DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45603#0007
II. B. 4.
150
mination that their importance deserved, and it was therefore part of the plan of the
Princeton Expedition to take up a more exhaustive study of the ruins of this particular
locality. To that end, in April 1905, the camp was moved to Dar Kita, in the centre
of the region, and was stationed there until each of the towns discovered by the pre-
vious expedition had been visited, and the more important buildings in them had been
thoroughly examined for publication. As a result of our work in this northern end of
the Djebel Barisha, this present Part of these Publications is devoted exclusively to
the towns of that immediate vicinity. The locality, to be explicit, is bounded on the
north by the ancient Roman road that runs between the Djebel Barisha and the Djebel
Halakah, on the east by the Plain of Sermeda, on the south by the steep rocky wall
that marks the end of the main ridge of the Djebel Barisha itself, and on the west
by the plain that extends far out to il-cAmk, the great marsh-land that surrounds the
Lake of Antioch. The position of this small territory in relation to the surrounding
mountains may be observed in Mr. Garrett’s map (Northern Syria I) published in Part I
of the Publications of the American Expedition to Syria. The position of the towns
with reference to each other, and in relation to the neighbouring districts, is to be seen
in the accompanying map of the northern part of Northern Syria, drawn by Mr. Cook
from the notes of Mr. Norris’ survey. The southwestern portion of this map, including
the region described in this Part, was added from Mr. Garrett’s map.
The Djebel Barisha, taken from end to end, is higher, far more rugged, and more
nearly a desert than the Djebel Riha; it has fewer villages and smaller areas of cul-
tivated soil. Kurkanya exists because of the presence of a cultivable valley between
the Djebel Barisha and the Djebel il-Acla, and a few other villages of smaller size find
scanty subsistence in other small pockets of arable soil. All the region of the northern
foot-hills, which is the subject of this Part, is devoid of fixed habitations. We saw no
settlements of any kind here in 1899; but, in April 1905, a few Turkoman nomads
had pitched their tents between the ruins of Dar Kita and Babiska. But the vege-
tation is very sparse, even in the springtime, and the patches of soil are few, small,
and far between. This little group of hills, so near to the rich Plain of Sermeda on
one side, and the marshy shores of Antioch’s lake on the other, is doomed to a desert
and deserted existence. The slope of nearly the whole area here discussed descends
towards the west, and the flow of torrents in the wet season has worn deep chasms
in the rocks in that direction, taking with it the soil from the hillsides and depositing
it in the low marshes that surround the lake. In the immediate vicinity of the Plain
of Sermeda the water-shed inclines in that direction, and much soil from the eastern
slopes had been carried into that fertile bowl. The approach from the Sermeda plain
is steep, rugged and, in places, almost impassable, but that from il-Amk is an easier
grade, and difficult only because of the rifts and chasms in the surface. The journey
from Antioch to Aleppo, on the old Roman road, must have carried many European
travellers along the northern boundary of this region, and it is difficult to explain how
these ruined towns have so long escaped notice.
Taken as a whole, the ancient towns of the Djebel Barisha differ widely in many
respects from those of the Djebel Riha which has been discussed in the Part preceding
this, and the dated inscriptions found in them indicate a slightly different era, not of
existence, for all flourished during the same centuries, but of special building activity. There
are in the Djebel Barisha, for instance, more inscriptions and more monuments of the second
150
mination that their importance deserved, and it was therefore part of the plan of the
Princeton Expedition to take up a more exhaustive study of the ruins of this particular
locality. To that end, in April 1905, the camp was moved to Dar Kita, in the centre
of the region, and was stationed there until each of the towns discovered by the pre-
vious expedition had been visited, and the more important buildings in them had been
thoroughly examined for publication. As a result of our work in this northern end of
the Djebel Barisha, this present Part of these Publications is devoted exclusively to
the towns of that immediate vicinity. The locality, to be explicit, is bounded on the
north by the ancient Roman road that runs between the Djebel Barisha and the Djebel
Halakah, on the east by the Plain of Sermeda, on the south by the steep rocky wall
that marks the end of the main ridge of the Djebel Barisha itself, and on the west
by the plain that extends far out to il-cAmk, the great marsh-land that surrounds the
Lake of Antioch. The position of this small territory in relation to the surrounding
mountains may be observed in Mr. Garrett’s map (Northern Syria I) published in Part I
of the Publications of the American Expedition to Syria. The position of the towns
with reference to each other, and in relation to the neighbouring districts, is to be seen
in the accompanying map of the northern part of Northern Syria, drawn by Mr. Cook
from the notes of Mr. Norris’ survey. The southwestern portion of this map, including
the region described in this Part, was added from Mr. Garrett’s map.
The Djebel Barisha, taken from end to end, is higher, far more rugged, and more
nearly a desert than the Djebel Riha; it has fewer villages and smaller areas of cul-
tivated soil. Kurkanya exists because of the presence of a cultivable valley between
the Djebel Barisha and the Djebel il-Acla, and a few other villages of smaller size find
scanty subsistence in other small pockets of arable soil. All the region of the northern
foot-hills, which is the subject of this Part, is devoid of fixed habitations. We saw no
settlements of any kind here in 1899; but, in April 1905, a few Turkoman nomads
had pitched their tents between the ruins of Dar Kita and Babiska. But the vege-
tation is very sparse, even in the springtime, and the patches of soil are few, small,
and far between. This little group of hills, so near to the rich Plain of Sermeda on
one side, and the marshy shores of Antioch’s lake on the other, is doomed to a desert
and deserted existence. The slope of nearly the whole area here discussed descends
towards the west, and the flow of torrents in the wet season has worn deep chasms
in the rocks in that direction, taking with it the soil from the hillsides and depositing
it in the low marshes that surround the lake. In the immediate vicinity of the Plain
of Sermeda the water-shed inclines in that direction, and much soil from the eastern
slopes had been carried into that fertile bowl. The approach from the Sermeda plain
is steep, rugged and, in places, almost impassable, but that from il-Amk is an easier
grade, and difficult only because of the rifts and chasms in the surface. The journey
from Antioch to Aleppo, on the old Roman road, must have carried many European
travellers along the northern boundary of this region, and it is difficult to explain how
these ruined towns have so long escaped notice.
Taken as a whole, the ancient towns of the Djebel Barisha differ widely in many
respects from those of the Djebel Riha which has been discussed in the Part preceding
this, and the dated inscriptions found in them indicate a slightly different era, not of
existence, for all flourished during the same centuries, but of special building activity. There
are in the Djebel Barisha, for instance, more inscriptions and more monuments of the second