Oxford University Press. It is located on the edge of a series of volcanic basalt flows that slope down from the Jebel Druze, a mountain 50 km to the northeast. As one approaches, the stark skyline of somber stone at first gives the impression of a war-torn modern town. Only close up does it become apparent that this is not a modern war casualty, but a complex of fifteen hundred year old ruins. Inside, one is plunged into a scene of eerie beauty.
Walls run in every direction, at first glace without aparent plan or order.
Neatly stacked courses of stone protrude from a mad confusion of tumbled upper stories. The blue-gray of basalt everywhere give a somber and cool sense of shadow that belies the blaze of bright desert sun. Here and there pinnacles of wall extend their fingers of cantilevered corbels or stairs to create gravity defying silhouettes against the cloudless sky. Doorways and alleys lead from room to room, building to building. Large private houses predominate, but there are also fifteen churches from the sixth and seventh senturies, a Praetorium , a Barracks , gates and numerous reservoirs.