Travels in Syria and the Holy LandBurckhardt, John Lewis
History
Travels in Syria and the Holy Land
Burckhardt, John Lewis
Palestine -- Description and travel; Syria -- Description and travel
[p.261]and left, conduct into a street running at right angles to the
main street. I followed this cross street to my left, and found on the
right hand side of it three short Ionic pillars with their entablatures,
close to the rotunda. Proceeding in the same direction I soon reached a
quadrangle (s) of fine large Corinthian columns, the handsomest in the
town, next to those of the temple. To the right stand four with their
entablatures, and one single; formerly they were six in number, the
fifth is the deficient one: the first and sixth are heart-shaped, like
those in the area of the temple (a.) They are composed of more than a
dozen frusta, and what is remarkable in a place where stone is so
abundant, each frustum consists of two pieces; opposite to the two first
columns of the row just described are two columns with their
entablatures.
This colonnade stands in front of a theatre (t), to which it evidently
formed an appendage. This theatre is not calculated to hold so many
spectators as the one already described though its area is considerably
larger, being from forty-five to fifty paces in diameter. It has sixteen
rows of benches, with a tier of six boxes intervening between the tenth
and eleventh rows, reckoning from the top. Between every two boxes is a
niche, forming a very elegant ornament. This theatre was evidently
destined for purposes different from the other, probably for combats of
wild beasts, &c.; The area below the benches is more extensive, and
there is a suite of dark arched chambers under the lowest row of seats,
opening into the area near the chief entrance of the theatre, which is
from the south-east, in the direction by which I entered the colonnade
in front of the theatre. There seems formerly to have been a wall across
the diameter of the semi-circle, and between this wall and the colonnade
there is on both sides a short wall, with a large niche or apartment in
it; the colonnade stands upon lower ground than the theatre. Having
returned from hence to the rotunda in
[p.262]the long street, I followed it along the colonnade (v) and found
the greater number of the columns to have Ionic capitals. On the right
side are only two small columns, with their entablatures; to the left,
are eight, two, three, two, four, and again three, each set with their
entablatures; close to the ruined town-gate (w), near the bank of the
river, is a single column.
I shall now describe the ancient buildings, which I observed on the
south-west side of the long street. The street which leads from the
theatre across the rotunda (r) is prolonged from thence towards the side
of the river: it was lined with columns, of which two only, with their
entablatures, remain, and it terminates at a vast edifice (u), situated
over the river, and extending along its banks forty or fifty paces; it
is divided into many apartments, the greater part of which have arched
roofs; some of them are very lofty.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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