DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45581#0077
is-Safiyeh
125
that can be definitely assigned to the later, Mohammedan, centuries; yet the place may
have had occasional inhabitants during the last twelve centuries.
Stepped Pyramid. The tower-like structure referred to above preserves two stages
almost intact (Ill. 98); yet the ruins of the upper parts have concealed much of the
base. It is built upon the edge of a slope, and was much higher on the west than
on the east. The lower stage has the form of a steep-sided truncated pyramid. It
is not possible to determine, without removing much debris, whether the interior is
solid or not. The second stage is set back from the edges of the lower stage, leaving
a terrace about two metres wide all around. This is also a truncated pyramid having
about the same angle of slope as the
lower stage. This story contains two
chambers (Ill. 99) reached by a stair
which enters the east side of the lower
stage, and, passing under the terrace
and the wrall of the upper stage, opens
into the southeast angle of one of the
chambers. The walls are of very great
thickness, and it is quite possible that
a third stage raised the monument to
a still greater height. The restoration
that I have presented (Ill. 99) shows
the extant portions of the building.
The one course that I have added to
the lower stage and the two that I
have added to the upper stage are
represented in actual stones on other
sides of the monument. The angles
of the slope of the two stages appear
to have been equal. It is not possible,
from any superficial observation of this
structure, to determine the purpose for
which it was built, nor to determine
its age. A similar structure was found
I5-5AFIYEH· stepped pyramid-
at Damit il-cAlya in the Ledja, and in gg
other massive structures, presumably of
the same form, existed in various quarters of the Hauran, but have long served as
stone quarries, and are consequently in no condition to publish. Stepped pyramids
with slanting sides are known in Egypt on the one side, and the zigurrat of Babylonia
furnishes a somewhat different form of the same monument. In Egypt these struct-
ures certainly served as tombs, in Babylonia they served other purposes. Whether
the Egyptian or the Babylonian monuments suggested this form of building to the
builders of Syria, I am unable to say, nor can I assume that the age of the Syrian
monuments of this kind is to be gauged by that of similar monuments in Egypt or
Babylonia. I do not hesitate, however, to assume that this stepped pyramid is to be
reckoned among the most ancient monuments of Syria, antedating the Roman and the
Nabataean periods by many generations.
125
that can be definitely assigned to the later, Mohammedan, centuries; yet the place may
have had occasional inhabitants during the last twelve centuries.
Stepped Pyramid. The tower-like structure referred to above preserves two stages
almost intact (Ill. 98); yet the ruins of the upper parts have concealed much of the
base. It is built upon the edge of a slope, and was much higher on the west than
on the east. The lower stage has the form of a steep-sided truncated pyramid. It
is not possible to determine, without removing much debris, whether the interior is
solid or not. The second stage is set back from the edges of the lower stage, leaving
a terrace about two metres wide all around. This is also a truncated pyramid having
about the same angle of slope as the
lower stage. This story contains two
chambers (Ill. 99) reached by a stair
which enters the east side of the lower
stage, and, passing under the terrace
and the wrall of the upper stage, opens
into the southeast angle of one of the
chambers. The walls are of very great
thickness, and it is quite possible that
a third stage raised the monument to
a still greater height. The restoration
that I have presented (Ill. 99) shows
the extant portions of the building.
The one course that I have added to
the lower stage and the two that I
have added to the upper stage are
represented in actual stones on other
sides of the monument. The angles
of the slope of the two stages appear
to have been equal. It is not possible,
from any superficial observation of this
structure, to determine the purpose for
which it was built, nor to determine
its age. A similar structure was found
I5-5AFIYEH· stepped pyramid-
at Damit il-cAlya in the Ledja, and in gg
other massive structures, presumably of
the same form, existed in various quarters of the Hauran, but have long served as
stone quarries, and are consequently in no condition to publish. Stepped pyramids
with slanting sides are known in Egypt on the one side, and the zigurrat of Babylonia
furnishes a somewhat different form of the same monument. In Egypt these struct-
ures certainly served as tombs, in Babylonia they served other purposes. Whether
the Egyptian or the Babylonian monuments suggested this form of building to the
builders of Syria, I am unable to say, nor can I assume that the age of the Syrian
monuments of this kind is to be gauged by that of similar monuments in Egypt or
Babylonia. I do not hesitate, however, to assume that this stepped pyramid is to be
reckoned among the most ancient monuments of Syria, antedating the Roman and the
Nabataean periods by many generations.