Jabal Sais (
Arabic: جبل سايس also known as Qasr Says is a
Umayyad desert fortification or former palace in
Syria which was built 707-715 AD. The fortification sits near an extinct volcano.[1] Jabal Says is mountain peak next to the fortification which sits 621 meters above sea level.[2]
History
Built from 707-715 AD and located in the Syrian Desert.[3] The location was dependent on the seasonal supply of water which pooled next to the volcano crater. The palace is now just a vestige.[4] The settlement at Jabal Says has existed since 528 AD.[5] According to the historian
Jere L. Bacharach,
al-Walid I built
Jabal Says, likely as a
Bedouin summer encampment between his base of operations in
al-Qaryatayn and another of his desert forts,
Qasr Burqu'.[6]
Jebel Usays inscription
The site contains a famous inscription known as the
Jebel Usays inscription composed either in 528 or 532/3 AD. It describes the Jafnid leader
Al-Harith ibn Jabalah with the leader al-malik, corresponding to how the title is spelt in
Syriac texts from the time.[7][8]
See also
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Jabal Sais.
^Fisher, Greg (2020). Rome, Persia, and Arabia: shaping the Middle East from Pompey to Muhammad. London New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. pp. 128, 140.
ISBN978-0-415-72880-5.
^Genequand, Denis (2015). "The Archaeological Evidence for the Jafnisa and the Naṣrids". In Fisher, Greg (ed.). Arabs and empires before Islam. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. pp. 175–193.
ISBN978-0-19-965452-9.