The Umayyad desert castles, of which the desert castles of Jordan represent a prominent part, are fortified palaces or

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

s in what was the then Umayyad province of

Bilad al-Sham Bilad al-Sham ( ar, بِلَاد الشَّام, Bilād al-Shām), often referred to as Islamic Syria or simply Syria in English-language sources, was a province of the Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid, and Fatimid caliphates. It roughly correspo ...

. Most Umayyad "desert castles" are scattered over the semi-arid regions of north-eastern

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 ...

, with several more in

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and the

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

( Palestine).

Name

What is known in English as a "desert castle" is known in

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

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 The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by th ...

, which had made

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

, now in Syria, their new capital in 661. After the

Abbasid Revolution The Abbasid Revolution, also called the Movement of the Men of the Black Raiment, was the overthrow of the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE), the second of the four major Caliphates in early Islamic history, by the third, the Abbasid Calipha ...

of 750, the capital moved to the newly-built

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

and some of the buildings were never completed. The typical desert castle is more than a single residence; rather it is a compound of various building including a substantial main residence along with other buildings such as a hammam (bath-house), storage areas and other agrarian structures and possibly a mosque, all within a large enclosure. Desert castles are typically situated near a wadi or seasonal water course. The inner part of the main residence typically consists of two-storeys, arranged around a central courtyard. The main residence is often richly ornamented with mosaics, frescoes and stucco reliefs. Archaeologists have investigated the role of these desert castles, with the traditional view that they served as country estates or hunting lodges for the use of aristocratic families during the winter season. However, recent scholarship has suggested a much greater diversity of roles, including as agricultural estates or military forts. The complex at

Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi ( ar, قصر الحير الغربي) is a Syrian desert castle or ''qasr'' located 80 km south-west of Palmyra on the Damascus road. The castle is a twin palace of Qasr al-Hayr al-Sharqi, built by the Umayyad caliph ...

(Syria), for example, sits within a vast agricultural estate and the buildings include structures associated with the production of olive oil.

Layout and decoration

With a few exceptions, the desert castles conform to a common template consisting of a square structure similar to Roman forts ("''

castra In the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, the Latin word ''castrum'', plural ''castra'', was a military-related term. In Latin usage, the singular form ''castrum'' meant 'fort', while the plural form ''castra'' meant 'camp'. The singular a ...

''")''Nomad Politics and the Residences of Abulmalik and Walid I'', in Fred M. Donner (ed), ''The Articulation of Early Islamic State Structures'', Oxon, Routledge, 2017 as their main building, typically boasting an elaborate entrance.Ettinghausen, R., Grabar, O. and Jenkins, M.,
Islamic Art and Architecture
' p 650''Nomad Politics and the Residences of Abulmalik and Walid I'', in Fred M. Donner (ed), ''The Articulation of Early Islamic State Structures'', Oxon, Routledge, 2017 Other buildings in the complex would include a ''hammam'' (bath house), a mosque, and often an agricultural enclosure (walled areas for animals, dedicated buildings for processing produce such as olive oil), and a water reservoir or dam. The interior rooms of the main structure were ornately decorated with floor-mosaics, and wall paintings featuring designs that exhibit both eastern and western influences.Petersen, A.,
Dictionary of Islamic Architecture
', Routledge, 2002, p. 296 Some of the desert castles, for example Qasr Hallabat or Qasr Burqu', are rebuilt from remains of earlier Roman or

Ghassanid The Ghassanids ( ar, الغساسنة, translit=al-Ġasāsina, also Banu Ghassān (, romanized as: ), also called the Jafnids, were an Arab tribe which founded a kingdom. They emigrated from southern Arabia in the early 3rd century to the Lev ...

structures; others are new constructions.

Purpose

The function and use of the buildings are today not entirely clear, and scholarship has suggested that they might have served a variety of defensive, agricultural, residential, recreational and commercial purposes. The earliest researchers, such as Musil and Lammens, suggested that desert castles were primarily used for recreational purposes: to escape bad air associated with city living to escape epidemic outbreaks; to indulge hedonic pleasures or for use as hunting lodges. Yet other scholars, investigating the geographic distribution of desert castles have noted that they are principally situated along the silk road or pilgrimage routes and may have operated as a type of

caravanserai A caravanserai (or caravansary; ) was a roadside inn where travelers ( caravaners) could rest and recover from the day's journey. Caravanserais supported the flow of commerce, information and people across the network of trade routes covering ...

. Given the variety observed in the archaeological record, it is unlikely that one single theory can explain the range of purposes of all the buildings. These functions include fortresses, meeting places for

Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu (; , singular ) are nomadic Arabs, Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. The Bedouin originated in the Syrian Desert ...

s (between themselves or with the Umayyad governor), (retreats for the nobles) or

s. A proliferation of desert castles appeared around the same time as the number of caravans increased substantially.''Jordan: Annual'', Volume 36, Dāʼirat al-Āthār al-ʻĀmmah, 1992, p. 317 (translated from French) Many seem to have been surrounded by natural or man-made

oases In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.” The location of oases has been of critical im ...

and to have served as country estates or hunting lodges, given that hunting was a favoured pastime for the aristocracy.Meyers, E.M. (ed.), ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East'', Volume 5, Oxford University Press, 1997, p. 241 The generic term "desert castle" is not ideal, since it artificially separates similar ''quṣur'' according to their location. Jordan possesses at least one urban Umayyad ''qaṣr'': the

Amman Citadel The Amman Citadel ( ar, جبل القلعة, Jabal Al-Qal'a) is an archeological site at the center of downtown Amman, the capital of Jordan. The L-shaped hill is one of the seven hills (''jabals'') that originally made up Amman. The Cit ...

. While the majority of ''quṣur'' are located in Jordan, examples can also be found in Syria, the West Bank and Israel, either in cities (

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

), in relatively green areas (

al-Sinnabra Al-Sinnabra or Sinn en-Nabra, is the Arabic place name for a historic site on the southern shore of the Sea of Galilee in modern-day Israel. The ancient site lay on a spur from the hills that close the southern end of the Sea of Galilee, next to w ...

Khirbat al-Minya Khirbat al-Minya ( ar, قصر المنية), also known as Ayn Minyat Hisham (Arabic) or Horvat Minnim (Hebrew) is an Umayyad-built palace in the eastern Galilee, Israel, located about west of the northern end of Lake Tiberias. It was erected as ...

), or indeed in the desert (

and

Qasr al-Hayr al-Sharqi Qasr al-Hayr al-Sharqi ( ar, قصر الحير الشرقي, lit=Eastern al-Hayr Palace or the "Eastern Castle") is a castle (''qasr'') in the middle of the Syrian Desert. It was built by the Umayyad caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik in 728-29 CE in ...

, Jabal Sais,

Hisham's Palace Hisham's Palace ( ar, قصر هشام '), also known as Khirbat al-Mafjar ( ar, خربة المفجر), is an important early Islamic archaeological site in the Palestinian city of Jericho, in the West Bank. Built by the Umayyad dynasty in the f ...

).Teller, M., ''Jordan'', Rough Guides, 2002 p. 200 The more isolated "desert castles" built in arid regions, are chiefly located on the ancient trade routes connecting Damascus with

Medina Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the Holiest sites in Islam, second-holiest city in Islam, ...

and

Kufa Kufa ( ar, الْكُوفَة ), also spelled Kufah, is a city in Iraq, about south of Baghdad, and northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000. Currently, Kufa and Najaf a ...

or adjacent to a natural oasis. Their location along major routes and next to the very scarce water sources seems to indicate that they enabled the Umayyads to control the roads militarily, monitor and tax the seasonal movement of people and their

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to ani ...

, and not least, impress travellers and local tribes with lavish displays of monumental architecture, baths and ponds in the middle of an arid landscape.The spatial analysis of a historical phenomenon: using GIS to demonstrate the strategic placement of the Umayyad "desert palaces"
Mahmoud Bashir Abdallah Alhasanat, M. Sc. thesis, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 2009 Most of the desert palaces were abandoned after the Umayyads fell from power in 750, leaving many projects uncompleted and others were left to decay.

Artistic value

The castles represent some of the most impressive examples of early

Islamic art Islamic art is a part of Islamic culture and encompasses the visual arts produced since the 7th century CE by people who lived within territories inhabited or ruled by Muslim populations. Referring to characteristic traditions across a wide ra ...

and

Islamic architecture Islamic architecture comprises the architectural styles of buildings associated with Islam. It encompasses both secular and religious styles from the early history of Islam to the present day. The Islamic world encompasses a wide geographic ...

, and some are notable for including many figurative

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plast ...

s and

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

s depicting people and animals, less frequently found in later Islamic art on such a large and public scale. Many elements of the desert palaces are on display in museums in Amman, in

Rockefeller Museum The Rockefeller Archeological Museum, formerly the Palestine Archaeological Museum ("PAM"; 1938–1967), and which before then housed The Imperial Museum of Antiquities (''Müze-i Hümayun''; 1901–1917), is an archaeology museum located in East ...

(decorations from

) and the

Pergamon Museum The Pergamon Museum (; ) is a listed building on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin. It was built from 1910 to 1930 by order of German Emperor Wilhelm II according to plans by Alfred Messel and Ludwig Hoffmann in Stripped C ...

of Berlin (the

Mshatta Facade The Mshatta Facade is the decorated part of the facade of the 8th-century Umayyad residential palace of Qasr Mshatta, one of the Desert Castles of Jordan, which is now installed in the south wing of the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, Germany. It is ...

List of sites

Jordan

Partial alphabetical list by main name without article:Kennedy, D. and Riley, D., ''Rome's Desert Frontier from the Air'', Routledge, 2012, pp 8-91 provides a comprehensive list of castles, forts, mosques and other major edifices * Qasr Ain es-Sil, an Umayyad farming estate with an attached bathing complex in the Azraq oasis, east of Amman * Qusayr 'Amra, a "desert castle" about east of Amman, important for frescos * Qasr al-'Azraq, a "desert castle" about east of Amman *

Qasr Bayir Qasr Bayir ( ar, قصر بيير) is a desert castle built in 743 CE by Prince Walid bin Yazid. It is found in the desert of Jordan and it was destroyed in 1931. History In 743, during the Umayyad period, the future caliph Al-Walid II had the c ...

constructed in 743 AD by

Al-Walid II Al-Walīd ibn Yazīd (709 – 17 April 744) ( ar, الوليد بن يزيد) usually known simply as Al-Walid II was an Umayyad Caliph who ruled from 743 until his assassination in the year 744. He succeeded his uncle, Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik. ...

* Qasr Burqu', a preexisting structure converted into a ''qasr'' by

Al-Walid I Al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan ( ar, الوليد بن عبد الملك بن مروان, al-Walīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān; ), commonly known as al-Walid I ( ar, الوليد الأول), was the sixth Umayyad caliph, ruling from O ...

, about east of Amman * Qasr al-Hallabat, a "desert castle" about northeast of Amman **

Hammam al-Sarah Hammam al-Sarah is an Umayyad bathhouse (''hammam'') in Jordan, built in connection with the complex of Qasr al-Hallabat, which stands some to the west. Along with examples in the other desert castles of Jordan, it is one of the oldest survivi ...

aka as-Sarkh, the bath complex of Qasr al-Hallabat, about northeast of Amman * Humayma, site with a ''qasr'' where the Abbasid family resided while plotting their rebellion against the Umayyad caliphs, ousting them in 750 *

Qasr Kharana Qasr Kharana ( ar, قصر خرّانة), sometimes Qasr al-Kharana, Kharana, Qasr al-Harrana, Qasr al-Kharanah, Kharaneh, Khauranee, or Hraneh, is one of the best-known of the desert castles located in present-day eastern Jordan, about east of ...

, a "desert castle" about east of Amman * Qasr Mshatta, a "desert castle" about southeast of Amman; a large part of its facade is now on display at the

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

* Qasr al-Mushash, ''qasr'' on the historical caravan route between Amman and Azraq via Qusayr 'Amra, some 20 km east of Muwaqqar * Qasr al-Muwaqqar, a "desert castle" southeast of Amman on the caravan route to Azraq * Qasr al-Qastal, a "desert castle" about south of Amman * Qasr at-Tuba, a "desert castle" about southeast of Amman * The

Umayyad Palace The Umayyad Palace ( ar, القصر الأموي) is a large palatial complex from the Umayyad period, located on the Citadel Hill (Jabal al-Qal'a) of Amman, Jordan. Built during the first half of the 8th century, it is now largely ruined, w ...

, a ''qasr'' on the Citadel Hill of Amman * Umm al-Walid, site of 3 Umayyad ''qusur'' with a mosque and an agricultural settlement near

Madaba Madaba ( ar, مادبا; Biblical Hebrew: ''Mēḏəḇāʾ''; grc, Μήδαβα) is the capital city of Madaba Governorate in central Jordan, with a population of about 60,000. It is best known for its Byzantine and Umayyad mosaics, especi ...

* Khan az-Zabib, site of two Umayyad ''qusur'' with a mosque and a pastoral village, 25 km southeast of Umm al-Walid

Syria

* Al-Bakhra (ancient Avatha) near

Palmyra Palmyra (; Palmyrene: () ''Tadmor''; ar, تَدْمُر ''Tadmur'') is an ancient city in present-day Homs Governorate, Syria. Archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first mention the city in the early secon ...

* Khirbat al-Bayda', well-built ''qusur'' in the

Hauran The Hauran ( ar, حَوْرَان, ''Ḥawrān''; also spelled ''Hawran'' or ''Houran'') is a region that spans parts of southern Syria and northern Jordan. It is bound in the north by the Ghouta oasis, eastwards by the al-Safa field, to the s ...

, probably Ayyubid but possibly

(se
1895 photo
by Burchardt). * Al-Dumayr, site of a ''qasr'' possibly dating to the Byzantine period, maybe built by the

Ghassanids The Ghassanids ( ar, الغساسنة, translit=al-Ġasāsina, also Banu Ghassān (, romanized as: ), also called the Jafnids, were an Arab tribe which founded a kingdom. They emigrated from southern Arabia in the early 3rd century to the Levan ...

, but possibly Umayyad as well *

, a "desert castle" in the

Syrian Desert The Syrian Desert ( ar, بادية الشام ''Bādiyat Ash-Shām''), also known as the North Arabian Desert, the Jordanian steppe, or the Badiya, is a region of desert, semi-desert and steppe covering of the Middle East, including parts of so ...

, a large "desert castle" in the

of a "different and higher status" * Qudaym, site of a ''qasr'' with a mosque inside its courtyard *

Resafa Resafa ( ar, الرصافة Reṣafa), also sometimes spelled Rusafa, and known in the Byzantine era as Sergiopolis (in greek Σεργιούπολις, Σεργιόπολις, "city of Saint Sergius") and briefly as Anastasiopolis (Αναστασ ...

, city with vast ''qusur'' built by Hisham, of a "different and higher status" than the Umayyad castles * Jabal Sais or Jabal Says, a "desert castle" in

north of Azraq

Israel and Palestine

, in Arabic Qasr Hisham or Khirbet el-Mafjar, a "desert castle" on the

near

Jericho Jericho ( ; ar, أريحا ; he, יְרִיחוֹ ) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank. It is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. It is the administrative seat of the Jericho ...

, Palestine *

, the four probably Umayyad ''qusur'' clustered around the southwest corner of the

Temple Mount The Temple Mount ( hbo, הַר הַבַּיִת, translit=Har haBayīt, label=Hebrew, lit=Mount of the House f the Holy}), also known as al-Ḥaram al-Sharīf (Arabic: الحرم الشريف, lit. 'The Noble Sanctuary'), al-Aqsa Mosque compou ...

/Haram ash-Sharif * Qasr al-Minya, a ''qasr'' on the

Sea of Galilee The Sea of Galilee ( he, יָם כִּנֶּרֶת, Judeo-Aramaic: יַמּא דטבריא, גִּנֵּיסַר, ar, بحيرة طبريا), also called Lake Tiberias, Kinneret or Kinnereth, is a freshwater lake in Israel. It is the lowest ...

Al-Sinnabra Al-Sinnabra or Sinn en-Nabra, is the Arabic place name for a historic site on the southern shore of the Sea of Galilee in modern-day Israel. The ancient site lay on a spur from the hills that close the southern end of the Sea of Galilee, next to w ...

, a ''qasr'' on the

, Israel

Lebanon

* Anjar, in Lebanon, was an Umayyad palace-city built by

Caliph A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...

al-Walid I Al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan ( ar, الوليد بن عبد الملك بن مروان, al-Walīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān; ), commonly known as al-Walid I ( ar, الوليد الأول), was the sixth Umayyad caliph, ruling from O ...

Gallery

File:Qasr Kharana in Jordan.jpg, Qasr Kharana, Jordan File:Qasr Al-Azraq.jpg, Qasr al-Azraq, Jordan File:Qasr Amra.jpg, Quseir Amra, Jordan File:Qasr al-Hayr al-Sharqi.jpg, Qasr al-Hayr ash-Sharqi, Syria File:Ruïnes van Qasr Al Hair, Bestanddeelnr 255-6064.jpg, Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi, Syria (1950) File:Arabischer Mosaizist um 735 001.jpg, Khirbat al-Mafjar, "Hisham's Palace", Jericho: floor mosaic in bathhouse File:Horvat Minya, Israel 17.jpg, Qasr al-Minya, Israel File:Anjar, Lebanon, Umayyad city.jpg, Anjar, Umayyad city with qasr, Lebanon

References

External links

Jordanian authority for tourism about the Desert castles

Shahid Kabir et al., ''Historical Significance of Strategic Location of Umayyad Desert Palaces'', Universiti Sains Malaysia 2010
{{coord missing, Jordan Castles in Jordan Umayyad architecture Tourism in Jordan