BSY_FB_29-34

34

Mellaḥ is a large modern village with two ancient
towers, both well preserved. In the S.W. angle of the
town are the ruins of a large ancient building
with an arched passage below it for the street.
The upper parts of the higher of the towers seem
to have been reconstructed, in Saracenic times,
on old foundations, there being a small pointed
arch on the north side in the 3rd story. The lower
tower is all of ancient building, belongs to Xtian
times, and was probably one of the many watch
towers which abounded in the towns of the Eastern
slope of the Djebel Haurân. Among the fragments
to be seen built into modern houses are, a richly
carved lintel, showing an acanthus scroll of Roman
period, egg and cart mouldings and mutilated [beast]
in the centre: captials of the Doric order of large size
and numerous mouldings. North of the town there
is a ruined tomb circular and rough on the exterior,
square and finished on the interior, in all aspects
like the Nabataean tomb towers of Sîʿ.