70
SHOHBA.
On  the  first,
Topei
...TeZOX(..
CIIAPXOT  CCOTOTaUis
PON  HIIOAIC
AIAIOTAIOT  MAX
XoU  BOYAEUTOU
On  the  second,
rez.....ATOT
CIIAeXOT  MeCOIIO
TAMAC  TION  KACCI
OC  TCIMOOeOC  AII
O.  QIICTCitOPTO
NAQPONAX
To  the  west  of  the  five  Corinthian  columns  stands  a  small  building, ¬
  which  has  been  converted  into  a  mosque  ;  it  contains  two
columns  about  ten  inches  in  diameter,  and  eight  feet  in  height,
of  the  same  kind  of  fine  grained  gray  granite,  of  which  I  had  seen
several  columns  at  Banias  in  the  Syrian  mountains.
To  the  south  of  the  crescent  formed  building,  and  its  adjoining
edifice,  stands  the  principal  curiosity  of  Shohba,  a  theatre,  in  good
preservation.  It  is  built  on  a  sloping  site,  and  the  semicircle  is
enclosed  by  a  wall  nearly  ten  feet  in  thickness,  in  which  are  nine
vaulted  entrances  into  the  interior.  Between  the  wall  and  the
seats  runs  a  double  row  of  vaulted  chambers  one  over  the  other.
Of  these  the  upper  chambers  are  boxes,  opening  towards  the  seats,
and  communicating  behind  with  a  passage  which  separates  them
from  the  outer  wall.  The  lower  chambers  open  into  each  other,
those  at  the  extremities  of  the  semi-circle  excepted,  which  have
openings  towards  the  area  of  the  theatre.  The  entrance  into  the
area  is  by  three  gates,  one  larger,  with  a  smaller  on  either  side;