ficial received 470 piasters ($21.15) per month, from which he had to feed himself, his family residing at Maʻân, and the horse which carried him on his tours of inspection of the telegraph poles. It was no wonder that he complained of suffering from hunger. All food supplies for al-Ḳwêra had to be conveyed from Maʻân or al-ʻAḳaba, and they were dear. The official was assisted by three telegraph inspectors, who patrolled the line from Ab-al-Lesel on the northeast
Fig. 21—In the Roman camp, al-Ḳwêra. to the end of Wâdi al-Jitm on the southwest. An ombâši (corporal, non-commissioned officer) and six men of the regular army guarded the stations and telegraph lines. Every day they brought water on an ass from the spring of al-Ašhab, which flows out about six kilometers to the west at the foot of the granite mountain of al-Ḥeǧfe. About one hundred meters south of the station there rises a low, red, sandy hill, bearing the remains of an old wall. More extensive ruins, perhaps those of a watchtower, are noticeable upon a tableshaped hill northeast of the stronghold. This small tableshaped hill, which is called ḳwêra (diminutive of ḳâra, isolated table-shaped hill), gave the ruins of the stronghold their name.[1]
- ↑ The Roman highroad is clearly distinguishable near the station of al-Ḳwêra. The part of it which leads from Syria east of the Dead Sea to the harbor of Aila is defined as far as the station of Zadagatta (aṣ-Ṣadaḳa). From Zadagatta to al-Ḥomejma only the general direction can be determined. From al-Ḥomejma to the lower end of the deep Wâdi al-Jitm numerous mileposts have been preserved from the time of the Emperors Constantine and Constans, which establish the fact that the Roman military road was constructed through this wâdi and did not branch off through any šeʻîb winding down to the rift valley of al-ʻAraba between al-Jitm and Zadagatta. The Tabula Peutingeriana (Vienna, 1888), sheet 10, shows a single highroad running from the harbor of Haila (Aila) to the north, which, at the mark indicating the station of Ad Dianam, divides into two branches: a western one proceeding toward Palestine and an eastern one to Zadagatta. It is questionable whether the Tabula Peutingeriana has accurately represented this division. The red line denoting a new branch road on this map frequently either joins the main road too far to one side or the other of the actual junction, and is thus assigned to the wrong station, or else forms a crossroad where there is none. It is possible that, in this case also, the red line of the Syrian road was placed too high and the station of Ad Dianam was thus turned into a junction point. In this respect it is very striking that Aila, where the tenth Legio Fretensis encamped, has no special symbol, while the entirely unknown station of Ad Dianam bears the symbol of a temple, although it is only the chief cities that are supplied with symbols on other parts
