The Door Remains,
Together With The Southern Wall And A Part Of The Northern.
The west
wall and the roof are fallen.
In the south wall are two niches. Before
the entrance was a portico of four columns, with a flight of steps
leading up to it. The bases of the columns and fragments of the shafts,
which are three feet in diameter, still remain. At about forty paces
from the temple is a gate, corresponding to the door of the temple; a
broad staircase leads up from it to the temple. The two door-posts of
this outer gate are still standing, each formed of a single stone about
thirteen feet high, rudely adorned with sculpture. At about one hundred
and fifty yards from this building is the other, of much larger
dimensions; it stands in an area of fifty paces in breadth, and sixty in
length, surrounded by a wall, of which the foundation, and some other
parts, still remain. The entrance to this area is through a beautiful
gate, still entire; it is fourteen feet high and ten feet wide, the two
posts, and the soffit are each formed of a single stone; the posts are
elegantly sculptured. At the west end of this area, and elevated four or
five feet above its level, stood the temple, opposite to the great gate;
it presents nothing now but a heap of ruins, among which it is
impossible to trace the original distribution of the building. The
ground is covered with columns, capitals, and friezes; I saw a fragment
of a column, consisting of one piece of stone nine feet in length, and
three feet and a half in diameter. The columns are Corinthian, but not
of the best workmanship. Near the S.W. angle of the temple are the
foundations of a small insulated building.
BESHIZA.
[p.175]In order to level the surface of the area, and to support the
northern wall, a terrace was anciently raised, which is ten feet high in
the north-west corner. The wall of the area is built with large blocks
of well cut stone, some of which are upwards of twelve feet in length.
It appears however to have undergone repairs, as several parts of the
wall are evidently of modern construction; it has perhaps been used as a
strong-hold by the Arabs. The stone of the building is calcareous, but
not so hard as the rock of Baalbec. I saw no kind of inscriptions. The
Naous commands a most beautiful view over the Koura and the sea. Tripoli
bears N.
I descended to the convent of Mar Demitry, in which there is at present
but one monk; and turning from thence in a S.W. direction, reached in
half an hour the wild torrent of Nahr Beshiza [Arabic]; which dries up
in summer time, but in winter sometimes swells rapidly to a considerable
size. When Youssef Pasha besieged Tripoli, intelligence was received at
a village near it, that a party of his troops intended to plunder the
village; the inhabitants in consequence fled with their most valuable
moveables the same evening, and retired up the Wady Beshiza, where they
passed the night. It had unfortunately rained in the mountains above,
and during the night the torrent suddenly swelled, and carried away
eight or ten families, who had encamped in its bed; about fifteen
persons perished. On the right bank, near the stream, lies the village
Beshiza, and at ten minutes from it to the S.E. the ruins of a small
temple bearing the name at present of Kenyset el Awamyd [Arabic], or the
church of the columns. The principal building is ten paces in length on
the inside, and eight paces in breadth. The S. and W. walls are
standing, but the E. has fallen down; the S. wall has been thrown out of
the perpendicular by an earthquake. The entrance is from the west, or
rather from the N.W. for the temple does not face the four cardinal
AMYOUN.
[p.176]points; the northern wall, instead of completing the quadrangle,
consists of two curves about twelve feet in depth, and both vaulted like
niches, as high as the roof, which has fallen in. In the S. wall are
several projecting bases for statues. The door and its soffit, which is
formed of a single stone, are ornamented with beautiful sculptures,
which are not inferior to those of Baalbec. Before the entrance was a
portico of four Ionic columns, of which three are standing; they are
about eighteen feet high, and of a single stone. Opposite to each of the
exterior columns of this portico is a pilaster in the wall of the
temple. There are also two other pilasters in the opposite or eastern
wall. Between the two middle columns of the portico is a gate six feet
high, formed of two posts, with a stone laid across them; this is
probably of modern date, as the exterior of the northern wall also
appears to be; instead of forming two semicircles, as within, it is
polygonal. Between the door and the pilaster, to the northward of it, is
a niche. The entablature of the portico is perfect. In the midst of the
building stands a large old oak tree, whose branches overshadow the
temple, and supply the place of the roof, rendering the ruin a highly
picturesque object. I saw no inscriptions.
Half an hour to the west of Beshiza lies the village of Deir Bashtar
[Arabic]. From the temple we turned N.-eastward, and at the end of half
an hour passed the village Amyoun [Arabic], the chief place in the
district of El Koura, and the residence of Assaf Ibn Asar, the governor
of that province; he is a Greek Christian, and a collector of the Miri,
which he pays into the hands of the Emir Beshir. Many Christian families
are governors of provinces and Sheikhs of villages in the mountains: in
collecting the
[p.177]Miri, and making the repartitions of the extraordinary demands
made by the Emir, they always gain considerable sums; but whenever a
Sheikh has filled his purse, he is sure to fall a victim to the avidity
of the chief governor.
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