DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45581#0102
144
II. A. 2. — Southern Hauran
66. UMM IL-MEZABIL.
This is a small ruin made up of a number of poorly constructed houses built, in
large part, of unhewn stones fitted together with broken stone and clay. It is now
the centre of a number of Bedawin encampments during part of the year.
67. gharAbeh.
Here is a large single ruin consisting of a high wall enclosing a rectangle of
considerable size. The wall is well built of large roughly quadrated blocks. Within
the walls there are ruins of poorly built stables, and one building of better construction
near the west wall. The ruin was neither a village nor a farm, and it is certainly
not a convent, as M. Dussaud has suggested. It seems rather to have been a small
fortress or military station, or possibly only a place of safety where the cattle belonging
to the villages farther west might be driven at night, or in times of danger.
68. UMM LIWAN.
A small ruin this, perched upon the top of a high hill, and entirely deserted.
The whole place is undermined with caves that have served from time to time as
shelter for sheep and cattle. Most of the buildings are of roughly quadrated masonry;
but there are a few fragments of Classic mouldings built into the walls of Christian
houses. It is not at all improbable that this sightly spot was first a “high place” of
the earliest settlers of the Southern Hauran, later chosen as the site for a small Roman
temple, like that which crowned the neighbouring hill called Tell Bcat.
69. IcNAT. (INACf/OS).
This is one of the southernmost of the inhabited villages of the Hauran ; it is a Druse
settlement of some importance. The name is sometimes given as Fnak.1 Many of the houses
now lived in are entirely, or in part, ancient; the ancient streets are still in use with their side-
walks in place. The majority of the ancient houses are well built of smooth quadrated
masonry with details and interior arches oi highly finished stone-work. Many outside stairs
of the original houses are now in use. The town is dominated by two ancient towers, one
of roughly quadrated masonry in the southern part of the village, quite intact, and one, near
the middle of the village, in finished quadrated work, of which only one side is standing
in three stories. North of the village is a fine birkeh and, on the south, a large pond
which supplies the place with water for most of the year. A good photograph of the pond,
and of the town beyond it, is given in M. Dussaud’s second volume. 2 The town seems to
have been an important settlement under early Moslem rule. A number of Arabic
inscriptions are to be seen in the village, one of wich is dated in the ninth century, and
there are two cut in the natural rock near the birkeh on the north side of the village.
The remains of a Roman road are to be traced near the town, extending towards the
northwest in the direction of Salkhad and toward Der il-Kahf which lies to the
southeast.3 Fnat was probably on the direct road between Salkhad and Irak.
1 M.S.M. p. 29.
2 M.S.M. Pl. V, p. 29.
3 p. 92.
II. A. 2. — Southern Hauran
66. UMM IL-MEZABIL.
This is a small ruin made up of a number of poorly constructed houses built, in
large part, of unhewn stones fitted together with broken stone and clay. It is now
the centre of a number of Bedawin encampments during part of the year.
67. gharAbeh.
Here is a large single ruin consisting of a high wall enclosing a rectangle of
considerable size. The wall is well built of large roughly quadrated blocks. Within
the walls there are ruins of poorly built stables, and one building of better construction
near the west wall. The ruin was neither a village nor a farm, and it is certainly
not a convent, as M. Dussaud has suggested. It seems rather to have been a small
fortress or military station, or possibly only a place of safety where the cattle belonging
to the villages farther west might be driven at night, or in times of danger.
68. UMM LIWAN.
A small ruin this, perched upon the top of a high hill, and entirely deserted.
The whole place is undermined with caves that have served from time to time as
shelter for sheep and cattle. Most of the buildings are of roughly quadrated masonry;
but there are a few fragments of Classic mouldings built into the walls of Christian
houses. It is not at all improbable that this sightly spot was first a “high place” of
the earliest settlers of the Southern Hauran, later chosen as the site for a small Roman
temple, like that which crowned the neighbouring hill called Tell Bcat.
69. IcNAT. (INACf/OS).
This is one of the southernmost of the inhabited villages of the Hauran ; it is a Druse
settlement of some importance. The name is sometimes given as Fnak.1 Many of the houses
now lived in are entirely, or in part, ancient; the ancient streets are still in use with their side-
walks in place. The majority of the ancient houses are well built of smooth quadrated
masonry with details and interior arches oi highly finished stone-work. Many outside stairs
of the original houses are now in use. The town is dominated by two ancient towers, one
of roughly quadrated masonry in the southern part of the village, quite intact, and one, near
the middle of the village, in finished quadrated work, of which only one side is standing
in three stories. North of the village is a fine birkeh and, on the south, a large pond
which supplies the place with water for most of the year. A good photograph of the pond,
and of the town beyond it, is given in M. Dussaud’s second volume. 2 The town seems to
have been an important settlement under early Moslem rule. A number of Arabic
inscriptions are to be seen in the village, one of wich is dated in the ninth century, and
there are two cut in the natural rock near the birkeh on the north side of the village.
The remains of a Roman road are to be traced near the town, extending towards the
northwest in the direction of Salkhad and toward Der il-Kahf which lies to the
southeast.3 Fnat was probably on the direct road between Salkhad and Irak.
1 M.S.M. p. 29.
2 M.S.M. Pl. V, p. 29.
3 p. 92.