BSY_FB_16-90

90

Ḳaṣr Zebed

Leaving the Djebel Ḥâṣṣ we crossed the
plain to the east passing over an area of
the salt lake, to the Djebel Shbêt, a small
group of hills isolated in the desert.

The center of civilization in this Djebel
was Ḳaṣr Zebed a large town situated in a
valley well to the east opening out upon
the plain and extending well back among
the hills to the fountain of Djebel Zebed.

In this ruin we have examples of the
highest development of ^Christian^ building in black
stone. The same general method is
employed here ^as in Dj. Ḥâṣṣ^ but the execution is much
better and has proved more enduring.

There are considerable remains of three large
buildings two of which are churches and the third
probably a civil basilica, all these in the town
itself. In the hills above the town are two well
preserved monumental tombs. Of the houses
and other buildings naught remains but walls
almost completely buried in the sandy soil.