On approaching Kanouat from the side of Soueida, the
first object that struck my attention was a number of high columns, upon
a terrace, at some distance from the town; they enclosed an oblong
square fifteen paces in breadth, by twenty-nine in length.
There were
originally six columns on one side, and seven on the other, including
the corner columns in both numbers; at present six only remain, and the
bases of two others; they are formed of six pieces of stone, and measure
from the top of the pedestal to the base of the capital twenty-six feet;
the height of the pedestal is five feet; the circumference of the column
six feet. The capitals are elegant, and well finished. On the northern
side was an
[p.84]inner row of columns of somewhat smaller dimensions than the outer
row; of these one only is standing. Within the square of columns is a
row of subterraneous apartments. These ruins stand upon a terrace ten
feet high, on the N. side of which is a broad flight of steps. The
pedestals of all the columns had inscriptions upon them; but nothing can
now be clearly distinguished except [Greek] upon one of them.
Two divisions of the town may be distinguished, the upper, or principal,
and the lower. The whole ground upon which the ruined habitations stand
is overgrown with oak trees, which hide the ruins. In the lower town,
over the door of an edifice which has some arches in its interior, and
which has been converted in modern times into a Greek church, is an
inscription, in which the words [Greek] only, were distinguishable.
A street leads up to this building, paved with oblong flat stones placed
obliquely across the road in the same manner which I have described at
Shohba. Here are several other buildings with pillars and arches: the
principal of them has four small columns in front of the entrance and an
anti-room leading to an inner apartment, which is supported by five
arches. The door of the anti-room is of one stone, as usual in this
country, but it is distinguished by its sculptured ornaments. A stone in
this building, lying on the ground, is thus inscribed: [xxxxx].
[p.85]The principal building of Kanouat is in the upper part of the
town, on the banks of the Wady. The street leading up to it lies along
the deep bed of the Wady, and is paved throughout; on the side opposite
to the precipice are several small vaulted apartments with doors. The
entrance of the building is on the east side, through a wide door
covered with a profusion of sculptured ornaments. In front of this door
is a vestibule supported by five columns, whose capitals are of the
annexed form. This vestibule joins, towards the north, several other
apartments; their roofs, some of which were supported by pillars, have
now all fallen down. The abovementioned wide door opens into the
principal apartment of the edifice, which is twenty-two paces in breadth
by twenty-five in length. From each side of the entrance, through the
middle of the room, runs a row of seven pillars, like those described
above; at the further end, this colonnade is terminated by two
Corinthian columns. All the sixteen columns are twenty spans high, with
pedestals two feet and a half high. In the wall on the left side of this
saloon are three niches, supported by short pillars. To the west is
another vestibule, which was supported by five Corinthian columns, but
four of them only are now standing. This vestibule communicates through
an arched gate with an area, on the W. side of which are two Corinthian
pillars with projecting bases for statues. On the S. side of the area is
a large door, with a smaller one on each side. That in the centre is
covered with sculptured vines and grapes, and over the entrance is the
figure of the cross in the midst of a bunch of grapes. I observed
similar ornaments on the great gate at Shakka, and I have often seen
them since, over the entrances of public edifices. In the interior of
the area, on the E. side, is a niche sixteen feet deep, arched at the
bottom, with small vaulted rooms on both its sides, in which there is no
other opening than the low door.
KANOUAT.
[p.86]On the S. and W. sides, the building is enclosed by a large paved
area.
At a short distance from thence is another building, whose entrance is
through a portico consisting of four columns in front and of two others
behind, between two wings; on the inner sides of which are two niches
above each other. The columns are about thirty-five feet high, and three
feet and a half in diameter. Part of the walls only of the building are
standing. In the wall opposite the entrance are two niches, one above
the other. Not far from this building, toward its western side, I found,
lying upon the ground, the trunk of a female statue of very inelegant
form and coarse execution; my companion the priest spat upon it, when I
told him that such idols were anciently objects of adoration; by its
side lay a well executed female foot. I may here mention for the
information of future travellers in these parts, that on my return to
Soueida, I was told that there was a place near the source of spring
water, where a great number of figures of men, women, beasts, and men
riding naked on horses, &c. were lying upon the ground.
Besides the buildings just mentioned, there are several towers with two
stories upon arches, standing insulated in different parts of the town;
in one of them I observed a peculiarity in the structure of its walls,
which I had already seen at Hait, and which I afterwards met with in
several other places; the stones are cut so as to dovetail, and fit very
closely.
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