On The Right Bank, Near The Stream, Lies The Village
Beshiza, And At Ten Minutes From It To The S.E. The Ruins Of A Small
Temple Bearing The Name At Present Of Kenyset El Awamyd [Arabic], Or The
Church Of The Columns.
The principal building is ten paces in length on
the inside, and eight paces in breadth.
The S. and W. walls are
standing, but the E. has fallen down; the S. wall has been thrown out of
the perpendicular by an earthquake. The entrance is from the west, or
rather from the N.W. for the temple does not face the four cardinal
AMYOUN.
[p.176]points; the northern wall, instead of completing the quadrangle,
consists of two curves about twelve feet in depth, and both vaulted like
niches, as high as the roof, which has fallen in. In the S. wall are
several projecting bases for statues. The door and its soffit, which is
formed of a single stone, are ornamented with beautiful sculptures,
which are not inferior to those of Baalbec. Before the entrance was a
portico of four Ionic columns, of which three are standing; they are
about eighteen feet high, and of a single stone. Opposite to each of the
exterior columns of this portico is a pilaster in the wall of the
temple. There are also two other pilasters in the opposite or eastern
wall. Between the two middle columns of the portico is a gate six feet
high, formed of two posts, with a stone laid across them; this is
probably of modern date, as the exterior of the northern wall also
appears to be; instead of forming two semicircles, as within, it is
polygonal.
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