BSY_FB_12_031

Dêr Berain & idj Ojadj

Djrên April 16, 1909

This is an imposing ruin when seen from
a distance. It is set on high ground, and two
towers stand out as landmarks. The place is inhabited
by a few families of Druses. Some time after
Waddington's visit, presumably at the time of the
Druse settlement of the adjoining ruin now called Lubên,
the names of the two sites were exchanged, ancient
Aegriun, called by the Arabs idj-Djrên, became
Lubên and the Arabic Lubên became idj-Djrên.

The present ruin consists of a crudely built but
strong tower of two high stories set on an eminence
with a Nabataean inscription in large letters carved
in a lintel of rough porous basalt over a large window
in the upper story: of a number of ruined houses
of the Christian period, and a large ancient house
still partly preserved and inhabited. The entrance
to this house is a long passage beneath a tower
of three stories. To the right as one enters is a row of
large rooms of the original construction, one of which

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