According to Ascherson (l.c. p. 140) the village of El Qasr owes its name to a Roman castle, abundant remains of which still exist under the modern houses.
The most important of the Roman ruins of Baharia was however until recently an arch situated close to the north of El Qasr. Cailliaud (l.c. p. 183) describes the structure (as seen in 1820) as consisting of an “arc de triomphe” standing on an embankment 39½ metres long, with a dressed stone revetment;[66] this embankment rises 10 metres from the ground-level at the north side, and is level with the soil of the village to the south. The principal façade is to the north. The courses of the masonry are 27 to 30 centimetres high, and show a peculiar construction, headers and stretchers being built in alternate courses. The wall, which was about 2·3 metres thick, and built with a strongly-marked batter, had an ornamental cornice all round; above this came a sort of parapet 90 centimetres high. The substance of the embankment is a kind of concrete of irregularly-shaped stones set in cement.
The arch itself rises from the embankment in the middle of the north façade, and is of the Doric order, its length being 7·48 metres. At the time of Cailliaud’s visit only the central arcade was still standing; from it one could descend by a flight of steps on to the lower ground. The façade was ornamented with pilasters, and on each side of the arch was a niche decorated with small columns. In one of the main pillars Cailliaud saw a spiral staircase leading to a terrace on the top of the arch. The stones are frequently marked with Greek letters, doubtless to guide the builders; no hieroglyphs or other evidences of the Ancient Egyptians could be seen in the ruins.
This interesting ruin was found in a far less perfect state of preservation on the visit of Ascherson in 1876, the revetment-wall having mostly disappeared, possibly owing to an earthquake which is said to have taken place in the oasis about 1840. The latest traveller to visit the ruins (Steindorff, 1900) found that the whole structure had fallen.[67]
The ruin known as Qasr Alam, situated about 2½ kilometres west of Bawitti, visited by Wilkinson and by Ascherson, is a rectangular crude-brick structure on a slight eminence. Only the lower parts of the walls remain, and Wilkinson speaks of it as “an insignificant crude-brick ruin.” Ascherson obtained a bronze hawk (now in the Berlin museum) found in this place.
Wilkinson mentions another ruin, similar to the above, 1 kilometre south-west of El Qasr; this does not appear to have been since noted. There is no evidence to show the date of either of these structures.
A nearly square building with battered walls and a fortified appearance, situated among the ruins of the Coptic village some 4 kilometres E.S.E. from Mandisha may possibly be a Roman fort. Cailliaud gives its size as 14·7 metres long, 12 metres wide, with walls 8 metres in height, the single door being to the east. The interior is full of debris, so that the arrangement cannot be well seen.
The same doubt as to age occurs concerning some underground chambers at El Qasr, in one of which Virchow[68] found an urn, and similar structures at Bawitti mentioned by Ascherson.
There is less uncertainty concerning a large crude-brick ruin in the south-east part of the oasis, some 6 kilometres E.S.E. of Ain el Haiss. This ruin, mentioned by Belzoni (l.c., p. 427), Cailliaud (l.c., p. 194, and Pl. XXXVI, fig. 1), and Wilkinson (l.c., p. 361), stands conspicuous on an eminence; it is of considerable size, its length being over 87 metres, and the walls being 6 metres high. In the interior is the debris of dwellings. It appears to have been a Roman castle. Belzoni and Cailliaud mention also a square building with small chambers, with a square pit cut in the rock in the centre; this lies about 1 kilometre S.S.W. from the castle, and is regarded by these discoverers as an ancient bath.
To the Roman period may possibly belong a large crude-brick rectangular enclosure close to Ain el Haiss. This building is 75 paces square, with a main door on the west side, and has walls about 2 metres in height. The brickwork is peculiar, a course of stretchers three bricks deep being followed by two courses of headers set on edge, with one or two rows of bricks in a perpendicular position down the centre; the walls are 50 centimetres thick. The interior of the place is a large court, with numerous small rooms at the north and south sides and two others on the west. The rooms are used at the present day by the men of Bawitti when they come to gather the rice-crop at Ain el Haiss. It is not a little remarkable that no reference to this large structure is to be found in Cailliaud’s account; its position (some 300 metres only south-west of the sheikh’s tomb at Ain el Haiss) would seem to preclude the possibility of confusing it with the other ruins he describes. He gives however (l.c. p. 195) the latitude of El Haiss as 28° 0′ 32″,[69] “latitude du couvent chrétien,” from which it would appear likely that he considered this place a convent. There is no evidence to decide whether the building is of Roman or Coptic origin.