T. E. Lawrence’s Undergraduate Dissertation – Page 164

Damascus road, and the springs of Jordan. The Franks first won it in 1129, and they held it for three years. During this time unquestionably they erected the large square keep, with pilasters at the angles, the only instance of such in Syria. The Arabs only held it one year, and then the Latins recovered it, and handed it over to the Hospitallers. The latter had thus twenty years of unbroken, though not undisturb- ed, occupancy. The plan makes it evident that the large round tower on the South East of the keep, and the gallery beside it, are later additions. The style in which these and the round towers next to it, going Westwards, are built is un- doubtedly Christian, and equally certainly European in origin. The Arabs never employed (the) round towers themselves, and there are other Christian features in the building that make a Mohammedan origin impossible. (1) It is worth noting also that the Hospitaller rebuilding has remained quite incomplete. The square keep and Byzantine-like forework and ditch are of one period homogeneously enough, and the four circular or semi- circular towers : the rest is Arab, and of comparatively late date. The rebuilding of the castle must have been proceeding when the Arabs recovered it, and this, if correct, would put -------------------------------------------------------- (1) The gate is what C. H. C. Pirie-Gordon has named the "Hospital" gate.