[p.226]April 27th.--I now thought that I might visit Boszra, which I had
found it prudent to avoid in my former tour. Shybely gave me one of his
men as a guide, and we followed the road which I have already described,
as far as Shmerrin. At a quarter of an hour beyond Shmerrin, we passed
the Wady Rakeik [Arabic].
Boszra [Arabic], is situated in the open plain, two hours distant from
Aaere and is at present the last inhabited place in the south-east
extremity of the Haouran; it was formerly the capital of Arabia
Provincia, and is now, including its ruins, the largest town in the
Haouran. It is of an oval shape, its greatest length being from E. to
W.; its circumference is three quarters of an hour. It was anciently
enclosed by a thick wall, which gave it the reputation of a place of
great strength. Many parts of this wall, especially on the W. side,
still remain; it was constructed with stones of a moderate size,
strongly cemented together. The principal buildings in Boszra were on
the E. side, and in a direction from thence towards the middle of the
town. The S. and S.E. quarters are covered with ruins of private
dwellings, the walls of many of which are still standing, but most of
the roofs have fallen in. The style of building seems to have been
similar to that observed in all the other ancient towns of the Haouran.
On the W. side are springs of fresh water, of which I counted five
beyond the precincts of the town, and six within the walls; their waters
unite with a rivulet whose source is on the N.W. side, within the town,
and which loses itself in the southern plain at several hours distance:
it is called by the Arabs El Djeheir [Arabic].
The Nahr el Ghazel, which in most maps, and even by D'Anville, is laid
down in the immediate vicinity of Boszra, is unknown to the natives; but
I was afterwards informed that there is a Wady Ghazel in the direction
of Amman (Philadelphia), in the Djebel Belka, which descends from the
mountain,
[p.227]and flows into the eastern plains, to the S. of Kalaat el Belka.
The principal ruins of Boszra are the following: a square building,
which within is circular, and has many arches and niches in the wall: on
either side of the door within are two larger niches, and opposite to
the door on the east side of the circle is the sanctuary, formed of low
arches supported by Corinthian pillars, without pedestals. Several
beautiful sculptured friezes are inserted in the wall, but I was unable
to discover from whence they had been taken; in front of the door stand
four columns. The diameter of the rotunda is four paces; its roof has
fallen in, but the walls are entire, without any ornaments. It appears
to have been a Greek church. Over the gate is a long inscription, but it
was illegible to my sight.
At a short distance to the west of this edifice is an oblong square
building, called by the natives Deir Boheiry [Arabic], or the Monastery
of the priest Boheiry. On the top of the walls is a row of windows; on
the north side is a high vaulted niche; the roof has fallen in; I
observed no ornaments about it. On the side of its low gate is the
following inscription in bad characters:
AEL AVREL THEONI LEG AVGG PR PR COS DESIG OPTIONES [xx] LEG III
KVRENAICAE VENERIANAE GALLIANAE RARISI--MO ET PER OMNIA IUSTISSIMO SOCIO
Between these two buildings stands the gate of an ancient house,
communicating with the ruins of an edifice, the only remains of which is
a large semi-circular vault, with neat decorations and four small niches
in its interior; before it lie a heap of stones and broken columns. Over
the gate of the house is the following inscription:
[p.228] [Greek].
The natives have given to this house the name of Dar Boheiry, or the
house of Boheiry. This Boheiry is a personage well known to the
biographers of Mohammed, and many strange stories are related of him, by
the Mohammedans, in honour of their Prophet, or by the eastern
Christians, in derision of the Impostor. He is said to have been a rich
Greek priest, settled at Boszra, and to have predicted the prophetic
vocation of Mohammed, whom he saw when a boy passing with a caravan from
Mekka to Damascus. Abou el Feradj, one of the earliest Arabic
historians, relates this anecdote. According to the traditions of the
Christians, he was a confidential counsellor of Mohammed, in the
compilation of the Koran.
To the west of the abovementioned buildings stands the great mosque of
Boszra, which is certainly coeval with the first aera of Mohammedanism,
and is commonly ascribed to Omar el Khattab [Arabic]. Part of its roof
has fallen in. On two sides of the square building runs a double row of
columns, transported hither from the ruins of some Christian temple in
the town. Those which are formed of the common Haouran stone are badly
wrought in the coarse heavy style of the lower empire; but among them
are sixteen fine variegated marble columns, distinguished both by the
beauty of the material, and of the execution: fourteen are Corinthian,
and two Ionic; they are each about sixteen or eighteen feet in height,
of a single block, and well polished. Upon two of them standing opposite
to each other are the two following inscriptions: