DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.10357#0468
43°
PICTURESQUE PALESTINE.
refreshing to the eye, but that interesting people, the Bedawin Arabs, who have held sway
over the surrounding" country since the days of Abraham, are at that season on their good
behaviour, and may be seen at the best advantage (see pages 424 and 425). They are then
returning westward and northward to the settled region from their wintering in the east and
south, and it is for their interest to maintain friendly relations with the fellahin, and not to
involve themselves in trouble with the Turkish military authorities. A small Turkish garrison
occupied Tudmur a few years since, under a military mudir, but this official generally remains
at Kuryetein (or " two towns "), from whence horsemen can be readily obtained.
The journey to Palmyra from Kuryetein can be made by leaving that place at 1 p.m.,
carrying water in flasks for drinking purposes, resting half an hour at sunset, then riding
till midnight and resting three hours, when the final stage of eight hours is accomplished by
11 a.m.
After riding eleven hours the second day, we find the ranges of hills which border
the broad valley suddenly approaching each other, the southern mountain sweeping to the
north-east across the mouth of the valley. On the sides to the right and left are square
towers. Some are low down, others on the summit of hills. These are the tower sepulchres
of Palmyra (see page 425), and as we emerge from the valley we see in the distance, on the
top of the high northern hills, the castle, which commands the whole plateau of the City of
Palms. From the west end of the castle (see page 435) we are almost exactly in a line with
the Great Colonnade, which seems in the distance like a forest of giant trees, stripped of their
branches and bark by some fierce cyclone, and standing gaunt and naked against the sky. On
every side are ruins, broken temples, towers, columns, tombs, and walls, in a tumultuous sea of
stony fragments; and in the eastern extremity rises the stately Temple of the Sun, the
finest ruin in Palmyra, and for extent and grandeur second to none in Syria.
Standing on a rising ground, near the south-eastern end of the town, its appearance when
entire must have been most impressive. Its projecting base, or krepis, of massive rough-hewn
stones is surmounted by a smooth-cut wall with a range of thirteen Corinthian pilasters,
not less than thirty feet high, above which is a plain frieze and cornice. Between the
pilasters are richly carved windows with pediments, of which no less than thirteen can
still be counted on the north side. These are flanked by lofty pilasters sixty-eight feet
in height, the three corner ones on each side being higher and larger than the rest, and
projecting so as to form corner towers to the walls. Of the other three sides the foundations
only are ancient, the superstructure being the work of the Arabs, who used the temple as a
fortress. On the western side a magnificent triple gateway formed the entrance to this
grand court, approached by a broad flight of steps. The portico of ten columns is gone, but
the monolithic sides and lintel of the central door still remain, ornamented with rich sculptures
of vine branches, clusters of grapes, and flowers. This door was thirty-two feet high and
sixteen wide, but has been disfigured and almost concealed by a huge square Saracenic tower
built by the Muslims, who also constructed a moat around the entire external wall.
PICTURESQUE PALESTINE.
refreshing to the eye, but that interesting people, the Bedawin Arabs, who have held sway
over the surrounding" country since the days of Abraham, are at that season on their good
behaviour, and may be seen at the best advantage (see pages 424 and 425). They are then
returning westward and northward to the settled region from their wintering in the east and
south, and it is for their interest to maintain friendly relations with the fellahin, and not to
involve themselves in trouble with the Turkish military authorities. A small Turkish garrison
occupied Tudmur a few years since, under a military mudir, but this official generally remains
at Kuryetein (or " two towns "), from whence horsemen can be readily obtained.
The journey to Palmyra from Kuryetein can be made by leaving that place at 1 p.m.,
carrying water in flasks for drinking purposes, resting half an hour at sunset, then riding
till midnight and resting three hours, when the final stage of eight hours is accomplished by
11 a.m.
After riding eleven hours the second day, we find the ranges of hills which border
the broad valley suddenly approaching each other, the southern mountain sweeping to the
north-east across the mouth of the valley. On the sides to the right and left are square
towers. Some are low down, others on the summit of hills. These are the tower sepulchres
of Palmyra (see page 425), and as we emerge from the valley we see in the distance, on the
top of the high northern hills, the castle, which commands the whole plateau of the City of
Palms. From the west end of the castle (see page 435) we are almost exactly in a line with
the Great Colonnade, which seems in the distance like a forest of giant trees, stripped of their
branches and bark by some fierce cyclone, and standing gaunt and naked against the sky. On
every side are ruins, broken temples, towers, columns, tombs, and walls, in a tumultuous sea of
stony fragments; and in the eastern extremity rises the stately Temple of the Sun, the
finest ruin in Palmyra, and for extent and grandeur second to none in Syria.
Standing on a rising ground, near the south-eastern end of the town, its appearance when
entire must have been most impressive. Its projecting base, or krepis, of massive rough-hewn
stones is surmounted by a smooth-cut wall with a range of thirteen Corinthian pilasters,
not less than thirty feet high, above which is a plain frieze and cornice. Between the
pilasters are richly carved windows with pediments, of which no less than thirteen can
still be counted on the north side. These are flanked by lofty pilasters sixty-eight feet
in height, the three corner ones on each side being higher and larger than the rest, and
projecting so as to form corner towers to the walls. Of the other three sides the foundations
only are ancient, the superstructure being the work of the Arabs, who used the temple as a
fortress. On the western side a magnificent triple gateway formed the entrance to this
grand court, approached by a broad flight of steps. The portico of ten columns is gone, but
the monolithic sides and lintel of the central door still remain, ornamented with rich sculptures
of vine branches, clusters of grapes, and flowers. This door was thirty-two feet high and
sixteen wide, but has been disfigured and almost concealed by a huge square Saracenic tower
built by the Muslims, who also constructed a moat around the entire external wall.