DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45582#0019
ιόο Division II Section A Part 3
that wadi becomes a rushing stream once a year, for a month or less. We found it
full of water in January 1904; but absolutely dry in March 1909. The other reser-
voirs and cisterns are far smaller; a few of them are rectangular in form, but the
majority are oval. All were cut in the natural rock and were walled up to the sur-
rounding level and provided with a coping. Many of the smaller rectangular cisterns
were arched over and given a covering of stone slabs; in others, piers with beams
from one to another carried the stone covering. The walls of the cisterns that are
still protected by a roof still preserve their cement linings in excellent condition. It is
probable that many of these covered cisterns are still intact and that they remain to
be discovered. Many of those that are known are fertile sources of inscriptions; for,
when they were built, the stelae of the tombs of past generations were brought in
from cemeteries outside the walls and used as slabs for the covering.
From its source at the dam in the wadi to a point near the northeast angle of
the city wall, the aqueduct is buried from 1 to 2 m. deep in the soil. Its course na-
turally follows the contour levels. Below the point near the northeast angle of the
city, it appears as a paved and walled conduit with its covering of slabs on a level
with the soil. This section is shown by double lines on Map No. 2. A branch of
this section is carried through the wall, but its termination was not discovered. Below
the water-gate, that is, the opening in the wall where the conduit to the great reservoir
is carried through, the aqueduct again disappears entirely below the level of the soil
to reappear at a point about 80 m. from its termination. Here the ground falls away,
and the conduit is raised upon a solid substructure (Ill. 139) over a metre high. The
photograph presented herewith shows the elevated portion of the aqueduct in a very
ruinous state. At the end of the aqueduct there is a deep rectangular cistern with a
ruined building beside it. The fall here is sufficiently great to have made possible the
introduction of a mill-wheel, like those long in use in other parts of Syria; but it is
difficult to know how early this sort of mill was employed in the Arabian province.
There are water mills in the Ledja which appear to be of considerable antiquity; many
of them are in complete ruins and seem not to have been in use since the region
had a settled Moslem population, long before the coming of the Druses.
Civil Architecture.
“Praetorium”: Date 371 A.D. The building which I have called the Praetorium
(Ill. 140) is situated near the west wall, south of the Gate of Commodus, and beside
the broad, open, space that extends through the middle of the city. Its major axis
lies east and west. South and east of it is a great courtyard, originally enclosed with-
in a high wall. In the southwest angle of this yard, and extending for some distance
along its west wall, is a row of residences of the same period, and in the same general
style, as the main building.
Plan: The plan of the Praetorium (Ill. 141) is a parallelogram divided longi-
tudinally into two main sections; one on the south subdivided into three main apart-
ments (O.P. and R.), and one on the north having five smaller divisions (S.T.V.W.X.).
The middle division (O) of the three main apartments, consists of a square atrium
Doricum, according to the description of Vitruvius, i.e., a square court walled on all
sides and having four columns, at the angles of a square compluvium, carrying a
that wadi becomes a rushing stream once a year, for a month or less. We found it
full of water in January 1904; but absolutely dry in March 1909. The other reser-
voirs and cisterns are far smaller; a few of them are rectangular in form, but the
majority are oval. All were cut in the natural rock and were walled up to the sur-
rounding level and provided with a coping. Many of the smaller rectangular cisterns
were arched over and given a covering of stone slabs; in others, piers with beams
from one to another carried the stone covering. The walls of the cisterns that are
still protected by a roof still preserve their cement linings in excellent condition. It is
probable that many of these covered cisterns are still intact and that they remain to
be discovered. Many of those that are known are fertile sources of inscriptions; for,
when they were built, the stelae of the tombs of past generations were brought in
from cemeteries outside the walls and used as slabs for the covering.
From its source at the dam in the wadi to a point near the northeast angle of
the city wall, the aqueduct is buried from 1 to 2 m. deep in the soil. Its course na-
turally follows the contour levels. Below the point near the northeast angle of the
city, it appears as a paved and walled conduit with its covering of slabs on a level
with the soil. This section is shown by double lines on Map No. 2. A branch of
this section is carried through the wall, but its termination was not discovered. Below
the water-gate, that is, the opening in the wall where the conduit to the great reservoir
is carried through, the aqueduct again disappears entirely below the level of the soil
to reappear at a point about 80 m. from its termination. Here the ground falls away,
and the conduit is raised upon a solid substructure (Ill. 139) over a metre high. The
photograph presented herewith shows the elevated portion of the aqueduct in a very
ruinous state. At the end of the aqueduct there is a deep rectangular cistern with a
ruined building beside it. The fall here is sufficiently great to have made possible the
introduction of a mill-wheel, like those long in use in other parts of Syria; but it is
difficult to know how early this sort of mill was employed in the Arabian province.
There are water mills in the Ledja which appear to be of considerable antiquity; many
of them are in complete ruins and seem not to have been in use since the region
had a settled Moslem population, long before the coming of the Druses.
Civil Architecture.
“Praetorium”: Date 371 A.D. The building which I have called the Praetorium
(Ill. 140) is situated near the west wall, south of the Gate of Commodus, and beside
the broad, open, space that extends through the middle of the city. Its major axis
lies east and west. South and east of it is a great courtyard, originally enclosed with-
in a high wall. In the southwest angle of this yard, and extending for some distance
along its west wall, is a row of residences of the same period, and in the same general
style, as the main building.
Plan: The plan of the Praetorium (Ill. 141) is a parallelogram divided longi-
tudinally into two main sections; one on the south subdivided into three main apart-
ments (O.P. and R.), and one on the north having five smaller divisions (S.T.V.W.X.).
The middle division (O) of the three main apartments, consists of a square atrium
Doricum, according to the description of Vitruvius, i.e., a square court walled on all
sides and having four columns, at the angles of a square compluvium, carrying a