The Columns, Three Feet In Diameter,
Are Lying On The Ground.
Within the temple, a great part of the walls of
which are fallen, there are fragments of smaller columns.
The stones
used in the construction of the walls are about five feet long, and two
feet broad. At one hour and three quarters is the ruined village of
Hemeymat (Arabic). This district, which is an even plain, is
KEREK
[p.377] very fertile, and large tracts are here cultivated by the
inhabitants of Kerek, and the Arabs Hamaide. At two hours and a half is
Rabba (Arabic), probably the ancient Rabbath Moab, where the ancient
causeway terminates. The ruins of Rabba are about half an hour in
circuit, and are situated upon a low hill, which commands the whole
plain. I examined a part of them only, but the rest seemed to contain
nothing remarkable. On the west side is a temple, of which one wall and
several niches remain, by no means distinguished for elegance. Near them
is a gate belonging to another building, which stood on the edge of a
Birket. Distant from these ruins about thirty yards stand two Corinthian
columns of middling size, one higher than the other. In the plain, to
the west of the Birket, stands an insulated altar. In the town many
fragments are lying about; the walls of the larger edifices are built
like those of Heit Kerm. There are many remains of private habitations,
but none entire. There being no springs in this spot, the town had two
Birkets, the largest of which is cut entirely out of the rocky ground,
together with several cisterns.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 478 of 870
Words from 129471 to 129745
of 236498
