269. Mūwaqqar, al- | المُوَقَّر

‘Ammān Governorate

Qaṣr, mosque or audience hall

JADIS no.

MEGA no. 3025

Coordinates: 31°48'45.0"N 36°06'13.0"E

31.812500, 36.103611

Plan: The palace is divided into two complexes: A) The qaṣr to the W, square in plan with massive circular round corner towers and one semi-cylindrical towers on each side in the middle of its enclosure walls. B) A hall of basilica plan adjacent over full length the E partition wall of complex A, subdivided by two colonnades of each seven columns and corresponding half columns at the N and S walls. To its E, this hall forms a balustrade of T-shaped pillars with engaged half columns. This balustrade rests on an alignment of ten barrel vaulted rooms as substructure. Entrances to this hall are in the E nave in the S and N wall. This substructure was necessary to enlarge the terrace of the hall toward E due to the slope of the terrain. The function of this hall is not certain, but it has a close parallel in the Umayyad palace complex at Shuqāyrah al-Gharbīyah (no. 360). This had been interpreted as an audience hall, but it seems well possible that it served as a mosque attached to the residential qaṣr. The same is true for the hall at al-Mūwaqqar, but a miḥrāb has not yet been identified at the S wall. Apart from the palace, a bath house, two water cisterns with an extensive channel network as well as barrel vaulted stables for horses have been identified at al-Mūwaqqar (Naser 2020).

Measurements: 65 m (E-W) to 39 m (N-S) according to Musil (Arabia Petraea I, 191)

Building Materials: local limestone with mortar.

Construction details: The two colonnades in the hall consist of each seven columns with Attic-Ionic bases and Corinthian capitals. (Naser 2020). The limestone capitals, first published by R.W. Hamilton (1948) and reviewed by C. Barsanti (2009), show a great variety in design with stylistic influences of Byzantine and Sassanid art. There are two possibilities for the roofing: either by horizontal architraves or by arcades, the arches of whose are springing from the abaci of the capitals. R. Naser (2020) decided for the second solution and restored hypothetically three parallel barrel vaults covering the naves in N-S direction (fig. 269.4). The barrel-vaulted rooms in the substructure were most likely closed by a coherent wall as it may be concluded by the interior arched passageways from one room to another. The open balustrade above this substructure was perhaps also closed or screened with decorated stone slabs.

Preservation: only scarce remains are visible, mainly of the basilica hall with the barrel vaulted rooms along the E artificial substructure. The fortified qaṣr with the terrace in front of it has been drawn by an unknown artist before 1890 (see fig. 269.2). Many archaeological remains have been destroyed by resettlement activities which started around the mid of the 20^th century. More than 10 of the capitals published by R. W. Hamilton (1948) are conserved at al-Mūwaqqar in private property (here figs. 269. 14-19. 22-23). Two further capitals have been donated in 1964 to the Princeton University Museum by the Jordanian Government (here figs. 269.20-21). The ayat al-kursi inscription (Q. 2 al-baqarāh, 255) seems to be lost today.

Inscription(s): The palace with the hypostyle hall is only indirectly dated in association with the large square cistern some 600 m SSE of it. This water tank was supplied with a metrological column crowned by an inscribed Corinthian capital which names a certain ‘Abd Allāh ibn Sulaym as the initiator of this hydraulic installation. Five shaft fragments with the cubit marks indicating the water level have been found inside this cistern (and they possibly still remain in there today). The fragment of the 14^th cubit gives the date H 104 / 722/23 AD (Hamilton 1946, 75 note 2). It has been suggested by E. Herzfeld (1910), that ‘Abd Allāh ibn Sulaym was the architect in charge of the full domain and that he was of Iranian origin. Further on, there was a long limestone lintel reused in one of the modern houses at al-Mūwaqqar (see photo above). It was briefly mentioned and published by a photograph by M. Waheeb (2019, 211 with fig.). According to him, the inscription quoted the throne verse of Q. 2 al-baqarāh, 255. He further mentions the date given in the inscription as 137 H / 754 AD. The passage of the date was difficult to read due to the preservation of the stone. The block has disappeared some years ago from al-Mūwaqqar and its actual place is unknown. It seems well possible that this inscription belonged to the basilica hall attached to the qaṣr.

Date(s): Umayyad to ‘Abbasid. The construction of the palace and belonging installations of the residential domain are attributed the reigns of Yazīd (II.) ibn ‘Abd al-Mālik II. (born ca. 690/91, died 28^th January 724 AD) and of his son Walīd (II.) ibn Yazīd (born 709, died 17^th April 744 AD, cf. Bacharach 1996; Dodoni 2000). The large cistern on the royal domain is dated by the water gauge to H 104 /AD 722/23. The Ayat al-Kursi inscription, according to Waheeb (2009) gives the date 137 H/754 AD, the first year of the reign of Abū Ja’far ‘Abd Allāh ibn Muḥammad al-Manṣūr (715-758 AD), the founder of the ‘Abbasid dynasty. A post-Umayyad settlement continuation in the ‘Abbasid period is further attested at al-Mūwaqqar by the pottery evidence of the 1989 and 1993 excavations (Najjar 1989)

Traveler Reports: See Provincia Arabia; Arabia Petraea;

Bibliography: Ollier 1890; Hill 1896, 30-31; Nies 1901, 365; Musil 1902, 27-29 figs. 20-21; 102-104 figs. 87-88; Provincia Arabia II, 182- 189. 171 with note 2. 172; Arabia Petraea I, 189-197 figs. 71-82; Bell 1907, 52-54; E. Herzfeld 1910, 130; Jaussen - Savignac 1922, pls. III; Hamilton 1946, 1-19; Creswell 21969, 993-997; Azar - Najjar – Qussus 1989, 5-29; Najjar 1989, 305-322; Hamilton 1948, 63-69; IE2, V, 806-809 s.v. Mūwaqqar (C.E. Bosworth); Waheeb 1993, 198-224; Bacharach 1996, 36-37; Daradkeh 1998; Barsanti 2009, 436-446; Dodoni 2000, 155-168; Fowden 2004, 151-153; Genequand 2009, 158- 159.173; Rashdan 2009, 113-119. 164 fig. 97; Hasanat - Kabir et alii 2010; Ballian 2012a, 201; Haddad 2014/15, 78-79; Shqour 2015, 103- 107; Bartl 2016, 63; MacAdam 2017, 88; Shqour 2019, 99-104; Naser 2020.

[Entry co-edited with RAN]