DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45584#0087
Siem. Il-Mefialeh. Der il-Leben. Shehba.
359
and so free from all trammels of traditional art that we may almost see in them the
freedom which characterized the period of the Gothic or early Renaissance architectnre.
116. IL-MEFCALEH.
The village of this name is small, possessing not more than half a dozen houses.
It is built partly of ancient material brought perhaps from ruins in the neighbourhood.
At least there is an inscription here which came from Der Sm£dj. There is no visible
proof that the village is an ancient site. The tell above the village is an extinct volcano
with a perfectly formed crater, like a deep bowl, at the top. The place is almost
inaccessible, yet at one side of the crater is a strongly built tower which I believe to be
very early, perhaps prehistoric. The lower parts of the structure are almost “ Cyclopaean”
in the character of their construction; but there is a half-buried arch within the tower,
built of crudely shaped voussoirs, which would preclude the assignment of a prehistoric
date, unless it was a late addition. No doubt the tower was built for defense, and the
saw-like basalt rim of the crater formed a natural wall of fortification for the space
which it enclosed, with a little lake at its bottom. The place thus defended by nature
and by man made a stronghold which may have flourished in the earliest days of
Syrian civilization.
117. DER IL-LEBEN.
This is another ruin on the edge of the Ledja. It seems to have been the seat
of a small community in the early Christian period, rebuilt for habitation by Moslems
in the Middle Ages. There are no fragments lying about that suggest an earlier origin;
yet the place is known, from inscriptions,1 to have been the site of a sanctuary of the
God of A-jp-ος. The place has been employed as a quarry by the Druses, and details
of historical interest must have been carried away.
118. SHEHBA (PHILIPP OP OLIS}.
This ancient namesake of the Arab Emperor was perhaps the birthplace of that
monarch who, was styled Trachonites, for although Aurelius Victor3 implies that
Philip founded this city among the Arabs, it is certain, from inscriptions found in the
ruins, that a town existed here before his birth. The site overlooking the Ledja is
now occupied by a small group of Druse families. From the ruins it is evident that
this city was unique among the cities and towns of the Hauran. It was more like a
reproduction, on small scale, of the capital, or of some typical Roman city of the Orient,
with its regular plan, its monumental gates, and colonnaded streets, its spacious public
baths, and lofty arched aqueduct. And the methods of construction employed in its
erection show that foreign influences were at work. The extensive use of concrete
alone suggests direct Roman influence, perhaps the presence of Roman builders, and
the absence of corbel-and-slab construction make the work seem strange to its sur-
roundings. The Theatre was of course not a new thing in the Arabian province, and
the “Palace” and “Nymphaeum” show some decidedly native elements; but much of the
detail, not only of construction but of ornament, calls to mind the decay of the imperial
1 Wadd. 2392 et seq. 2 Caesares, 28.
359
and so free from all trammels of traditional art that we may almost see in them the
freedom which characterized the period of the Gothic or early Renaissance architectnre.
116. IL-MEFCALEH.
The village of this name is small, possessing not more than half a dozen houses.
It is built partly of ancient material brought perhaps from ruins in the neighbourhood.
At least there is an inscription here which came from Der Sm£dj. There is no visible
proof that the village is an ancient site. The tell above the village is an extinct volcano
with a perfectly formed crater, like a deep bowl, at the top. The place is almost
inaccessible, yet at one side of the crater is a strongly built tower which I believe to be
very early, perhaps prehistoric. The lower parts of the structure are almost “ Cyclopaean”
in the character of their construction; but there is a half-buried arch within the tower,
built of crudely shaped voussoirs, which would preclude the assignment of a prehistoric
date, unless it was a late addition. No doubt the tower was built for defense, and the
saw-like basalt rim of the crater formed a natural wall of fortification for the space
which it enclosed, with a little lake at its bottom. The place thus defended by nature
and by man made a stronghold which may have flourished in the earliest days of
Syrian civilization.
117. DER IL-LEBEN.
This is another ruin on the edge of the Ledja. It seems to have been the seat
of a small community in the early Christian period, rebuilt for habitation by Moslems
in the Middle Ages. There are no fragments lying about that suggest an earlier origin;
yet the place is known, from inscriptions,1 to have been the site of a sanctuary of the
God of A-jp-ος. The place has been employed as a quarry by the Druses, and details
of historical interest must have been carried away.
118. SHEHBA (PHILIPP OP OLIS}.
This ancient namesake of the Arab Emperor was perhaps the birthplace of that
monarch who, was styled Trachonites, for although Aurelius Victor3 implies that
Philip founded this city among the Arabs, it is certain, from inscriptions found in the
ruins, that a town existed here before his birth. The site overlooking the Ledja is
now occupied by a small group of Druse families. From the ruins it is evident that
this city was unique among the cities and towns of the Hauran. It was more like a
reproduction, on small scale, of the capital, or of some typical Roman city of the Orient,
with its regular plan, its monumental gates, and colonnaded streets, its spacious public
baths, and lofty arched aqueduct. And the methods of construction employed in its
erection show that foreign influences were at work. The extensive use of concrete
alone suggests direct Roman influence, perhaps the presence of Roman builders, and
the absence of corbel-and-slab construction make the work seem strange to its sur-
roundings. The Theatre was of course not a new thing in the Arabian province, and
the “Palace” and “Nymphaeum” show some decidedly native elements; but much of the
detail, not only of construction but of ornament, calls to mind the decay of the imperial
1 Wadd. 2392 et seq. 2 Caesares, 28.