Qasr Ibn Wardan ( ar, قصر ابن وردان) is a hamlet and 6th-century archaeological site located in the

Syrian Desert The Syrian Desert ( ar, بادية الشام ''Bādiyat Ash-Shām''), also known as the North Arabian Desert, the Jordanian steppe, or the Badiya, is a region of desert, semi-desert and steppe covering of the Middle East, including parts of so ...

, approximately northeast from

Hama Hama ( ar, حَمَاة ', ; syr, ܚܡܬ, ħ(ə)mɑθ, lit=fortress; Biblical Hebrew: ''Ḥamāṯ'') is a city on the banks of the Orontes River in west-central Syria. It is located north of Damascus and north of Homs. It is the provinci ...

and about northeast of

al-Hamraa Al-Hamraa ( ar, الحمراء, also spelled al-Hamra) is a village in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the Hama Governorate, located northeast of Hama. Nearby localities include Jubb al-Othman to the northeast, Abu al-Thuhur to the ...

. The hamlet is separated from the Byzantine-era ruins by a road, with the former situated to the east of the road and the ruins situated to the west. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Qasr Ibn Wardan had a population of 467 in the 2004 census.

Archaeology

The complex of a palace, church and

barracks Barracks are usually a group of long buildings built to house military personnel or laborers. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word "barraca" ("soldier's tent"), but today barracks are ...

was erected in the mid-6th century by

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantin ...

Emperor

Justinian I Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovat ...

(r. 527–565) as a part of a defensive line (together with

Resafa Resafa ( ar, الرصافة Reṣafa), also sometimes spelled Rusafa, and known in the Byzantine era as Sergiopolis (in greek Σεργιούπολις, Σεργιόπολις, "city of Saint Sergius") and briefly as Anastasiopolis (Αναστασ ...

and

Halabiye Halabiye ( ar, حلبيّة, Latin/Greek: ''Zenobia'', ''Birtha'') is an archaeological site on the right bank of the Euphrates River in Deir ez-Zor Governorate, Syria. It was an ancient city and former bishopric known as ''Zenobia'' and a Latin ...

) against the

Sassanid Empire The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Name ...

. Its unique style, imported directly from

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth ( Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...

and not found anywhere else in present-day Syria, was probably chosen to impress local Bedouin tribes and to consolidate control over them.

Basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90% of a ...

was brought from areas far north or south from the site and marble columns and capitals are thought to have been brought from

Apamea Apamea or Apameia ( grc, Απάμεια) is the name of several Hellenistic cities in western Asia, after Apama, the Sogdian wife of Seleucus I Nicator, several of which are also former bishoprics and Catholic titular see. Places called Apamea i ...

Nothing remains of the barracks today. The palace was probably the local governor's residence as well. Its best-preserved part is the southern façade of alternating bands of basalt black and brick yellow. There are remains of stables in the northern part of the site and a small

bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

complex at the eastern part of the palace with a central courtyard. The function of each room was indicated by a carved stone. The church was square-shaped with a central

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-typ ...

and two side

aisle An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parl ...

s. Its remains currently stand just west of the palace and is architecturally similar to it, but a slightly smaller. Originally, the church was topped by a large dome (only a

pendentive In architecture, a pendentive is a constructional device permitting the placing of a circular dome over a square room or of an elliptical dome over a rectangular room. The pendentives, which are triangular segments of a sphere, taper to point ...

remains until today) and displays an example of early Byzantine dome-building techniques. Originally, three sides of the church (only northern and southern walls remain) had upper floor galleries reserved for women. The fourth side is finished by a typical Byzantine semicircular and half-domed

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an '' exedra''. ...

Syrian Civil War

The town and historical site was recaptured and secured by the SAA on 8 February 2018 from ISIS.https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/breaking-isis-pocket-rural-hama-verge-vanquished-elite-syrian-forces-clear-final-areas/

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Qasr Ibn Wardan Buildings and structures completed in the 6th century Castles in Syria Archaeological sites in Hama Governorate Buildings of Justinian I Byzantine forts Buildings and structures in Hama Governorate Byzantine sites in Asia Populated places in Hama District