Identifier: syriaholylandthe00kell (find matches)
Title: Syria and the Holy Land : their scenery and their people : incidents of travel, &c. from the best and most recent authorities
Year: 1844 (1840s)
Authors: Kelly, Walter Keating
Subjects:
Publisher: London : Chapman and Hall
Contributing Library: Harold B. Lee Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Brigham Young University

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, nothing that equals it. 262 SYRIA AND THE HOLY LAND. pillars, of which nine on the north and four on the south are standing; thewest end by eight, of which the three most southerly are perfect, the nextfour broken, and the last towards the north are prostrate. There is also onthe south side part of the shaft of a fifth leaning against the side of thetemple, and which in falling beat in one of the stones and broke in two, andyet so strongly were the pieces composing it held together by the iron rivetin the centre, that they remained unaffected by the concussion, and thefracture took effect on the solid stone of the shaft. The frieze, cornice, &c, are most beautiful. The soffit of the peristyle isconcave, and the lacunari or panels are sculptured in imitation of net-work,a series of large busts and mythological designs running down the centre,each in the middle of a large diamond, and smaller busts occupying theangles formed by the interlacing compartments — a most intricate and
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Grand Gateway of the Temple of the Sun at Baalbec. indescribable design, but very beautiful. Some of these blocks lie unbrokenon the ground; they measure sixteen feet square, and are nearly five feetthick On one of them, says Maundrell, there was a Ganymede, and BAALBEC. 263 the eagle flying away with him, so lively done, that it excellently repre-sented the sense of that verse in Martial— Illaesum timidis unguibus hsesit onus. Of the portico, four columns only remain perfect—those at the south-eastangle. It consisted of two rows of columns, all fluted, except the last twoon either side belonging to the peristyle. The frieze and cornice abovethese four columns are most beautiful; a battlemented tower has been builtover them by the Saracens, who have also most barbarously raised a hugewall directly in front of the great gate of the temple (8). Creeping over heapsof ruins through a low gateway, we find ourselves before this matchlessportal; every ornament that could be introduced in

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