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BSY_FB_17-46a
[46a]
Arches of the Aqueduct in S.E. angle of Town
Scale .50cm = 1m
In the S.E. angle of the town - at some distance from the bath are three well preserved arches of the aqueduct. The measurements here are quite irregular. One of the arches is higher than the others and the central pier is very wide and the thickness of its construction is relieved by an arched passage which runs through it at right angles to the axis of the aqueduct.
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47
The exterior and interior of the walls are similarly faced but the latter show holes for the clamps which held in place a revetment of rich marble, pieces of which 2cm thick are to be found in the debris. The interior surface also shows deep perpendicular grooves for water conduits and on one of the larger chambers are two niches.
The vaulted ceilings were plastered and ornamented with plaster mouldings in geometrical patterns and then painted - a few remnants of painted decoration are still to be seen in two of the compartments.
The floors were no doubtless paved with tessellated marble or mosaics for the Arab Emporer seems to have spared nothing to make his baths worthy rivals of the great baths of Imperial Rome.
The construction indeed here is far superior to that of the great buildings of Caracalla. This the extent is naturally on a smaller scale.
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Large temple
The monumental centre of the city - focused about il Mâḳa'id was filled with fine buildings many of which exist only in heaps of ruins - Here we still find two temples, the theatre and a great structure of exedra form now called the Serâya - the larger temple has been almost completely demolished, fine columns of the great hexastyle portico, which could not be made to serve for modern building, mark the site. These faced directly upon the nothern side of the E. & W. avenue. The walls have completely disappeared but for a mass of masonry at the rear - showing a single niche on the interior and the lines of an hexagonal wall at the north. The plan of the building, as it can now be traced, seems to have been nearly a square - The columns of the pronaos are elevated upon a pedestal. They are of Roman corinthian order without [chamferings] - the capitals - in two pieces - are well executed in the black basalt. The missing capital is found in a modern structure in the western part of the town.
