DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45603#0015
II. B. 4.
158
lies the whole panorama of the foot-hills with the ruined walls and towers of a dozen
ancient towns lying sequestered in a gently rolling sea of weatherworn limestone, or
clinging to the steep side of the Kubbit Babutta. Ba'udeh and Babiska seem to be
at our feet. Dar Kita and Kfer spread out in the middle distance; Bakirha seems to
be climbing the slopes of the Djebel on the left, and Khirbit Tezin crowns a hill far
away on the right; beyond these, in a purplish haze, like an inland sea, lies the marshy
plain of il-cAmk below the dimly outlined blue undulations of the distant Taurus range.
The top of the hill upon which Ksedjbeh was built is very rocky, rough and un-
even ; the town was built upon a comparatively level space which is now strewn with
ruins. The ruined buildings consist of a larger and smaller church, and a great number
of private houses. On the outskirts of the town are numerous presses with large vats
and the usual accompanying cisterns. One of the presses which is situated near the
top of the slope furnishes evidence of the former presence here of soil of considerable
depth. It now appears in the top of a rock almost two meters higher than the ordi-
nary level. There are other high rocks near by with basins cut in their tops, and
the upper surface of the rocks is nicely smoothed, while the sides are rough and worn.
There are no steps cut in the sides of the rocks to facilitate approach, and there is
every appearance that the soil was on an even level with the tops of the rocks at the
time the presses and basins were excavated.
East Church. 414 A.D. This church was published by the American Expedition.1
A ground plan of the church itself, with the baptistery adjoining it, and a photograph
ot the south wall appear in the publications of that expedition. I propose to re-publish
the ground plan (Ill. 170), adding a plan of the ecclesiastical buildings that face the
cloister court on the south of the church, and to present scale drawings of some of
the ornamental details. The building stands on the eastern side of the ruins, at the
top of the slope ; the south wall is perfectly preserved, together with parts of the apsis
and its adjoining chambers; though the whole east end is greatly encumbered with
debris of fallen building blocks. The north and west walls are in almost complete
ruins, and the interior columns and arches, with the clearstory which they carried, lie
in a confused mass quite filling the nave. The baptistery which was placed next to
the prothesis, on the south side of the church, is well preserved, having its minute apse
and its transverse arch still in place. The west wall of the baptistery is still two stories
high, showing that there was a tower-like structure, a bell-tower perhaps, above the
baptistery. South of the baptistery is a small chamber, like a chapel, and then a
narrow passage opening out to the east. This completes the buildings on the east
side of the atrium or court, the south side of which is formed by an open stoa of
plain piers, broken in the middle by a passage leading to a doorway in the south wall.
On the west side of the court is a plain wall with one entrance. The nave of the
church seems short for its width, in comparison with the churches of the period in
this locality; there were but five arches on either side of the nave, and I am inclined
to believe that the west wall was rebuilt after the original church had been completed,
perhaps on new foundations farther east, and it may be that by this means the church
lost one bay. One more bay would make the proportions of the nave, and even its
measurements, correspond to those of the East Church at Babiska and the Church of
1 A.A.E.S. II, p. 135.
158
lies the whole panorama of the foot-hills with the ruined walls and towers of a dozen
ancient towns lying sequestered in a gently rolling sea of weatherworn limestone, or
clinging to the steep side of the Kubbit Babutta. Ba'udeh and Babiska seem to be
at our feet. Dar Kita and Kfer spread out in the middle distance; Bakirha seems to
be climbing the slopes of the Djebel on the left, and Khirbit Tezin crowns a hill far
away on the right; beyond these, in a purplish haze, like an inland sea, lies the marshy
plain of il-cAmk below the dimly outlined blue undulations of the distant Taurus range.
The top of the hill upon which Ksedjbeh was built is very rocky, rough and un-
even ; the town was built upon a comparatively level space which is now strewn with
ruins. The ruined buildings consist of a larger and smaller church, and a great number
of private houses. On the outskirts of the town are numerous presses with large vats
and the usual accompanying cisterns. One of the presses which is situated near the
top of the slope furnishes evidence of the former presence here of soil of considerable
depth. It now appears in the top of a rock almost two meters higher than the ordi-
nary level. There are other high rocks near by with basins cut in their tops, and
the upper surface of the rocks is nicely smoothed, while the sides are rough and worn.
There are no steps cut in the sides of the rocks to facilitate approach, and there is
every appearance that the soil was on an even level with the tops of the rocks at the
time the presses and basins were excavated.
East Church. 414 A.D. This church was published by the American Expedition.1
A ground plan of the church itself, with the baptistery adjoining it, and a photograph
ot the south wall appear in the publications of that expedition. I propose to re-publish
the ground plan (Ill. 170), adding a plan of the ecclesiastical buildings that face the
cloister court on the south of the church, and to present scale drawings of some of
the ornamental details. The building stands on the eastern side of the ruins, at the
top of the slope ; the south wall is perfectly preserved, together with parts of the apsis
and its adjoining chambers; though the whole east end is greatly encumbered with
debris of fallen building blocks. The north and west walls are in almost complete
ruins, and the interior columns and arches, with the clearstory which they carried, lie
in a confused mass quite filling the nave. The baptistery which was placed next to
the prothesis, on the south side of the church, is well preserved, having its minute apse
and its transverse arch still in place. The west wall of the baptistery is still two stories
high, showing that there was a tower-like structure, a bell-tower perhaps, above the
baptistery. South of the baptistery is a small chamber, like a chapel, and then a
narrow passage opening out to the east. This completes the buildings on the east
side of the atrium or court, the south side of which is formed by an open stoa of
plain piers, broken in the middle by a passage leading to a doorway in the south wall.
On the west side of the court is a plain wall with one entrance. The nave of the
church seems short for its width, in comparison with the churches of the period in
this locality; there were but five arches on either side of the nave, and I am inclined
to believe that the west wall was rebuilt after the original church had been completed,
perhaps on new foundations farther east, and it may be that by this means the church
lost one bay. One more bay would make the proportions of the nave, and even its
measurements, correspond to those of the East Church at Babiska and the Church of
1 A.A.E.S. II, p. 135.