قصر الحير الشرقي ١_a .. كتاب العمارة العربية الاسلامية

Al-Hayr Al-Sharqi Palace

There is an important urban complex consisting of a palace, a small walled city, a bath, and walls for orchards and large farms located to the northeast of Palmyra. It is approximately one hundred and ten kilometers away. Scholars have differed regarding the date of construction of these buildings and the ancient name of this site. However, we believe that this site is (Al-Zaytouna) mentioned in historical sources (1).

Because Sauvage (2) claimed that this site is the same as Rusafa Hisham. It was also named to distinguish it from the well-known Rusafa (the city of Sergiopolis), where two palaces were found, and the sources mention that Hisham built two palaces in Rusafa. Others (3) believed that Al-Zaytouna might be Qasr al-Hayr al-Sharqi, or Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi, or Khirbet al-Mafjar, the location of Hisham’s Palace located near Jericho.

In addition, we cite the following evidence to confirm that Al-Zaytouna is the site known as Qasr Al-Hayr Al-Sharqi and not in the other suspected places. Al-Rusafa is one thing, and Al-Zaytouna is another thing.

The first evidence: Hisham’s Rusafa is the same as the current Rusafa, located north of Qasr al-Hayr al-Sharqi and 25 kilometers south of the Euphrates River. To this day we find traces of the walled city of Sergiopolis, which was built in the Byzantine era in the sixth century, surrounded by ruins. In one of them, excavators found (1) an Umayyad palace, which they attribute to Caliph Hisham bin Abd al-Malik. This is consistent with the description given by Al-Tabari of Al-Rusafa: So Hisham descended on Al-Rusafa while it was wilderness, and built two palaces there, and Al-Rusafa is a Roman city built by the Romans, and it is from the land of Qinnasrin” (2). Therefore, there is no room for doubt that the current Rusafa is the same as Rusafa Hisham, which is an old name, and there is no room for naming it to the site of Al-Hayr Al-Sharqi.

The second evidence: We found news that mentions Al-Rusafa and Al-Zaytouna together, which indicates that they are two different sites. The first news we quote from Al-Baladhuri, who says: “Hisham created Al-Rusafa and used to visit Al-Zaytouna before it.” (3) The second news relates to a feast held by Harun Al-Rashid in the city of Raqqa in the year 190.

To emigrate, the Umayyads were invited to it from their homes in Pals (old Maskanah), Al-Rusafa, and Al-Zaytouna (1)

When the Qarmatians invaded the Levant in the year 290 AH, the following news was reported about Al-Zaytouna: Al-Qarmati became the owner of Al-Khal to Al-Sukhna, Al-Arka, Al-Zaytouna, and Khanasra from Al-Ahsa, from the towns of Aleppo (2).

These places are known today by their names, with the exception of Al-Zaytouna. Al-Sukhnah and Al-Ark (the modern name of Al-Ark) are located between Palmyra and Qasr Al-Hayr Al-Sharqi. As for Khanasra, it is the town of Khanasar located southeast of Aleppo, between it and Rusafa.

Thus, Al-Zaytouna is in a place close to Al-Ark and Al-Sukhnah, and there is currently only the town of Al-Taybeh and Qasr Al-Hayr Al-Sharqi, and the latter is likely to be the site of Al-Zaytouna, due to the presence of important Umayyad facilities there.

As for the history of these facilities, there is no text that clearly dates them to us. All there is is that Al-Baladhuri, as we have seen, mentioned that Hisham was residing in Al-Zaytouna before he assumed the caliphate, and after his caliphate he established Al-Rusafa.

Al-Tabari confirms this by saying: The caliphate came to Hisham. He is in Zaytouna and has his house in Dobra there. Muhammad bin Omar said, “I saw it was small.”

If the small palace that exists today is what Al-Tabari meant, then its construction dates back to before the caliphate of Hisham. As for the Grand Palace, there is a text engraved on one of the stones of the mosque (1) located inside its walls indicating the construction of a city in the days of Hisham bin Abdul Malik in the year 110 AH. This text reads:

(1) In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful (2) There is no god but God alone, with no partner. (3) Muhammad is the Messenger of God. He commanded the work of (4) This city is the servant of God Hisham (5) Commander of the Faithful, and this was among (6) the people of Acid did at the hands of Suleiman. Ibn Ubaid in the year Bismillah one hundred and ten years.

This text is considered strong evidence for the dating of the two palaces together, or the palace and the city, and their attribution to Hisham bin Abdul Malik.

But archaeologists who have studied this site have different opinions. Albert Gabriel (2) made the small palace one of the buildings of the sixth century AD, that is, from the Byzantine era. While Grabar (3) attributed it to the beginning of the eighth century, that is, to the Umayyad era. The aforementioned scientist noted, as a result of the excavation work he carried out in recent years, that the site remained inhabited after the Umayyads until it was completely destroyed and abandoned as a result of the Mongolian invasions. He also noticed restorations carried out on buildings dating back to many eras.