"In the name of God, the merciful and the munificent. During the reign
of the equitable king Saad-eddin Abou-takmar, the Emir--- ordered the
building of this castle;" which makes it probable that it was erected
for the defence
ABD MAAZ.
[p.102]of the country against the Crusaders. In one of the apartments I
found, just appearing above the earth, the upper part of a door built of
calcareous stone, a material which I have not met with in any part of
the Haouran: over it is the following inscription, in well engraved
characters:
[Greek].
Upon the architrave of the door, on both sides of the inscription, are
masques in bas-relief.
In an apartment where I saw several small entrances to sepulchres, and
where there are several columns lying about, is this:
[Greek].
And, on a stone in the wall of the same apartment:
[Greek].
The hill upon which the castle stands consists of alternate layers of
the common black tufwacke of the country, and of a very porous deep red,
and often rose-cloured, pumice-stone: in some caverns formed in the
latter, salt-petre collects in great quantities. I met with the same
substance at Shohba.
S.W. of Szalkhat one hour and a half, stands the high Tel Abd Maaz, with
a ruined city of the same name; there still remain large plantations of
vines and figs, the fruit of which is
KEREYE.
![Travels In Syria And The Holy Land By John Lewis Burckhardt
- Over the entrance
of a tower in the interior I read these two lines:
[Arabic].
In the name of God - Page 144](../images/travel.jpg)
