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Description
قصر بشير
Visited on 18/1/2013
This was the first location I visited for my project to photograph all of my countries(Jordan) Archaeological and Religious history.
90 km south of Amman is the Roman-built Qasr Bashir remains standing holds evidence of much earlier settlements dating back to the Iron Age (1,200-539 BCE) where even the Nabataeans once held presence with a watchtower nearby.
From the Latin inscription above the doorway, we learn that Bashir was built in the period of 293-305 ACE by the Roman governor of the province Aurelius Asclepiades during the reign of co-emperors Diocletian and Maximian. The building is described as a Praetorium; a dual-use building that is a fortified road station and a governor’s palace that guarded the roman frontier (known as the Limes Arabicus) and trade routes (named by the Romans as the Via Nova Traiana) from the roaming desert nomads.
The structure was abandoned during the 5th Century ACE, and reused during the Umayyad Period until the massive earthquake of the 8th century. Bashir maintains its key Roman elements as it is one of the very few structures that have not been modified or rebuilt by later civilizations. Many of the cisterns and water reservoirs that the Romans constructed to survive in the harsh desert conditions are still being used by the local Bedouin community today.
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