Near A Well, On The S. Side Of The Town, Between The Temple And The
Mountain, I Found Upon A Stone The Following Inscription;
C. CASSIVS ARRIANVS
MONVMENTVM SIBI
-OCO SVO VIVVS
FECIT
In the afternoon I made a tour in the invirons of Baalbec. At the foot
of the Anti-Libanus, a quarter of an hour's walk from the town, to the
south is a quarry, where the places are still visible from whence
several of the large stones in the south wall of the castle were
extracted; one large block is yet remaining, cut on three sides, ready
to be transported to the building, but it must be done by other hands
than those of the Metaweli. Two other blocks, cut in
[p.15]like manner, are standing upright at a little distance from each
other; and near them, in the rock, are two small excavated tombs, with
three niches in each, for the dead, in a style of workmanship similar to
what I saw to the north of Aleppo, in the Turkman mountains towards Deir
Samaan. In the hills, to the S.W. of the town, just behind this quarry,
are several tombs, excavated in the rock, like the former, but of larger
dimensions. In following the quarry towards the village of Duris,
numerous natural caverns are met with in the calcareous rocks; I entered
more than a dozen of them, but found no traces of art, except a few
seats or steps rudely cut out. These caverns serve at present as winter
habitations for the Arabs who pasture their cattle in this district.
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