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Qasr Azraq
Qasr al-Azraq ( ar, قصر الأزرق, "Blue Fortress") is a large fortress located in present-day eastern Jordan. It is one of the desert castles, located on the outskirts of present-day Azraq, Jordan, Azraq, roughly east of Amman. Its strategic value came from the nearby oasis, the only water source in a vast desert region. The name of the fortress and associated town came from these. The settlement was known in antiquity as ''Basie'' and the Romans were the first to make military use of the site, and later an early mosque was built in the middle. It did not assume its present form until an extensive renovation and expansion by the Ayyubids in the 13th century, using locally quarried basalt which makes the castle darker than most other buildings in the area. Later, it would be used by the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman armies during that empire's hegemony over the region. During the Arab Revolt, T.E. Lawrence based his operations here in 1917–18, an experience he wrote about in h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Azraq, Jordan
Azraq ( ar, الأزرق meaning "blue") is a small town in Zarqa Governorate in central-eastern Jordan, east of Amman. The population of Azraq was 9,021 in 2004. The Muwaffaq Salti Air Base is located in Azraq. History Prehistory Archaeological evidence indicates that Azraq has been occupied for hundreds of thousands of years, with the oldest known remains dating to the Lower Palaeolithic, around 500–300,000 years ago. The spring-fed oasis provided a more or less constant source of water throughout this period, and probably acted as a refugium for humans and other animals at times when the surrounding area dried out. The oasis itself changed as the climate fluctuated: at times a permanent lake, a marsh, or a seasonal playa. During the Epipalaeolithic period the oasis was also an important focus of settlement. Later history Azraq has long been an important settlement in a remote and now-arid desert area of Jordan. The strategic value of the town and its castle (Qasr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Azraq (Jordan)
Azraq ( ar, الأزرق meaning "blue") is a small town in Zarqa Governorate in central-eastern Jordan, east of Amman. The population of Azraq was 9,021 in 2004. The Muwaffaq Salti Air Base is located in Azraq. History Prehistory Archaeological evidence indicates that Azraq has been occupied for hundreds of thousands of years, with the oldest known remains dating to the Lower Palaeolithic, around 500–300,000 years ago. The spring-fed oasis provided a more or less constant source of water throughout this period, and probably acted as a refugium for humans and other animals at times when the surrounding area dried out. The oasis itself changed as the climate fluctuated: at times a permanent lake, a marsh, or a seasonal playa. During the Epipalaeolithic period the oasis was also an important focus of settlement. Later history Azraq has long been an important settlement in a remote and now-arid desert area of Jordan. The strategic value of the town and its castle (Qasr Az ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jordanian Art
Jordanian art has a very ancient history. Some of the earliest figurines, found at Aïn Ghazal, near Amman, have been dated to the Neolithic period. A distinct Jordanian aesthetic in art and architecture emerged as part of a broader Islamic art tradition which flourished from the 7th-century. Traditional art and craft is vested in material culture including mosaics, ceramics, weaving, silver work, music, glass-blowing and calligraphy. The rise of colonialism in North Africa and the Middle East, led to a dilution of traditional aesthetics. In the early 20th-century, following the creation of the independent nation of Jordan, a contemporary Jordanian art movement emerged and began to search for a distinctly Jordanian art aesthetic that combined both tradition and contemporary art forms. Traditional Art Jordan, as an independent nation was founded in 1924. Prior to that, the area that is now Jordan had been subject to a number of different rules. It was part of the Nabatean Kingdom, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Desert Castle
The Umayyad desert castles, of which the desert castles of Jordan represent a prominent part, are fortified palaces or castles in what was the then Umayyad province of Bilad al-Sham. Most Umayyad "desert castles" are scattered over the semi-arid regions of north-eastern Jordan, with several more in Syria, Israel and the West Bank (Palestine). Name What is known in English as a "desert castle" is known in Arabic as ''qaṣr'' (singular), ''quṣur'' being the plural.Khouri, R.G., ''The Desert Castles: A Brief Guide to the Antiquities''. Al Kutba, 1988. pp 4-5 However, ''qasr'' is a widely-used Arabic word for palace, castle or fortress, so only a few of the buildings called ''quṣur'' are "desert castles". Brief description The Umayyads erected a number of characteristic palaces, some in the cities, but mostly in the semi-arid regions, and some along important trading routes. The castles were built roughly between 660 and 750 under the Umayyad Caliphate, which had made Damascus, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jordanian Dinar
The Jordanian dinar ( ar, دينار أردني; ISO 4217, code: JOD; unofficially abbreviated as JD) has been the currency of Jordan since 1950. The dinar is divided into 10 dirhams, 100 qirsh (also called piastres) or 1000 fils (currency), fulus. It is pegged to the US dollar. The Central Bank of Jordan commenced operations in 1964 and became the sole issuer of Jordanian currency, in place of the Jordan Currency Board. The Jordanian dinar is also widely used in the West Bank alongside the Israeli new shekel, Israeli shekel. History In 1927, the British administration of the Palestinian Mandate established the Palestine Currency Board which issued the Palestine pound which was the official currency in both Mandatory Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan. Though Jordan became an independent kingdom on 25 May 1946, it continued to use the Palestinian pound for a while. In 1949, it passed the Provisional Act No. 35 of 1949, which established the Jordan Currency Board as the s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
