with its numerous statues,-these and the other smaller buildings grouped together in and around the area appear to have constituted parts of one magnificent establishment. The site was admirably selected, as beautiful prospects meet the eye on every side on the south and east the glens and valleys and graceful mountain-peaks covered with eternal verdure; and toward the west and north the wide expanse of the plain, shut in, in the far distance, by the towering summits of Antilibanus and Hermon. What a testimony have we here to the vanity of earthly greatness! The most refined taste, and the most abundant wealth, and the most profuse expenditure, were not sufficient to lengthen a life or even to immortalize a name. The founder of these noble structures, where is he now? His dust, it may be, mingles with the crumbling ruins, or is blown about by the winds of heaven in some distant clime. The monuments that he erected have for ages outlived him; and even these, so skilfully reared up and so beautifully ornamented, how faded their splendour ! But the revelation of God tells us that this land is desolate because it was cursed; and it was cursed because of the sins of its inhabitants. The earth mourneth and languisheth; Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down; Sharon is like a wilderness and Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits. Hear, ye that are far off, what I have done; and ye that are near, acknowledge my might." 4

The small temple west of this palace is of beautiful workmanship. There is an oblong cell with antæ, having two columns between; and in front of this four beautiful Corinthian columns supported a pediment, now fallen. The

4 Isaiah xxxiii. 9 and 13.

columns still stand, and are about 34 ft. high, and 3 ft. 6 in, in diameter. The dimensions of the cell I did not take; but the proportions are certainly much more symmetrical than the plan of Burckhardt would lead one to suppose. It is not, as Buckingham states, 70 paces long by 35 wide; it may, probably, be about as many feet.

5

In the open area in front of this temple I observed several fragments of sculptured figures, and among others that of a lioness, well executed. Near this is a colossal head in bold relief; the face is broad, and the cheeks large out of proportion. The eyes are soft and well formed, but the forehead is low, and the brows prominent and contracted. On the forehead is a crescent, with rays shooting upwards from it; the whole face is encircled with thick tresses. The mouth and chin are broken away. The appearance of this figure is very striking. The breadth of the face is about 3 feet, and it stands out from the block nearly 2 feet in rilievo. It struck me at the time that this was probably intended to represent Ashtoreth, or Astarte, the celebrated goddess who, according to the testimony of ancient writers, was worshipped universally by the Syrian nations, and by the Arabs before the time of Mohammed." It is now admitted that Ashtoreth was originally a name for the moon, or at least a representation of that luminary; and hence the crescent found upon most of the figures of the goddess. On some of the coins of the Emperor Severus she is figured with her head surrounded by rays. Both the rays and the crescent are seen on this

5 Travels in Syria, p. 86. The sketch of this temple is given above. 6 Travels among Arab Tribes, p. 243.

7 Compare 1 Kings xi. 5, 33; 1 Sam. xxxi, 10; Jud. ii. 13; Herodotus, Clio, 131; and Thalia, 8.

figure. We learn from the Scriptures that the country beyond the Jordan, and especially Bashan, was famed for the worship of Ashtoreth from the very earliest ages. One of its principal cities was called Ashteroth-Karnaim -that is, "Ashteroth of the two horns, or crescent "-in the days of Abraham; and this city was one of the capitals of the kingdom of Bashan when the Israelites conquered the land." It is, consequently, highly interesting to find in one of the most ancient cities of Bashan monumental evidence of the worship of Ashtoreth.

I now examined more particularly the fragments of statues that are scattered around the ancient hippodrome, and observed among them some singular in form and composition. One had the body of a lion, the bust of a woman, 9 Deut. i. 4; Josh. xii, 4.

8 Gen. xiv. 5.

and the head and wings of a bird; near it was a part of an equestrian statue, well executed, and beside this the trunk and thighs of a figure clothed in scale armour.

Having completed our hasty survey of this interesting group of buildings, we walked down through immense piles of rubbish, intermixed with broken columns, on the inside of the western wall. The path led us through a court in which several Druze women were sitting at work. They covered the lower part of their faces as we approached, While I was drinking a bowl of water, which one of them had handed me, I observed them all rising and embracing a little boy who followed in our train; and each woman, as she kissed him, burst into tears, and uttered the words, May God preserve you, O my son !" Astonished at this strange procedure, I inquired the cause, and was informed that his father had recently fallen in battle, and that his mother had been shot by the Turkish soldiers while attempting to carry away the body of her husband! Poor boy! he had early felt the sorrows of his wretched country, and the mad brutality of its rulers. When we had gone away some distance, I put a piece of money in his hand; he looked at me for a moment in astonishment, and at the shining coin, and then shut his hand firmly and ran back to the women. As I scaled the crumbling walls I could hear their voices imploring blessings on the head of the beg who pitied the poor orphan.

A walk of ten minutes down terraced slopes brought us to a rich wooded vale, in which stands one of the most beautiful buildings in this city—a peripteral temple erected on an artificial platform about 12 ft. high. The interior of the platform has crypt-like chambers, with massive piers

supporting the vaulted roof. The temple consisted of a cell 45 ft. long by 30 ft. wide, with pilasters along the walls. In front, towards the east, was the portico, consisting of two rows of columns, six in each row; and round the other sides ran a range of columns corresponding to those in the outer line of the portico. All these pillars stand upon square pedestals 6 ft. high, and the height of the order I estimated at 36 ft. The capitals are Corinthian, and finely executed. The extreme length of the building is 78 ft., and the breadth 48 ft. Each column seems to have had a short inscription on its base; but these are now so much broken and mutilated, that, though I copied them all, I have not been able to gain any information from them as to the age or design of the building. On the top of one of the pedestals, beneath where the shaft once stood, are the following letters-POY EINOYKAC. Ritter observes that, from a fragment of an inscription copied by Buckingham, it has been ascertained that this was a temple of the sun; but I have carefully observed all the letters copied by Buckingham, and my own copies also, but I have not been able to detect the slightest allusion in them as to the nature of the edifice.

The situation of this temple is very beautiful. The sides of the vale slope gently up, and are thickly wooded. On the east are the walls of the city; and over them rise wooded heights, crowned with ruins and round towers. Westward there is an easy declivity to the plain; and here

1 Palästina und Syrien, ii. 932. Descriptions of this ruin may be found in Burckhardt's Trav. in Syr. pp. 83, 84; and Buckingham's Trav. among Arab Tribes, pp. 240, 241.