[Greek] [P.61] [Greek] [A.D. 410.

This was the third year of the Emperor Theodosius the younger, in whose reign the final decrees were issued against the Pagan worship.

It appears from the inscription that the building upon which it is written was an ancient temple, converted into a church of St. George. Editor.]

Before the temple is a small paved yard, now used as the exclusive burial ground of the Greek priests of Ezra.

In the midst of the present inhabited part of the village stand the ruins of another large edifice; it was formerly applied to Christian worship, and subsequently converted into a mosque: but it has long since been abandoned. It consists of a quadrangle, with two vaulted colonnades at the northern and southern ends, each consisting of a double row of five columns. In the middle of the area stood a parallel double range of columns of a larger size, forming a colonnade across the middle of the building; the columns are of the Doric order, and about sixteen feet high. The side arcades are still standing to half their height; those of the middle area are lying about in fragments; the E. and W. walls of the building are also in ruins. Over the entrance gate are three inscribed tablets, only one of which, built upside down in the wall, is legible; it is as follows:

[Greek]

Over an inner gate I saw an inscription, much defaced, which seemed to be in Syrian characters.

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