DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45604#0023
Kfellusin
225
Tower. Date: 492 A.D. The tower which is almost perfectly preserved, stands
on ground rather too low for a watchtower (Ill. 227), though it has a height of about
15 metres and was divided into four storeys.
The ground floor (Ill. 228) was spanned
by two transverse arches carrying a stone
ceiling, and had a staircase of stone in
its northwest angle; the entrance is on
the east side, the windows on this floor are
loop-holes. The floor above consists of
one large room lighted also by loop-holes,
and by one large window toward the east;
but the two upper storeys had windows of
normal width and height, two in each face.
The top floor was provided with a large
latrina corbelled out from the west wall,
as is shown in Ill. 227. These double
corbels, the lower half of one of which
is a pyramidal bracket, carry a large flat
stone which constituted the floor of the
latrina, pierced with two holes. Upon this
floor were built the walls consisting of
three high courses of stone only 12 cm.
thick. The structure was covered by a
slightly slanting roof of stone slabs which
were carried under the main cornice of the
building. The inscription,1 carved upon the
otherwise plain lintel of the entrance, gives a date which may be read 522 or 492 A.D.;
but the profile of the cornice of the building seems to confirm the earlier of the two dates.
House. Dates: 473 and 486 A.D. The most interesting of all the private houses
stands high on the slope, to the southeast of the tower. A distant view of it is shown
in the photograph (Ill. 227), at the right of the tower, and drawings of it are presented
in Ill. 229. The site of this house was prepared by cutting back the face of the
natural rock of the hill-side to the height of one storey Against this smooth per-
pendicular wall one end of the house was set, and a portico of square monolithic piers
was set up in front of it extending northwards from the house. The house proper
consisted of three storeys of two rooms each. The uppermost floor had coupled arched
windows under a double, arcuated, lintel with incised mouldings (Ill. 229). The portico
that extended along in front of the wall of natural rock was given an upper storey
of Ionic columns, and a solid back wall was built upon the natural wall of rock. This
loggia was reached from the second floor of the house. This independent two-storey
portico, extending out away from the house and not in front of it, is the first example
of its kind noted in these publications; and the first of which I have any record in
these mountains, though it is a feature common enough in the houses of Refadeh, and
of the towns of the Djebel Simcan. It is an interesting proof of the semi-out-of-door
./
5M
1 III, B. 5, insc. 1105.
225
Tower. Date: 492 A.D. The tower which is almost perfectly preserved, stands
on ground rather too low for a watchtower (Ill. 227), though it has a height of about
15 metres and was divided into four storeys.
The ground floor (Ill. 228) was spanned
by two transverse arches carrying a stone
ceiling, and had a staircase of stone in
its northwest angle; the entrance is on
the east side, the windows on this floor are
loop-holes. The floor above consists of
one large room lighted also by loop-holes,
and by one large window toward the east;
but the two upper storeys had windows of
normal width and height, two in each face.
The top floor was provided with a large
latrina corbelled out from the west wall,
as is shown in Ill. 227. These double
corbels, the lower half of one of which
is a pyramidal bracket, carry a large flat
stone which constituted the floor of the
latrina, pierced with two holes. Upon this
floor were built the walls consisting of
three high courses of stone only 12 cm.
thick. The structure was covered by a
slightly slanting roof of stone slabs which
were carried under the main cornice of the
building. The inscription,1 carved upon the
otherwise plain lintel of the entrance, gives a date which may be read 522 or 492 A.D.;
but the profile of the cornice of the building seems to confirm the earlier of the two dates.
House. Dates: 473 and 486 A.D. The most interesting of all the private houses
stands high on the slope, to the southeast of the tower. A distant view of it is shown
in the photograph (Ill. 227), at the right of the tower, and drawings of it are presented
in Ill. 229. The site of this house was prepared by cutting back the face of the
natural rock of the hill-side to the height of one storey Against this smooth per-
pendicular wall one end of the house was set, and a portico of square monolithic piers
was set up in front of it extending northwards from the house. The house proper
consisted of three storeys of two rooms each. The uppermost floor had coupled arched
windows under a double, arcuated, lintel with incised mouldings (Ill. 229). The portico
that extended along in front of the wall of natural rock was given an upper storey
of Ionic columns, and a solid back wall was built upon the natural wall of rock. This
loggia was reached from the second floor of the house. This independent two-storey
portico, extending out away from the house and not in front of it, is the first example
of its kind noted in these publications; and the first of which I have any record in
these mountains, though it is a feature common enough in the houses of Refadeh, and
of the towns of the Djebel Simcan. It is an interesting proof of the semi-out-of-door
./
5M
1 III, B. 5, insc. 1105.