Qanawāt: an ancient lintel

 

The lintel is located at a court's entrance. 

The ancient Kanatha of the Roman period flourished from the second to the 5th century C.E. It was a member of the Decapolis (the Ten Cities) and later the seat of a bishopric. Qanawāt (القنوات the Canals) today is the site of numerous ancient monuments set in picturesque surroundings. As in the photo, one finds bits and pieces of ancient architecture and decoration in reuse. 

We know that few cities in the Ḥauran minted coins. We can only cite with certainty Adraa (Darʿa درعا), Bostra (Buṣra بصرى), Philippopolis (Šahba شهبا), and Canata or Canatha. It seems completely improbable to us that two cities, Kanata and Kanatha, were important enough in Roman times to merit such a privilege. The coins, which are quite rare, seem to indicate that Kanata is the ancient form and Kanatha a more recent one, which is consistent with the phonetic evolution already evident before our era in the manuscripts of Josephus.

Jacques Ghislain de Maussion de Favières. Damascus, Baghdad: Capitals and lands of the caliphs. Translation to English by Edward J. Banks. Librairie orientale (Dar el-Mashreq), Beirut, Lebanon. 1972.) 

René Dussaud. Topographie historique de la Syrie antique et médiévale. Paris, Librarie Orientaliste Paul Geuthner, 1927