DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45584#0038
322
Division II Section a Part 5
From the Plain we may now turn to the Djebel; not because the possibilities of
the Plain have been 'exhausted in the foregoing pages, for hardly more than a beginning
has been made; but because the exigencies of time and season made it impossible for
us, on either the expedition of 1904-5, or that of 1909, more thoroughly to explore
that broad cultivated tract between the hills of the Jaulan on the west and the moun-
tains of the Hauran and the Ledja on the east. Indeed I believe that it will be many
years before en-Nukra, as the Plain is called, will have yielded up all that it contains
of interest for archaeology and the history of architecture. At is-Sanamen we had
reached the northern part of the Plain, and were well abreast of the Ledja, a small
district that is to be reserved for a separate Part of these Publications; we shall now
return to the region of Bosra, and take up the nearest points of interest in the Djebel,
passing eastward and then northward, back and forth among the villages and ruins of
the Druses’ mountain.
86. HUZHUZ.
On a spur of the foothills of the Djebel Hauran, to the northeast of Bosra, and
above a small tributary of the Wadi Zedi, is this extensive ruin of an ancient town,
now entirely deserted. Appearing from a distance to be a ruin of some importance,
it turned out, on closer inspection, to be most disappointing, only a vast heap of broken
building stones. Parts of a terrace wall of considerable height, built of bowlders, and
forming a section of the defences of the hill, are undoubtedly of great antiquity. But
there is no remnant of cut stone, and only the foundation walls of buildings are now
to be seen. The Druses have long used the site as a quarry wrhile building villages
in the neighbourhood.
87. IZ-ZAKKAK.
At a distance of a quarter of an hour to the northwest of the ruin described above
is another site of the same description. This ruin also occupies the top of a hill.
Our examination of this place was very hurried, and no buildings of interest and no
inscriptions were discovered. On the top of another hill nearby is a Moslem shrine,
or weli, which bears the name of the ruin. In and about the shrine are fragments of
ancient mouldings which were probably brought from the ruin;, for there is no evidence
of the existence here of any building older than the well, which was probably set up
in the twelfth century.
88. KURAIYEH.
Southeast of these uninteresting ruins, which are here described in hopes of saving
future explorers the trouble of a journey to them, is a large Druse village called
Kuraiyeh also situated in the foothills of the Djebel. I did not reach this place; but
the members of our party who did visit it report interesting fragments of architectural
details, ruins of a colonnade, and several inscriptions which had been published. All
these remains of antiquity are incorporated with modern constructions, and are seen
with difficulty; yet the site is probably worthy of more thorough examination than we
were able to Mve it.
o
Division II Section a Part 5
From the Plain we may now turn to the Djebel; not because the possibilities of
the Plain have been 'exhausted in the foregoing pages, for hardly more than a beginning
has been made; but because the exigencies of time and season made it impossible for
us, on either the expedition of 1904-5, or that of 1909, more thoroughly to explore
that broad cultivated tract between the hills of the Jaulan on the west and the moun-
tains of the Hauran and the Ledja on the east. Indeed I believe that it will be many
years before en-Nukra, as the Plain is called, will have yielded up all that it contains
of interest for archaeology and the history of architecture. At is-Sanamen we had
reached the northern part of the Plain, and were well abreast of the Ledja, a small
district that is to be reserved for a separate Part of these Publications; we shall now
return to the region of Bosra, and take up the nearest points of interest in the Djebel,
passing eastward and then northward, back and forth among the villages and ruins of
the Druses’ mountain.
86. HUZHUZ.
On a spur of the foothills of the Djebel Hauran, to the northeast of Bosra, and
above a small tributary of the Wadi Zedi, is this extensive ruin of an ancient town,
now entirely deserted. Appearing from a distance to be a ruin of some importance,
it turned out, on closer inspection, to be most disappointing, only a vast heap of broken
building stones. Parts of a terrace wall of considerable height, built of bowlders, and
forming a section of the defences of the hill, are undoubtedly of great antiquity. But
there is no remnant of cut stone, and only the foundation walls of buildings are now
to be seen. The Druses have long used the site as a quarry wrhile building villages
in the neighbourhood.
87. IZ-ZAKKAK.
At a distance of a quarter of an hour to the northwest of the ruin described above
is another site of the same description. This ruin also occupies the top of a hill.
Our examination of this place was very hurried, and no buildings of interest and no
inscriptions were discovered. On the top of another hill nearby is a Moslem shrine,
or weli, which bears the name of the ruin. In and about the shrine are fragments of
ancient mouldings which were probably brought from the ruin;, for there is no evidence
of the existence here of any building older than the well, which was probably set up
in the twelfth century.
88. KURAIYEH.
Southeast of these uninteresting ruins, which are here described in hopes of saving
future explorers the trouble of a journey to them, is a large Druse village called
Kuraiyeh also situated in the foothills of the Djebel. I did not reach this place; but
the members of our party who did visit it report interesting fragments of architectural
details, ruins of a colonnade, and several inscriptions which had been published. All
these remains of antiquity are incorporated with modern constructions, and are seen
with difficulty; yet the site is probably worthy of more thorough examination than we
were able to Mve it.
o