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NAOUS.
traveller’s attention. The smaller one is very much like the temple
of Hossn el Forsul, near Zahle, which I had seen on my way to
Baalbec; it is an oblong building of about the same size; and is built
with large square stones. The entrance is to the east. The door
remains, together with the southern wall and a part of the northern.
The west wall and the roof are fallen. In the south wall are two
niches. Before the entrance was a portico of four columns, with a
flight of steps leading up to it. The bases of the columns and
fragments of the shafts, which are three feet in diameter, still remain. ¬
At about forty paces from the temple is a gate, corresponding ¬
to the door of the temple; a broad staircase leads up from it to
the temple. The two door-posts of this outer gate are still standing, ¬
each formed of a single stone about thirteen feet high, rudely
adorned with sculpture. At about one hundred and fifty yards
from this building is the other, of much larger dimensions ; it stands
in an area of fifty paces in breadth, and sixty in length, surrounded
by a wall, of which the foundation, and some other parts, still remain. -
The entrance to this area is through a beautiful gate, still
entire ; it is fourteen feet high and ten feet wide, the two posts, and
the soffit are each formed of a single stone ; the posts are elegantly
sculptured. At the west end of this area, and elevated four or five
feet above its level, stood the temple, opposite to the great gate ; it
presents nothing now but a beap of ruins, among which it is
impossible to trace the original distribution of the building. The
ground is covered with columns, capitals, and friezes ; I saw a
fragment of a column, consisting of one piece
of stone nine feet in length, and three feet
and a half in diameter. The columns are Corinthian, -
but not of the best workmanship.
Near the S. W.angle of the temple are the foundations ¬
of a small insulated building.
