T. E. Lawrence’s Undergraduate Dissertation – Page 136

though the vault is managed entirely without pillars. The outer buildings.are of Latin construction, and perhaps con- temporary. These are the more important keeps yet standing in Syria. The remains of those at Botron (Batrun or بترون) and Caesarea are sufficient only to show that there had been a square keep there : the keep at Beaufort (Kalaat esh Shukif قلعة الشقيف) is of small size, and much damaged, and that at Banias (بانياس) (44) in the great castle of Subeibeh (صبيبة) on the hill above the springs of the Jordan has also suffered considerably. It had walls some eighteen feet thick, and its dimensions are reason- ably large (90 feet long by 85 feet broad). The opportunities of the various Latin occupations of the place point to its being very early indeed in date. It will be evident from this summary sketch of the early Latin fortresses in Syria that the feudal nobility,who first were faced with the need for castle-building, allowed no in- terference with their plans of Greek architects. The shape- less, defenceless Norman keeps went up all over the country, with hardly an attempt at improvement. The parapets of keeps are sometimes a little elaborated, though at Safita the old simple fashion of Europe is maintained unaltered, and this is the largest, and on the whole the finest keep in Syria. One cannot as a rule say what the outworks of these keeps were like. It was not possible in the hills of central Syria