DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45603#0014
Ksedjbeh
157
northern hills. The great majority of buildings, particularly of buildings that are well
preserved, were constructed of finely dressed quadrated blocks of limestone in courses
varying from 50 to 70 cm. wide and 55 cm. thick. The joints were close and true,
and the walls were but one stone in thickness. In walls of this kind the jambs of
doorways are sometimes monoliths inserted in the coursing, but, more often, the jambs
are cut on the ends of the courses. In a number of cases, in examples of what might
be called megalithic architecture, the quadrated blocks
are much larger than those mentioned above, and there
are courses 1.60 m. high, in blocks from 3 to 4 m. long.
Besides the quadrated masonry there is another form of
highly finished masonry that appears in buildings that
date from the earliest periods of building in Northern
Syria to the middle of the fifth century. This is a polygonal
masonry that compares in technique with the best exam¬
ples found in Greece. Walls of this kind are from 70
to 80 cm. thick; they have two stones in their thickness, m. 169.
and are finished on both sides. (Ill. 169). The jambs
of doorways and the frames of windows are inserted in square-cut monoliths. A third
form of walling, used chiefly in the bazaars and in the poorer class of private residences,
though it occasionally appears in the older churches, is a crude masonry in which rough,
unhewn surface stones of varying sizes are laid up with clay and broken stone in
walls 80 cm. to 1 m. in thickness. The door and window frames and the porticos of
buildings, the walls of which were constructed in this method, are, of course, executed
in well finished blocks.
50. KSEDJBEH.
The ruins of this town are distinctly visible from the Plain of Sermeda; they
stand on the top of a spur at the east end of the group of foot-hills at the northern
end of the Djebel Barisha. The site is a commanding one, falling steeply on all sides,
and is rather difficult of approach. There is no better point in the whole district, except
possibly the Kubbit Babutta, from which to view the region that is the subject of this
Part, and the Plain of Sermeda with its encircling hills. To the north, among the
rolling hills of the Djebel Halakah, stand the churches and towers of Serdjibleh, pre-
senting all the appearance of a populous city; further east, in the far distance, looms
the great dome of the Djebel Shekh Berekat, with the ruins of several towns cluster-
ing at its foot. Directly eastward, and well around to the south, spreads the fertile
Plain of Sermeda, its brilliant vernal greens, or summer gold, making deep contrast
with the pallid greys of the barren limestone hills that surround it on all sides. The
plain is dotted with villages where the whitened domes of little mosques fairly glow
in the radiant sunlight. Across the plain, the mountain wall made by the lower half
of the Djebel Halakah, stands crested with the ruins of ancient towns. Across that
mountain wall a white line has been drawn, straight from the plain and over the lowest
dip of the ridge; this is the ancient Roman road that led far out to the southeast by
way of Chaicis and Palmyra. Due south the mighty twin columns of Sermeda rear
their heads beside the brown clustered houses of the smoking village, and to the west
Publications of the Princeton University Archaeological Expedition to Syria, Div. II, Sect. B, Pt. 4. 21
157
northern hills. The great majority of buildings, particularly of buildings that are well
preserved, were constructed of finely dressed quadrated blocks of limestone in courses
varying from 50 to 70 cm. wide and 55 cm. thick. The joints were close and true,
and the walls were but one stone in thickness. In walls of this kind the jambs of
doorways are sometimes monoliths inserted in the coursing, but, more often, the jambs
are cut on the ends of the courses. In a number of cases, in examples of what might
be called megalithic architecture, the quadrated blocks
are much larger than those mentioned above, and there
are courses 1.60 m. high, in blocks from 3 to 4 m. long.
Besides the quadrated masonry there is another form of
highly finished masonry that appears in buildings that
date from the earliest periods of building in Northern
Syria to the middle of the fifth century. This is a polygonal
masonry that compares in technique with the best exam¬
ples found in Greece. Walls of this kind are from 70
to 80 cm. thick; they have two stones in their thickness, m. 169.
and are finished on both sides. (Ill. 169). The jambs
of doorways and the frames of windows are inserted in square-cut monoliths. A third
form of walling, used chiefly in the bazaars and in the poorer class of private residences,
though it occasionally appears in the older churches, is a crude masonry in which rough,
unhewn surface stones of varying sizes are laid up with clay and broken stone in
walls 80 cm. to 1 m. in thickness. The door and window frames and the porticos of
buildings, the walls of which were constructed in this method, are, of course, executed
in well finished blocks.
50. KSEDJBEH.
The ruins of this town are distinctly visible from the Plain of Sermeda; they
stand on the top of a spur at the east end of the group of foot-hills at the northern
end of the Djebel Barisha. The site is a commanding one, falling steeply on all sides,
and is rather difficult of approach. There is no better point in the whole district, except
possibly the Kubbit Babutta, from which to view the region that is the subject of this
Part, and the Plain of Sermeda with its encircling hills. To the north, among the
rolling hills of the Djebel Halakah, stand the churches and towers of Serdjibleh, pre-
senting all the appearance of a populous city; further east, in the far distance, looms
the great dome of the Djebel Shekh Berekat, with the ruins of several towns cluster-
ing at its foot. Directly eastward, and well around to the south, spreads the fertile
Plain of Sermeda, its brilliant vernal greens, or summer gold, making deep contrast
with the pallid greys of the barren limestone hills that surround it on all sides. The
plain is dotted with villages where the whitened domes of little mosques fairly glow
in the radiant sunlight. Across the plain, the mountain wall made by the lower half
of the Djebel Halakah, stands crested with the ruins of ancient towns. Across that
mountain wall a white line has been drawn, straight from the plain and over the lowest
dip of the ridge; this is the ancient Roman road that led far out to the southeast by
way of Chaicis and Palmyra. Due south the mighty twin columns of Sermeda rear
their heads beside the brown clustered houses of the smoking village, and to the west
Publications of the Princeton University Archaeological Expedition to Syria, Div. II, Sect. B, Pt. 4. 21