ENPages That Mention il-'Anz
Norris: Diary, January - May, 1905
BSY_FB_28-076
Ḥalbân 7:30 A.M. Temp. 44 Baro. L. 28.075
In Ḥalbân 10 G. Inscr. & 1 G. & Syriac : dates 534 & 543 A.D. Bilingual Inscr. not dated.
Left camp 9:31 going N. arrived 10:25 iṭ-Ṭûbā, a ruined village small like the rest uninhabited, but having an encampment of Beduins - some 20 tents of the tribe il-Bashâkim immediately to the N. On our way we were in sight of a herd of 7 or 8 gazelles for some 10 min. at a distance of 1/2 mile. Immediately to the N. - 5 mins. from iṭ-Ṭûbā is the end of a slight rise of ground, beyond which the country very gradually slopes so that a considerable view of the country to the N.NE. & N.W is obtained. Searching this country carefully with telescope and in company of the Beduin Shêkh who appeared to be an intelligent man revealed no ruins of villages, except a small Kubab town 1/2 mile to N. The Shêkh informed me that there were a few modern villages concealed behind small rolls of ground. The country appears to be under cultivation to some extent. Village 1/2 mile to N. is Burdj iṣ-Ṣaḳa. At iṭ-Ṭûbā 4 G. Ins. 572 & 582 AD.
Left. 2:10 going E. arrived Abu il-Ḳudûr, 2:47 some kind of town with a knoll to S. with a small covered cistern on top. Took sights from knoll - Town uninhabited. 1G. Ins 574 AD. 1 Syriac Ins. 551 AD ?
Left 3:29 going S. arrived il-'Anz 3:57 - some kind of town inhabited by peasants Moslems. 2 G. Ins. one dated 541 A.D.
Left 4:23 arrived camp 4:55
pace all day approx 2 1/4 to 2 1/2 miles per hour
Butler: Umm idj-Djimal, Nawa, it-Tuba, Wasr ibn-Wardan, 1904-1905
BSY_FB_B-UmmIdjDjimalp083
83 [Notes] (15, Ill 21, Photo)
il-'Anz is a small inhabited village on the west slope of a ridge on the northeast of Ḥalbân. The site does not indicate that the tower was a large one in ancient times and it may have been nothing more than a group of private residences.
House 542 A.D. (Insc. 894) One of these is sufficiently preserved to show that it was a house of considerable size; the main portal of its vestibule, the outer wall of the north side of the house and foundations of outer walls are in situ, and are enough to show that this house was of the plan of the larger houses at iṭ-Ṭûbā and was built about a court. Some of the inhabited portions of the present house were undoubtedly built upon old foundations. There are some good late Doric capitals within the court and other fragments. This house was built in the fifth century and is, therefore, one of the earlier buildings of the il-'Alā. The date is plainly written on the great lintel of the main portal, and reads 542 A.D. The jambs of the portal are quite plain.
