Princeton Expeditions to Syria (1899, 1904-1905, 1909)

25

Beḥyō October 28, 1899

An extensive ruin half an hour south of Ḳalb Lauze, situated on one of the highest eminences of the Jebel-el-A'la, conspiuous from every point of vantage.

The ruins consist of a large, well preserved basilica and another public building in complete ruins besides an extensive group of private buildings in varying conditions of ruin.

The former building was measured by de Vogüé and is fully illustrated in his "La Syrie Centrale" and needs no further discussion from the architectural standpoint but I am not sure that De V. correctly derived its purpose.

It was called by him the church of Beḥyō. It is correctly oriented and it is true its groundplan consisted of three aisles divided by two rows of debased classic col's It bears many ecclesiastical symbols on

29

Kefr Kîla October 28, 1899

Half an hour south of Beḥyō, a ruined town with a small fragment of a church built over in Saracenic times into an extensive castle.

Almost nothing remains of the ancient town, a few mutilated lintels and the north portal of the church are the only points of interest.

The site is now occupied by a small and squalid Mohammedan village.

To the east of the town are the extensive remains of rock cut tombs with arcosolia above excavated sarcophagi and a number of large roughly hewn free standing sarcophagi.

Among the ruins a number of Arabic inscriptions were found. These were of no great age but a squeeze was taken of one built into a modern house wall.