Spacious gate; its interior
consists of a double range of vaults, one above the other, of which the
lower one is choaked up as high as the capitals of the columns which
support the arches. I found the following inscription upon an arch in
the upper story:
[Greek].
Beyond and to the left of this last mentioned building, in the same
street, is a vaulted passage with several niches on both sides of it,
and dark apartments, destined probably for the reception of the bodies
of the governors of the city. Farther on are the remaining walls of a
large building. Upon two stones, close to each other, and projecting
from the wall, I read the following inscriptions:
[p.72] On the first,
[Greek].
On the second,
[Greek].
To the west of the five Corinthian columns stands a small building,
which has been converted into a mosque; it contains two columns about
ten inches in diameter, and eight feet in height, of the same kind of
fine grained gray granite, of which I had seen several columns at Banias
in the Syrian mountains.
To the south of the crescent formed building, and its adjoining edifice,
stands the principal curiosity of Shohba, a theatre, in good
preservation. It is built on a sloping site, and the semicircle is
enclosed by a wall nearly ten feet in thickness, in which are nine
vaulted entrances into the interior. Between the wall and the seats runs
a double row of vaulted chambers one over the other. Of these the upper
chambers are boxes, opening towards the seats, and communicating behind
with a passage which separates them from the outer wall. The lower
chambers open into each other, those at the extremities of the semi-
circle excepted, which have openings towards the area of the theatre.
The entrance into the area is by three gates, one larger, with a smaller
on either side;
[p.73] on each side of the two latter are niches for statues. The
diameter of the area, near the entrance, is thirty paces; the circle
round the upper row of seats is sixty-four paces; there are ten rows of
seats. Outside the principal entrance is a wall, running parallel with
it, close to which are several small apartments.
To the S.E. of Shohba are the remains of an aqueduct, which conveyed
water into the town from a spring in the neighbouring mountain, now
filled up. About six arches are left, some of which are at least forty
feet in height. At the termination of this aqueduct, near the town, is a
spacious building divided into several apartments, of which that nearest
to the aqueduct is enclosed by a wall twelve feet thick, and about
twenty-five feet high; with a vaulted roof, which has fallen in.
