On transformation of Umayyad military outposts into elite settlements

AMMAN — Desert castles were built as a combination of military outposts and retreats for the ruling elites of the Umayyad Dynasty (661 AD - 750 AD). The main power base for the dynasty was in the region of the Greater Syria, and desert castles were scattered in the area known during the Roman-Byzantine time as Limes Arabicus. This was a very turbulent frontier between Rome and the Parthian state and later the Sassanid Empire, where series of conflicts occurred over the centuries.

One of such sites is the late antique pilgrimage city of Resafa, which became the residence of Caliph Hisham Bin Abd Malik (ruled 724 AD - 743 AD). Resafa is located southwest of Raqqa in northern Syria, in the vast Syrian Desert that extends into modern Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

Within the walled city, the Great Mosque was built adjacent to Basilica A, a significant pilgrimage church, while other churches remained important religious centres until an earthquake damaged the city, including temples.

Residential buildings, markets and water infrastructure were built/rebuilt, as well as the city wall.

In the surroundings of the pilgrimage city, palaces and outbuildings of the caliph’s residence and his court were erected on an area of about 9 square kilometres.

"Towards the edges of the settlement area, the buildings are more loosely arranged and rather oriented towards the terrain, but are also laid out with reference to the main palace and the core zone of the settlement," noted Martin Gussone from The Technical University in Berlin, adding that according to the survey results, it can be said that the entire settlement area was in use for the most part in the late Umayyad period, even though some areas show multi-phase building complexes with traces of earlier, late antique settlement and other areas were later used during the Ayyubid Period.

The peak of Resafe was during the Umayyad period.

"The reasons are manifold and may vary at specific sites, but one decisive reason for the decline of palatial settlements after a change of ruler or dynasty was their dependence on the sponsorship of their founders as economic base," Gusonne said, adding that the essential characteristics of the residence of Hisham Bin Abd Malik at Resafa include its location next to the late antique pilgrimage city and its layout as an open settlement with hierarchically structured, larger and smaller individual buildings. The relationship to the predecessor settlement is important, but the caliph’s residence forms a large, separate settlement core.

Military camps during the Muslim conquests gradually transformed into towns and cities, as seen in the cases of Kufa, Basra or Fustat.

Moreover, several of the early Islamic foundations in Syria were essentially garrison towns of the Umayyad elite spread across Syria to house their ashraf and mawali. 

"Other early Islamic foundations such as Ayla/Aqaba, Amman and initially Madinat Far (later Ramla), are attributed to this group by North edge based on formal features such as their approximately rectangular basic shape and their walled complex, most of which have several separate residential units," Gusonne said, adding that based on his investigations of the citadel in Amman and the state of research at the time, the selection of examples is plausible.

However, this has resulted in a somehow heterogeneous group whose components do not quite fit together functionally, formally, spatially and chronologically, he explained, adding that the current definition of new urban settlements should be reconsidered.

An alternative concept regarding categories of urban (or quasi-urban) settlements of the Umayyad elites will be presented, using the caliph’s residence at Resafa as a starting point and taking in account the current state of research. Early Islamic sites are considered and their similarities, differences and variations discussed by scholars, Gusonne said, noting that an important question relates to whether the fortification with a (city) wall is an essential feature deciding on a settlement’s designation as city. 

"Settlement patterns can be fundamentally divided into two models: open settlements and fortified [or enclosed] settlements. In addition, a distinction must be made in settlement design between irregular forms or an orientation along basic geometric shapes. The complexes designed as large, enclosed forms, such as Anjar and Mshatta as well as the large complex of Qasr Heir Sharqi, are usually interpreted as standing in the tradition of Roman and Late Antique urban concepts," Gusonne underlined.