjil, the Wadi il-cAkib and the Wadi il-Butm are flush with water when the snow melts
on the high peaks of the Kul£b and Tell idj-Djeneh ·, but most of them, nearly all the
smaller ones, are perennially dry. The ancient sites are very numerous and are si-
tuated in very close proximity to each other. In the foot-hills there are a number of
inhabited villages, — Druse settlements built on the sites and out of the materials of
ancient towns —; but the number of settlements decreases towards the south, and there
are many absolutely deserted ruined towns, a small number of which are inhabited for
a few weeks each year in connection with the sowing and harvest, or with the pastur-
ing of flocks and herds; for there are still extensive areas in the Southern Hauran
that are cultivable, and there are few tracts where there is not scant pasture, at least
during brief seasons. Only a small number of the sites shown upon this map are in
what is now actual desert, though so much of the country appears to be a desert during
a great portion of the year. The Southern Hauran was quite thoroughly explored by
this Expedition., As the map shows, there can be but few sites within the limits stated
above that were not reached. Over seventy sites were visited, of which about a dozen
are now inhabited villages, and of which less than twenty show any signs of modern
habitation. Comparatively few of this large number of sites offered nothing of interest
either in inscriptions or in remains of ancient architecture. The greater number of ruins
are those of domestic architecture, many examples of which are well preserved. Owing
to the nature of the material and the methods of building employed by the ancients,
time and earthquakes have wrought havoc with most of the monuments in a great
majority of the towns (Ill. 43), and the indefatigable efforts of the Druses in search
of well-finished blocks of building stones — arch-stones and roofing slabs particularly —
have left little or nothing in the towns in which, or near which, they have settled.
The building of the Hedjaz railway also has stripped the ruins on the western border
of all materials that were suitable for use in building· bridges and culverts. Yet there
are 25 sites in which there are one or more buildings of greater or less interest for
publication, and many other sites which are worthy of some description, although there
may be no monuments in them that are in a condition to warrant a publication of
them in measured drawings. I have therefore undertaken to give a description of al-
most every site that was visited, adding photographs or measured plans, with resto-
rations and drawings of details wherever practicable. Umm idj-Djimdl was the me-
tropolis of this southern section of the Hauran, and its ruins naturally contain many
of the most interesting monuments of the whole region. It is therefore given a Part
by itself immediately following this. In this Part the sites will be described separately,
beginning at the southwest and progressing north and eastward.
Periods. Roughly speaking, there are five periods into which the architectural
history of the Southern Hauran may be divided: the pre-historic, the Nabataean, the
II. A. 2. — Southern Hauran
stone appears as a building stone in the ruins of Kos^r il-Hallabat. In its northeastern
part are the foot-hills of the Djebel Hauran, which roll with gradually diminishing height
and abruptness toward the south and southwest, to settle into a gentle undulating sur-
face on the confines of the region which is shown upon our map. Here and there
conical tells, the craters, perhaps, of diminutive volcanoes, rise conspicuously above
the rolling surface; nowhere is there a considerable stretch of absolutely level plain.
The courses of many wadis wind tortuously over the uneven country, all of them finding
their way from the higher slopes of the Djebel Hauran. Three of them, the Wadi
Radjil, the Wadi il-cAkib and the Wadi il-Butm are flush with water when the snow melts
on the high peaks of the Kul£b and Tell idj-Djeneh ·, but most of them, nearly all the
smaller ones, are perennially dry. The ancient sites are very numerous and are si-
tuated in very close proximity to each other. In the foot-hills there are a number of
inhabited villages, — Druse settlements built on the sites and out of the materials of
ancient towns —; but the number of settlements decreases towards the south, and there
are many absolutely deserted ruined towns, a small number of which are inhabited for
a few weeks each year in connection with the sowing and harvest, or with the pastur-
ing of flocks and herds; for there are still extensive areas in the Southern Hauran
that are cultivable, and there are few tracts where there is not scant pasture, at least
during brief seasons. Only a small number of the sites shown upon this map are in
what is now actual desert, though so much of the country appears to be a desert during
a great portion of the year. The Southern Hauran was quite thoroughly explored by
this Expedition., As the map shows, there can be but few sites within the limits stated
above that were not reached. Over seventy sites were visited, of which about a dozen
are now inhabited villages, and of which less than twenty show any signs of modern
habitation. Comparatively few of this large number of sites offered nothing of interest
either in inscriptions or in remains of ancient architecture. The greater number of ruins
are those of domestic architecture, many examples of which are well preserved. Owing
to the nature of the material and the methods of building employed by the ancients,
time and earthquakes have wrought havoc with most of the monuments in a great
majority of the towns (Ill. 43), and the indefatigable efforts of the Druses in search
of well-finished blocks of building stones — arch-stones and roofing slabs particularly —
have left little or nothing in the towns in which, or near which, they have settled.
The building of the Hedjaz railway also has stripped the ruins on the western border
of all materials that were suitable for use in building· bridges and culverts. Yet there
are 25 sites in which there are one or more buildings of greater or less interest for
publication, and many other sites which are worthy of some description, although there
may be no monuments in them that are in a condition to warrant a publication of
them in measured drawings. I have therefore undertaken to give a description of al-
most every site that was visited, adding photographs or measured plans, with resto-
rations and drawings of details wherever practicable. Umm idj-Djimdl was the me-
tropolis of this southern section of the Hauran, and its ruins naturally contain many
of the most interesting monuments of the whole region. It is therefore given a Part
by itself immediately following this. In this Part the sites will be described separately,
beginning at the southwest and progressing north and eastward.
Periods. Roughly speaking, there are five periods into which the architectural
history of the Southern Hauran may be divided: the pre-historic, the Nabataean, the