On The Two Sides Marked (X) Of The Colonnade Of The Peribolus Many Bases And Broken Shafts Of The Inner Row Of Columns Are Yet Standing; On The Two Other Sides There Are But Few; These Columns Are Three Spans And A Half In Diameter.

On the long side (x) forty columns may be traced to have stood, at only three paces distant from

Each other; on the opposite long side one perfect column is yet standing; on the short side (x) are three in the outer row without their capitals. The corner columns of this peribolus were double, and in the shape of a heart, as in the annexed figure. Of the outer row of the peribolus very little remains; indeed it may be doubted whether any outer row ever existed opposite to the back of the temple, where the ground is rocky and uneven. The number of columns which originally adorned the temple and its area was not less than two hundred or two hundred and fifty.

Proceeding westwards from the above described ruin, through

[p.255]the remains of private habitations, at about two hundred yards distant from it are the remains of a small temple (b), with three Corinthian pillars still standing. A street, still paved in some places, leads from thence south-westwards, to a spot where several small broken columns are lying. Turning from thence to the south-east, I entered a street (c) adorned with a colonnade on either side; about thirty broken shafts are yet standing, and two entire columns, but without their capitals. On the other side of the street, opposite to them, are five columns, with their capitals and entablatures. These columns are rather small, without pedestals, of different sizes, the highest being about fifteen feet, and in a bad taste.

Originally there must have been about fifty pillars in this street; a little farther on to the south-east this street crosses the principal street of the town; and where the two streets meet, are four large cubical masses of stone (d), each occupying one of the angles of the intersection, similar to those which I saw at Shohba, and intended, perhaps, to imitate the beautiful pedestals in the middle of the great portico at Palmyra. These cubes are about seven feet high, and about eighteen spans broad; on each side of them is a small niche; three are entire, and the fourth is in ruins. They may have served as pedestals for statues, or, like those at Palmyra, may have supported a small dome upon columns, under which stood a statue. I endeavoured to examine the tops of the cubes, but they are all thickly overgrown with shrubs, which it was not in my power to clear away. There were no traces whatever of statues having stood upon those which I saw at Shohba.

Following the great street, marked (e), south-westwards, I came again to the remains of columns on both sides: these were much larger than the former, and the street, of which some parts of the pavement yet remain, was much broader than that marked (c). On the right hand side of the street stand seventeen Corinthian

[p.256]columns, sixteen of which are united by their entablature; they vary in size, and do not correspond in height either with those opposite, to them or with those in the same line; a circumstance which, added to the style of the capitals, seems to prove that the long street is a patch-work, built at different periods, and of less ancient construction than the temple. Some of the columns are as high as thirty feet, others twenty-five; the shortest I estimated at twenty feet. Their entablatures are slightly ornamented with sculptured bas-reliefs. Where a high column stands near a shorter one the architrave over the latter reposes upon a projecting bracket worked into the shaft of the higher one. Next comes, following the street in the same S.W. direction, on the right, one insulated column; and three large columns with their entablature, joined to four shorter ones, in the way just described; then two columns, and five, and two, all with their entablatures; making, in the whole, on the right side of the street, counting from the cubes, thirty-four columns, yet standing. On the left, opposite the three large ones joined to the four smaller, are five columns of middling size, with their entablatures, and a single large one; but the greater number of the columns on this side have fallen, and are lying on the ground. In some places behind the colonnade on the right, are low apartments, some of which are vaulted, and appear to have been shops. They are similar to those which I saw in the long street at Soueida, in the mountain of the Druses.[See page 81.]

The long street just described terminates in a large open space (f) enclosed by a magnificent semicircle of columns in a single row; fifty- seven columns are yet standing; originally there may have been about eighty. To the right, on entering the forum, are four, and then twenty- one, united by their entablatures. To the

[p.257]left, five, seven, and twenty, also with entablatures; the latter twenty are taller than the others, the lower ground on which they stand having required an increased height of column in order to place the whole entablature of the semicircle on the same level. The pillars near the entrance are about fifteen feet in height, and one foot and a half in diameter: they are all of the Ionic order, and thus they differ from all the other columns remaining in the city. The radius of the semicircle, in following the direction of the long street, was one hundred and five paces.

At the end of the semicircle, opposite to the long street, are several basins, which seem to have been reservoirs of water, and remains of an aqueduct are still visible, which probably supplied them.

Enter page number Go  Previous Next
Page 87 of 232
Words from 87610 to 88613 of 236498