Qasr al-Abd ( ar, قصر العبد, , Castle of the Slave) is a large
Hellenistic
In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...
palace from the first quarter of the second century BCE.
Most scholars agree it was built by the
Tobiads
The Tobiads were a Jewish faction in Ammon at the beginning of the Hasmonean period. They were philhellene, supporters of Hellenistic Judaism, in the early years of the 2nd century BCE.
What is known about the Tobiads is a combination of statem ...
, a notable Jewish family of the
Second Temple period
The Second Temple period in Jewish history lasted approximately 600 years (516 BCE - 70 CE), during which the Second Temple existed. It started with the return to Zion and the construction of the Second Temple, while it ended with the First Jewis ...
, although the descriptions doesn't mention that. Its ruins stand in modern-day
Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
in the valley of
Wadi Seer, close to the village of
Iraq Al-Amir, approximately 17 kilometers west of
Amman
Amman (; ar, عَمَّان, ' ; Ammonite language, Ammonite: 𐤓𐤁𐤕 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''Rabat ʻAmān'') is the capital and largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of 4,061,150 a ...
.
History
Qasr al-Abd is believed to be Tyros, the palace of a
Tobiad notable,
Hyrcanus of
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
, head of the powerful Tobiad family and governor of
Ammon
Ammon (Ammonite: 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''ʻAmān''; he, עַמּוֹן ''ʻAmmōn''; ar, عمّون, ʻAmmūn) was an ancient Semitic-speaking nation occupying the east of the Jordan River, between the torrent valleys of Arnon and Jabbok, in p ...
in the 2nd century BCE. The first known written description of the castle comes down to us from
Josephus
Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for ''The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly d ...
, a first-century
Jewish-Roman historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...
:
The association of the site with the Tobiads is based on a cave inscription found nearby. The
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
name 'Tuvya' or 'Toviyya' (Tobias) is engraved (טוביה, but in a more
Aramaic
The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...
script above the adjacent burial caves of Iraq al-Amir, which share their name with the nearby village. In another of these caves there is a carving of a lioness sheltering a cub at the palace. There are two inscriptions in Aramaic script reading "Tobiah", carved into the facades of two rock-cut halls north of the palace and dated to the 4th century BCE or earlier.
[ (Snippet view).]
According to Josephus, Hyrcanus left Jerusalem after losing a power struggle, and established his residence east of the Jordan, apparently on the ancestral lands of the Tobiad dynasty. The area was then a border zone between Judea and Arabia and Josephus mentions that Hyrcanus was in constant skirmishes with Arabians, killing and capturing many. Hyrcanus took his own life in 175 BCE, following the ascent to power in Syria of the strongly anti-Jewish
Seleucid king
Antiochus Epiphanes, fearing the latter's revenge for his support for the Egypt-based
Ptolemaics against the Syrian Seleucids. The building was unfinished at the time of his death (as indicated by several incomplete carvings and columns on site), and was seized by Antiochus Epiphanes.
The name Qasr al-Abd can be translated as "Castle of the Slave" or "Castle of the Servant", a title which may refer to Hyrcanus himself, who, as governor, was a "servant of the king". The biblical
Book of Nehemiah
The Book of Nehemiah in the Hebrew Bible, largely takes the form of a first-person memoir concerning the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile by Nehemiah, a Jew who is a high official at the Persian court, and the dedic ...
mentions "Toviyya, the Servant, the Ammonite" (Neh. 2:10); the Hebrew word used, "ebed" or "eved", is translated here as "official", but more generally means "slave" or "servant"). According to a local Arab legend, Tobias was a commoner who fell in love with the daughter of a nobleman. When he asked for her hand in marriage, the nobleman said that Tobias could only have her hand if he built the so-called "Castle of the Slave." After completing the castle, the nobleman had Tobias killed as he did not want his daughter marrying a commoner.
The palace was badly damaged by the
363 Galilee earthquake
The Galilee earthquake of 363 was a pair of severe earthquakes that shook the Galilee and nearby regions on May 18 and 19. The maximum perceived intensity for the events was estimated to be VII (''Very strong'') on the Medvedev–Sponheuer–Karn ...
. It preserved its original two stories due to the fact that was reused as a
church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship
* Chris ...
during the
Byzantine period
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
.
[
]
Architecture
The heavily decorated two-storey stone structure (measuring about 40 metres by 20 metres, and 13 metres high) is a rare example of Hellenistic architecture
Hellenistic art is the art of the Hellenistic period generally taken to begin with the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and end with the conquest of the Greek world by the Romans, a process well underway by 146 BCE, when the Greek mainlan ...
in Jordan.
The structure was originally surrounded by a large excavated reflecting pool
A reflecting pool, also called a reflection pool, is a water feature found in gardens, parks, and memorial sites. It usually consists of a shallow pool of water, undisturbed by fountain jets, for a reflective surface.
Design
Reflecting pools are ...
, leading Josephus to assume that this was a moat
A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that is dug and surrounds a castle, fortification, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive ...
and the building a fortress. However, more recent evidence for the building's original function being as a country pleasure palace has been presented by the Israeli archaeologist Ehud Netzer. It has also been suggested that the site was in fact intended to serve as a mausoleum
A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be consid ...
of the Tobiads. In any case, it was never completed.
Josephus mentions the "beasts of gigantic size carved on it" (Antiquities of the Jews, Book XII, 230), and carved tigers or lions are still perfectly preserved on the remains visible today.
The castle is built from some of the largest single blocks of any building in the Middle East, with the largest block measuring seven by three metres. However, these blocks were at most only 40 centimetres wide, making the building relatively vulnerable to the earthquake which eventually destroyed it.
Archaeologists have established that Qasr al-Abd once stood in a much larger estate, which was originally surrounded by a wall and included a park with trees and shrubs. A large stone olive press has been found on the site, suggesting the estate was partially self-sufficient in agricultural produce. Much of the estate now stands beneath the village of Iraq al-Amir.
Restoration
The ruins of Qasr al-Abd have been partially restored, due to the efforts of a French team directed by Ernest Will and the architect François Larché in collaboration with Fawzi Zayadine of the Jordanian Department of Antiquities The Department of Antiquities is a government department in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan with responsibility for archaeological research and cultural heritage management. It is part of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
The department wa ...
.
The team spent the years 1979 to 1985 making detailed drawings of the fallen stones and on the subsequent reconstruction.
In 2018, the site was renovated with pathways and signs to make it more "tourist friendly".
References
*Iraq al-Amir, le château du Tobiade Hyrcan par E. Will et F. Larché, volume I, BAH, T. CXXXII, 1991.
*Iraq al-Amir : le château du Tobiade Hyrcan. Volume II, Restitution et reconstruction, par F. Larché, contributions de F. Braemer et de B. Geyer, IFPO, Beyrouth 2005, 2 vol. BAH, T. 172.
*'Iraq al-Amir, guide historique et archéologique du domaine des Tobiades. Beyrouth, Guides archéologiques de l’Ifpo, 2010.
External links
King Hussein guide to sites near Amman
webcam
Photos of Qasr al-Abd and Iraq al-Amir
at the American Center of Research
The American Center of Research (ACOR) is a private, not-for-profit scholarly and educational organization. Based in Alexandria, Virginia, with a facility in Amman, Jordan, ACOR promotes knowledge of Jordan and the interconnected region, past and ...
Photos of Qasr al-Abd
at the Manar al-Athar photo archive
{{Coord, 31.9128, 35.7518, type:landmark_region:JO, display=title
Buildings and structures completed in the 3rd century BC
Archaeological sites in Jordan
Ruins in Jordan