DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45594#0030
THE ALA.
INTRODUCTION.
The journey from Damascus northward to the cAla, on the route taken by the
Princeton Expedition, was almost wholly without archaeological interest. The main high-
road was followed, by the way of il-Kutefeh, to in-Nebk, passing the small mediaeval
ruin Khan il Mfizeh, and a somewhat larger ruin of the same period called Khan il-
cArus, where an Arabic inscription of Saladdin was copied. It is possible that some of the
material in the second khan is ancient. An ancient road appears to have passed through
the defile here, and the place may have been the site of a Roman military post.
Before in-Nebk was reached, we examined a ruin high up on the right of the road.
This is probably the ruin to which the name of Adarin is given on Kiepert’s map.
There are extensive foundations, and many pairs of monoliths, like door-jambs, all of
limestone, still standing. These pairs of monoliths are arranged in long rows running
at right angles to each other, as if they had faced streets extending in different directions.
Only one dressed stone was seen. All the others are quite rough. The ruin covers
a large area on both sides of a shallow wadi. No further remains of antiquity were
found until we reached the Christian village of Sadad, a community of the Jacobite sect.
Here is an ancient tower, one wall and two half walls of which are preserved in three
stories. The building is constructed entirely of blocks of conglomerate, full of large
pebbles, the only stone available apparently in the vicinity. A cross in relief, high up
on the east wall, shows that the tower was of Christian origin. All the modern houses
in this village, and of all the villages in the neighborhood, are built of sun-baked brick,
with stone foundations, and I have no doubt that the ancient houses in this locality
were similarly constructed. At il-Furklus, which has been identified with the ancient
name Bet Proklis, there are no ancient remains. There is, however an abundance of
water. Tell il- Abd is an ancient site on the top of a hill near the road through il-
Midan. Here are extensive foundation walls, all in undressed limestone, and great
quantities of ancient potsherds. Not far north of this place one begins to encounter
occasional fragments of basalt upon the surface, and presently the valley is reached
through which, running east and west, passes the road between Hama and Selemiyeh.
Immediately to the north rise the steep slopes of the "Ala; limestone disappears from
the surface and basalt takes its place.
The cAla is a plateau with steep sides on the south, east and west, but falling
very gradually toward the north. The cAla marks the southern end of a great region
of basaltic rock that extends 45 miles northward to the Djebel il-Hass and the Djebel
Shbet, in the vicinity of Aleppo, bounded on the west, quite accurately, by the line
of the great high road between Damascus and Aleppo, and extending, I know not
Publications of the Princeton University Archaeological Expedition to Syria, Div. II, Sec. B, Pt. i. I
INTRODUCTION.
The journey from Damascus northward to the cAla, on the route taken by the
Princeton Expedition, was almost wholly without archaeological interest. The main high-
road was followed, by the way of il-Kutefeh, to in-Nebk, passing the small mediaeval
ruin Khan il Mfizeh, and a somewhat larger ruin of the same period called Khan il-
cArus, where an Arabic inscription of Saladdin was copied. It is possible that some of the
material in the second khan is ancient. An ancient road appears to have passed through
the defile here, and the place may have been the site of a Roman military post.
Before in-Nebk was reached, we examined a ruin high up on the right of the road.
This is probably the ruin to which the name of Adarin is given on Kiepert’s map.
There are extensive foundations, and many pairs of monoliths, like door-jambs, all of
limestone, still standing. These pairs of monoliths are arranged in long rows running
at right angles to each other, as if they had faced streets extending in different directions.
Only one dressed stone was seen. All the others are quite rough. The ruin covers
a large area on both sides of a shallow wadi. No further remains of antiquity were
found until we reached the Christian village of Sadad, a community of the Jacobite sect.
Here is an ancient tower, one wall and two half walls of which are preserved in three
stories. The building is constructed entirely of blocks of conglomerate, full of large
pebbles, the only stone available apparently in the vicinity. A cross in relief, high up
on the east wall, shows that the tower was of Christian origin. All the modern houses
in this village, and of all the villages in the neighborhood, are built of sun-baked brick,
with stone foundations, and I have no doubt that the ancient houses in this locality
were similarly constructed. At il-Furklus, which has been identified with the ancient
name Bet Proklis, there are no ancient remains. There is, however an abundance of
water. Tell il- Abd is an ancient site on the top of a hill near the road through il-
Midan. Here are extensive foundation walls, all in undressed limestone, and great
quantities of ancient potsherds. Not far north of this place one begins to encounter
occasional fragments of basalt upon the surface, and presently the valley is reached
through which, running east and west, passes the road between Hama and Selemiyeh.
Immediately to the north rise the steep slopes of the "Ala; limestone disappears from
the surface and basalt takes its place.
The cAla is a plateau with steep sides on the south, east and west, but falling
very gradually toward the north. The cAla marks the southern end of a great region
of basaltic rock that extends 45 miles northward to the Djebel il-Hass and the Djebel
Shbet, in the vicinity of Aleppo, bounded on the west, quite accurately, by the line
of the great high road between Damascus and Aleppo, and extending, I know not
Publications of the Princeton University Archaeological Expedition to Syria, Div. II, Sec. B, Pt. i. I