The curtain between Tower 11 and Tower 12 is in poor shape; its parapet and upper portion are gone, and the facing has fallen from about half its height upwards; a mass of rubble obscures its foot, and such of the facing as remains visible is very poor indeed.
The curtain ends in a short crooked section A so ruined as to leave little evidence of why it was so built, abutting on the big square Tower 12.
Externally, this tower presents a curious appearance; for about 1.5 meters of its height, it is of the same crude rusticated masonry as Tower 11; in this section appear parts of three arrowslits; that on the east flank has closed up under violent cracking of the structure. The positions of these slits (1) do not correspond with any of the plans of al-ʿĀdil's towers, and it probably is safe to ascribe the base of Tower 12 to Nawrūz al-Ḥāfiẓī.
Above this base rises a solid, blank surface of the same indifferent ashlar as that which appears on Towers 8 and 9. Clearly this tower, already rebuilt by Nawrūz, was shattered by the guns of Muḥammad Bey abu aḏ-Ḏahab; its manner of rebuilding was quite unenterprising, for its basement was filled by a solid mass of rubble, while its only story is a mere open courtyard, enclosed toward the field by a lofty, perfectly blank wall. If Tower 12 ever had a parapet, it has disappeared.
In the southeast corner of this story is a single room, part of an older structure (2), whose masonry—well-laid rusticated work—proclaims the hand of al-ʿĀdil; this room is covered with a barrel vault. None of the present openings of this part of the tower seem to be original, but the remains of a stair, filled in to ground level, are to be seen at B in the east wall.
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1. Marked with arrows on the attached plan.
2. The new and old parts of the east wall are not in alignment.
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