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An almost perfectly preserved example of a fortified Crusader-era tower, once part of the outer defences of the Hospitaller fortress at Tortosa (Tartus). تعتبر هذه القلعة نموذجاً شبه كامل لعمارة الأبراج المحصنة في الفترة الصليبية، وقد كانت فيما مضى جزءاً من نقاط الدفاع الخارجية عن تحصينات الفرسان الاوسبتاليين في طرطوس. Location map —     […]

Only a few fragments of the original structure remain at this site—the core of a Byzantine tower incorporated into the Umayyad structure and some gateposts of the entrances. To get some impression of the remains, more can be gained from a visit to the National Museum in Damascus, where the reconstructed great gateway and many […]

This fascinating complex, an example of the early Umayyad attempts to tame the Syrian interior and introduce irrigated agriculture to the steppe, lies almost 100 kms east of Palmyra. Two striking enclosures provided a complex to be used by the Caliph in his transit between Iraq and Syria. They also sheltered caravan traffic, brought a […]

Qasr Ibn Wardan today lies in fairly marginal country on the edge of the Syrian Steppe. Once it housed a Byzantine mansion house / church complex typical of such establishments intended both to exploit the area’s agricultural potential and to ensure its protection. The mansion house or ‘palace’ is dated by inscription to AD 564, […]

This Bronze Age city was originally dug in the 1920s, during the French Mandate period. More recent excavations by several Syrian and European teams have revealed a city with the attributes of a rich kingdom, as revealed by the remains of extensive Middle / Late Bronze Age palace complexes including an intact royal grave. Qatna […]

This small site, scattered between houses of a modern village, contains a surprising variety of remains including Roman funeral reliefs and rock-cut tombs, a two-column funeral monument and a tower. تنتشر البقايا الأثرية من العصر الروماني في هذا الموقع بين بيوت القرية الحديثة، وتتضمن مجموعات متنوعة وفخمة من المنحوتات الجنائزية والمدافن المحفورة بالصخر، إضافة إلى […]

Little remains of the ancient Roman and Byzantine town, once protecting an important cross-roads on the communications route between Antioch and the Syrian Steppe. The small town of al-`iss (العيسى) lies under the mountain today topped by the tomb of an Islamic holy man. The classical-era fortress covered the smaller acropolis hill southwest of the […]