T. E. Lawrence’s Undergraduate Dissertation – Page 108

in the cliff face over what in winter is an impassable torrent. From the bridge the way into the castle leads through a rock moat isolating the end of the promontory, and along the further side of the ridge, to a gate nearly midway in the Southern face of the fortress (Plan. 32 and 33) It is unfortunate that the section of this gate in Rey is entirely misleading. There is no portcullis, and no machicoulis above, but the doorway is sunk a few inches within the face of the wall, and this depression carried up to a height of some 30 feet, in a shallow blind arch. The plan of the castle given by him, and repeated here (Plan. 29) with the more obvious corrections, is also apparently hurried : the ... is of such colossal size, and so deeply set in inhospitable hills that a complete examination of it is a matter of some exertion and discomfort. Rey's sketch of the great rock moat minimises its very strik- ing proportions ; and his description is vague and inadequate. The Byzantine work, which includes all but the great square keep marked E (Plan. 29) is in plan just like any ordinary Byzantine work, though of very exceptional quality. The moat in particular is in places over a hundred feet in width, and the pinnacle to support the bridge stands 110 feet high with its gap of masonry. The whole moat is very beautifully carved out of the rock, and its sides have generally been finished to a comparatively smooth surface. It separated the castle from the broader part of the ridge, the part that runs up into the Jebel Daryous.