Letter S
341. Ṣāriḥ, as- | الصريح
Irbid Governorate
Maqām Welī al-‘Anekī / ‘Alī al-Deqqer
JADIS no. 232 1019
MEGA no. 6727
Coordinates: 32°30'17.0"N 35°53'47.0"E
32.504722, 35.896389
Plan: rectangular, oriented E-W, with entrance in the E; miḥrāb in S wall, on roof top pseudo-dome.
Measurements: 27.2 m2
Exterior: 8.90 x 6.65 m. Width of door 0.85 m.
Interior: ca. 6.40 x .4.25 m.
Building Materials: light brown limestone; ashlars partly well dressed and of considerable sizes, most of them of ancient pre-Islamic origin.
Construction details: massive ashlar masonry up to 12 horizontal courses with use of thick packages of Roman opus caementitium. In the upper sectors of the walls lime mortar of Islamic until recent times. The dome is a pseudo-construction of concrete set upon the flat roof of the barrel vaulted chamber.
Preservation: intact, variously restored but not accessible due to a permanently locked iron door.
Inscription(s): none known.
Date: In origin the building was one of the Roman mausolea with barrel vaulted interior ceiling. This type is widespread in N Jordan (see Hariri 2020). The blocks of the exterior N and S walls were quarried in later times; in the exposed core of the N wall, compact patches of Roman opus caemetitium. In Byzantine times the tomb probably served as a small single-nave chapel (such as the maqām al-Khidr in Kerak, see here no. 194). In Islamic times a miḥrāb was inserted into the S wall. The building, in its preserved state, shows numerous repairs that were carried out until recent times.
Traveler Reports: “Im Nordteil des Dorfes liegt ein einfaches muslimisches Grabmal mit weißgetünchter Kuppel, das welī al-‘anekī” (Steuernagel 1927).
Bibliography: Steuernagel 1927, 438.
