Athena Review Image Archive ™
Qasr el Hallabat: Satellite image of Roman fort with plan
Qasr el Hallabat: satellite image of fort with plan (Google Images; Kennedy and Riley 1990 fig.121.)
The Roman fort went through at least three phases of development, The first stage (A in the plan) was a small fort only 17.5×17.5 meters in area, built of yellow limestone. This was later incorporated into a larger fort, 38×38 meters in area, again probably of limestone. Possibly the semi-projecting towers were a later addition, when the outer wall was heightened (Kennedy, 1982, 19–29), and basalt stones were first used in the building. Inscribed basalt blocks re-used within the fort indicate some building took place in AD 212–4 and 529, although this may not apply to Qasr el Hallabat but to whereever the stones came from.
The Roman fort was eventually converted into an Ommayad castle (AD 650-740), when elaborate mosaics were laid in the rooms of the fort (Bisheh, 1980; 1982). Stones from the fort were later reused in a nearby bedouin cemetery.
Coordinates of the fort are N 32.092904, E 36.327954.
[Source: Kennedy and Riley 1990, Rome's Desert Frontier from the Air.]
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