Under the Ptolemy dynasty--successors of Alexander--it was rebuilt, with the name of Philadelphia. Several of the best edifices here, now partially ruined, belong to that period. Under the Crusaders it was a flourishing city and district, retaining the Grecian name. I could not but reflect on the infinite prescience that dictated the prophecies of the Bible--no tongue could speak more plainly to us than the scene around us did, the fulfilment of the denunciations that these cities of Moab and Ammon should remain _as cities_ "without inhabitants"--"not a man to dwell therein"--and "driven out every man, right forth, and none shall gather up him that wandereth"--"desolate" and "most desolate." In the afternoon we walked about to inspect the antiquities, and found several remains of Christian churches with bell-towers attached to them--certainly not originally minarets. These edifices had been afterwards, in Mohammedan times, converted into mosques, as evidenced by the niche made in the south wall of each, pointing to Mecca; and there are watch-towers for signals on all the summits of hills around. The city lies nestled in a valley between these hills. The first building I examined was among those of the citadel placed upon a lofty eminence commanding the city, the ground-plan of which building is here shown-- [Picture: Ground-plan of possible old church] The interior of the walls was so profusely embellished with festoons of roses and vine-grapes--both sculptured in stone and wrought in stucco, and of very large size--that there was no room left for pictures or images. The roof of this building is almost all fallen in. I imagined this to have been a Christian church, of very remote antiquity, on account of the vine and the roses, which are peculiarly Christian symbols--alluding to the texts, "I am the true Vine," and "I am the Rose of Sharon;" but the chambers in each corner are difficult to account for. The east and west ends have no doors. Near this is a square mass of masonry, upon which are standing six columns, of magnificent dimensions, which no doubt originally supported a roof. Their capitals, of chaste and correct Corinthian style, with portions of ornamental entablature, are lying near. Perhaps belonging to this, but at some distance, lies a ponderous piece of architrave, on which, between lines of moulding, is an inscription in Greek--illegible except the three letters--[Greek text]. These letters were nine inches in length. Nigh to this, again, was a square building of rabbeted stones, equal to almost the largest in the walls of Jerusalem. All down the hill, descending to our camp, were fragments of columns and of decorated friezes of temples, that had evidently been rolled or had slidden down from their places.