BSY_FB_17-20

20

other points further north in the plain.

All of these details are executed in a coarse
variety of basalt while the classic
fragments are in marble or granite.

The prevailing method of decoration in all
these later details is the grapevine treated
in more or less conventional style and
in varying degrees of crudeness.

The cross within a circle in the centre of
a lintel is a common symbol, either with
or without the A and W. The vine ^ is ^ usually
represented as flowing out of a vase; it
is often carried up the jamb posts
from a vase at the base.

A large number of Greek inscriptions were
found dating between 580 A.D. - 610 A.D.
Besides the inscriptions in Greek several
interesting Cufic [sic-Kūfic] inscriptions were found
built into modern walls and one apparently
in situ over the lintel of a ruined mosque
built in poor Saracenic style, but as
the date reads about 1100 it is impossible to believe
that the building and the insc are coeval.
(E.L. insc B.3.)