Although the actual remains of colonnaded streets in Bosra are scant and scattered, and are not to be compared, for interest and perfection, with those of Palmyra or Gerasa, or even of Philadelphia, a thorough examination of the ruins reveals the fact that they were somewhat more extensive in this capital of the Province of Arabia than in any of the cities above mentioned. The colonnades of these three cities, and those of several other cities of the Decapolis, seem to have been confined, for the most part, to the two long streets, or avenues, which bisected the towns in opposite directions, like the Via Principalis and the Via Praetoria of a Roman camp, or, as in most cases, to the single main street which ran through the longitudinal axis of the city. The colonnades of Bosra, on the other hand, so far as we have been able to discover from the remains, were not so long as the famous ones of Palmyra, and were not even carried all the way through the city from wall to wall; but were employed to embellish a greater number of parallel streets and cross streets in the central part of the town.

On entering the principal West Gate of the city one finds remains of the colon­nades of what was the longest of the main avenues, extending: in a direct line, a little to the south of east, through groups of important buildings, to the East Arch which is not one of the city gates corresponding to the West Gate, but a free standing monu­ment placed over the street at a point not more than three quarters of the distance from the West Gate to the east wall of the city, and marking, most probably, the entrance to the peribolos of a great temple which stood in the highest-part of the city, well within the east wall. Fragments of columns are to be seen all along the route of this street; but no remnants of colonnades that are definitely in place are encountered- until the centre of the city is reached. Here, about 40 m. to the west­ward of the Central Arch (see Map of Bosra), on the north side of the street, are four columns, without capitals, built into a modern house the court-yard of which, over a metre below the present surface of the soil about it, has for pavement the ancient squared paving blocks of the Roman street. Directly opposite, on the south side of the street which was a little over 8 metres wide, are the bases of two columns still in situ. These are in a direct line with an engaged column attached to the west end of the Central Arch. The bases of four columns of the colonnade are to be seen directly west of this arch which was set on the line of the colonnade on the south side of the street. The northern side of this colonnade appears again in drums of columns on level beds, evenly spaced and quite certainly in situ, which emerge from a dung hill directly west of the tetrastyle building marked Nymphaeum on the map, and a bracket on the west face of the westernmost of the four great columns of that building indicates where the street colonnade was joined to the columns of the larger order. At this point a break occurred in the north colonnade to give space for two large buildings - the Nymphaeum and the Kalybe - and for the passage of another colonnaded street which leads to the north , between the two buildings .

III. 204. Bosra: Southeast Reservoir, View from the South East.
 

That The colonnades were continued farther to the east is proved by a bracket attached to the east wall of the Kalybe, and by the presence of three broken columns, now incorporated with a house, on the north side of the street a little farther on. The present narrow streets of the village of Bosra do not coincide with the line of the ancient streets, the paving of which is to be found in the basements or cellars of several modern houses that were erected between the two rows of columns which flanked the street. No signs of this chief east-and-west avenue were discovered east of the East Arch.
A second east-and-west colonnade is to be traced in several groups of columns on a line between the Djami' Fâtmeh and the Djami il-Khidr. All these groups belong to the north side of the street: first a pair and then a group of four columns without capitals standing at a distance of 5 metres from a wall composed of shop fronts which stood just west of the juncture of this street with one running north and south: In the same line, about 50 metres to the east, are two more pairs of columns built into modern walls ; of the first pair, one column still preserves its capital, the shaft of the other is complete. The other pair are headless, and stand, 5.70 metres apart on centres, farther toward the east.
A third east-and-west colonnaded street is represented by two groups of columns, two and three, on opposite sides of a street 8.50 m. wide on centres, 100 metres to the west of the line of the north wall of the Djami' il-cOmari.
The principal north-and-south colonnaded street led from the main North Gate southward, crossing two of the east-and-west colonnaded streets at right angles, and meeting the main east-and-west street at uneven angles masked by the presence of two large buildings mentioned above, at the corners. The remains of colonnades along the line of this street consist of two columns standing at about half their original height, 8.80 m. apart on centres, on opposite sides of the street, a short distance within the North Gate, and a row of stumps, five in all, which are in place in front of a line of shop-fronts just south of the juncture of the street with the second east-and-west street, upon which, not far away, was the other row of shops. Near these columns are well preserved sections of street pavement. serving as a paving for the court-yards of modern houses now well below the surrounding levels. The row of columns on the west side of this street extended southward along the east wall of the Market, and 5 m. from it, to the Nymphaeum which, as we have seen, stands at the meeting place of these two principal streets.
The other north-and-south street with colonnades is marked by a row of six columns to the northwest of the Djami' il-Khidr, spaced in two groups, one of four and one of two columns, on a direct line between the ancient spring and the principal east-and-west street: two of these columns are perfectly preserved with a block of architrave connecting them (111. 205), two others have their bases exposed above a piece of ancient pavement. This row belonged to the colonnade on the west side of the street, and stood in front of a wall with doorways and windows in it which is the front wall of a row of buildings (111. 206) which appear to have been houses rather than shops. The width of the walk between the columns and the wall is again 5.50 m., as in the case of the shop-front on the second east-and-west street. Several column bases in a row 7.90 m. to the east of the standing columns show that the street was in all respects like the others.
It is probable, from the existence of engaged columns shown on the south side colonnades were continued farther to the east is proved by a bracket attached to the east wall of the Kalybe, and by the presence of three broken columns, now incorporated with a house, on the north side of the street a little farther on. The present narrow streets of the village of Bosra do not coincide with the line of the ancient streets, the paving of which is to be found in the basements or cellars of several modern houses that were erected between the two rows of columns which flanked the street. No signs of this chief east-and-west avenue were discovered east of the East Arch.
A second east-and-west colonnade is to be traced in several groups of columns on a line between the Djami' Fâtmeh and the Djami il-Khidr. All these groups belong to the north side of the street: first a pair and then a group of four columns without capitals standing at a distance of 5 metres from a wall composed of shop fronts which stood just west of the juncture of this street with one running north and south: In the same line, about 50 metres to the east, are two more pairs of columns built into modern walls ; of the first pair, one column still preserves its capital, the shaft of the other is complete. The other pair are headless, and stand, 5.70 metres apart on centres, farther toward the east.
A third east-and-west colonnaded street is represented by two groups of columns, two and three, on opposite sides of a street 8.50 m. wide on centres, 100 metres to the west of the line of the north wall of the Djami' il-cOmari.
The principal north-and-south colonnaded street led from the main North Gate southward, crossing two of the east-and-west colonnaded streets at right angles, and meeting the main east-and-west street at uneven angles masked by the presence of two large buildings mentioned above, at the corners. The remains of colonnades along the line of this street consist of two columns standing at about half their original height, 8.80 m. apart on centres, on opposite sides of the street, a short distance within the North Gate, and a row of stumps, five in all, which are in place in front of a line of shop-fronts just south of the juncture of the street with the second east-and-west street, upon which, not far away, was the other row of shops. Near these columns are well preserved sections of street pavement. serving as a paving for the court-yards of modern houses now well below the surrounding levels. The row of columns on the west side of this street extended southward along the east wall of the Market, and 5 m. from it, to the Nymphaeum which, as we have seen, stands at the meeting place of these two principal streets.
The other north-and-south street with colonnades is marked by a row of six columns to the northwest of the Djami' il-Khidr, spaced in two groups, one of four and one of two columns, on a direct line between the ancient spring and the principal east-and-west street: two of these columns are perfectly preserved with a block of architrave connecting them (111. 205), two others have their bases exposed above a piece of ancient pavement. This row belonged to the colonnade on the west side of the street, and stood in front of a wall with doorways and windows in it which is the front wall of a row of buildings (111. 206) which appear to have been houses rather than shops. The width of the walk between the columns and the wall is again 5.50 m., as in the case of the shop-front on the second east-and-west street. Several column bases in a row 7.90 m. to the east of the standing columns show that the street was in all respects like the others.
It is probable, from the existence of engaged columns shown on the south side of the Central Arch in old pictures of that building, that a short colonnaded street extended from the arch to the west end of the Theatre. It will be noted, by reference to the map, that the two north-and-south streets are very nearly parallel to each other,

 It is very fortunate that any of these columns escaped the despoilers of the colonnades, and I believe that not one of them would have been preserved in its original place if the small number cited above had not been incorporated, as they stood, in the rough walls of buildings constructed before the wholesale plundering of the colonnades had begun.
The few measurements already given would seem to show a very general uniform­ity of plan in these colonnades. The two rows of columns of the main avenues stood 8.80 m. apart on centres, giving a street 20 Roman cubits wide. The covered side walks between the columns and the front walls of buildings were 5.50 m. wide on centres, leaving a free space of 10 cubits width for the passage. It is particularly interesting that we have found here the actual front walls of buildings which lined the colonnades still in place. This feature, which is wholly lacking in the other, and better preserved, colonnaded streets of ancient Syrian cities, could be made an important and beautiful historical monument if one might be permitted to tear down and remove a number of poorly constructed houses which occupy the side-walk space at several points along the ancient street, utilizing the shop fronts, or house fronts, for one wall, and filling up the spaces between the columns for another, and making the ancient pave­ment serve for a floor. There may be other and better examples of these buildings, which are the forerunners of later Oriental bazaars and of the arcades of modern European cities, in houses in Bosra which I did not enter, but the best that I saw is represented by that long wall of shop-fronts with columns in front of it (111. 207) which s shown on the map just west of the juncture of the main north-and-south avenue with the second east-and-west street, and now lies hidden in a maze of poor modern constructions.

 bdeep cornice, and low relieving arch (111. 208). Beyond this doorway is a row of doorways, almost equally spaced, with moulded jambs and lintels, like the large doorway, but having, in place of the frieze, cornice and relieving arch, an overlintel of two pieces and a key-stone, like a flat arch. Enough of the upper storey of this wall is preserved to show that there was a large window above each doorway, and brackets above the lintel line of the windows to receive the ends of the cross beams of the roof of the colonnade. The columns with their enta­blature rose to the level of the ceiling of the upper storey so that the doorways of the lower storey and the windows of the upper storey were alike protected by the roof over the side-walk. It is probable that the wall was somewhat higher than the cornice of the colonnade to receive the slanting rafters of the colonnade, and I have shown in 111. 207 a parapet at the top of the walls, which would be required to weight the stone slabs of the roof of the shops themselves; for it is most probable that both the lower and the upper storeys of the shops were provided with stone ceilings carried on girder arches according to the system usually practiced in Southern Syria. Another colonnade which preserves both wall and columns intact is situated in a part of the town more remote from the centre, northwest of the Djamic il-Khidr. Here all the details are in a more perfect state of preservation; but the building is less monumental and on a slightly smaller scale (111. 209). Several columns are standing, two having an architrave above them. The pavement of the street and of the side-walk is visible at a number of points, and the building behind the colonnade preserves not only its front wall, but its rear and partition walls, as I have shown on the plan (111. 206). The upper storey however has been partly rebuilt in comparatively recent times, and a wall of crude workmanship has been erected between some of the columns extending up to their full height, so that the photograph given herewith (111. 209) is far less illuminating than it might be. It shows, at the extreme right, a column standing to about two thirds of its original height; then two columns carrying an architrave, and, beyond this, the late wall referred to above which, having been built in the line of the colonnade, conceals the rest of the standing columns which have been incorporated with it. The middle of the picture shows two storeys of a partition wall, the lower having a large arch in it, the upper a doorway that has been, filled up with stones. At the extreme left is the rear wall of the house. The plan, already given in 111. 206, shows the same general arrangement as that of the colonnade of the shops (111. 207): but illustrates more fully the form and size of the chambers which open upon the colonnade. Some of the chambers are connected with each other by means of arches, many of them have windows, as well as doorways, in the lower storey, and the fronts, though built of highly finished stone work, are without ornament. These buildings appear to have been residences, and, if this be true, it is interesting to find that certain residential streets in Bosra were provided with colonnades as well as the streets which were of a more public character.