Qusayr 'Amra

Art and the Umayyad Elite in Late Antique Syria

Garth Fowden

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Hardback

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English

California Uni Pr Academc
20 September 2004

Series: Transformation of the Classical Heritage

From the stony desolation of Jordan's desert, it is but a step through a doorway into the bath house of the Qusayr 'Amra hunting lodge. Inside, multicolored frescoes depict scenes from courtly life and the hunt, along with musicians, dancing girls, and naked bathing women. The traveler is transported to the luxurious and erotic world of a mid-eighth-century Muslim Arab prince. For scholars, though, Qusayr 'Amra, probably painted in the 730s or 740s, has proved a mirage, its concreteness dissolved by doubts about date, patron, and meaning. This is the first book-length contextualization of the mysterious monument through a compelling analysis of its iconography and of the literary sources for the Umayyad period. It illuminates not only the way of life of the early Muslim elite but also the long afterglow of late antique Syria.

By: Garth Fowden
Imprint: California Uni Pr Academc
Country of Publication: United States
Volume: No. 36
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 36mm
Weight: 680g
ISBN: 9780520236653
ISBN 10: 0520236653
Series: Transformation of the Classical Heritage
Pages: 419
Publication Date: 20 September 2004
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Garth Fowden is Research Professor at the Centre for Greek and Roman Antiquity, National Research Foundation in Athens. He is author of The Egyptian Hermes: A Historical Approach to the Late Pagan Mind (reprinted 1993) and Empire to Commonwealth: Consequences of Monotheism in Late Antiquity (1993).

Reviews for Qusayr 'Amra: Art and the Umayyad Elite in Late Antique Syria

"""Three features make this book remarkable. First, its scholarship is impeccable, unusually broad, and complete. Second, its author has a clear story to tell. Third, it illuminates the world of Late Antiquity, which is only now beginning to be understood."" - Oleg Grabar, author of The Shape of the Holy"""