Qusayr  'Amra
eBook - PDF

Qusayr 'Amra

Art and the Umayyad Elite in Late Antique Syria

  1. 419 pages
  2. English
  3. PDF
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF

Qusayr 'Amra

Art and the Umayyad Elite in Late Antique Syria

About this book

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.

Frequently asked questions

Yes, you can cancel anytime from the Subscription tab in your account settings on the Perlego website. Your subscription will stay active until the end of your current billing period. Learn how to cancel your subscription.
At the moment all of our mobile-responsive ePub books are available to download via the app. Most of our PDFs are also available to download and we're working on making the final remaining ones downloadable now. Learn more here.
Perlego offers two plans: Essential and Complete
  • Essential is ideal for learners and professionals who enjoy exploring a wide range of subjects. Access the Essential Library with 800,000+ trusted titles and best-sellers across business, personal growth, and the humanities. Includes unlimited reading time and Standard Read Aloud voice.
  • Complete: Perfect for advanced learners and researchers needing full, unrestricted access. Unlock 1.4M+ books across hundreds of subjects, including academic and specialized titles. The Complete Plan also includes advanced features like Premium Read Aloud and Research Assistant.
Both plans are available with monthly, semester, or annual billing cycles.
We are an online textbook subscription service, where you can get access to an entire online library for less than the price of a single book per month. With over 1 million books across 1000+ topics, we’ve got you covered! Learn more here.
Look out for the read-aloud symbol on your next book to see if you can listen to it. The read-aloud tool reads text aloud for you, highlighting the text as it is being read. You can pause it, speed it up and slow it down. Learn more here.
Yes! You can use the Perlego app on both iOS or Android devices to read anytime, anywhere — even offline. Perfect for commutes or when you’re on the go.
Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.
Yes, you can access Qusayr 'Amra by Garth Fowden in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in History & History of Ancient Art. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Table of contents

  1. Contents
  2. Maps and Illustrations
  3. Abbreviations
  4. Preface
  5. 1. MUSIL'S FAIRY-TALE CASTLE
  6. 2. LUXURIES OF THE BATH
  7. 3. THE HUNT
  8. 4. "O GOD, BLESS THE AMĪR"
  9. 5. THE PRINCELY PATRON
  10. 6. MAINTAINING THE DYNASTY
  11. 7. THE SIX KINGS
  12. 8. A CAPTIVE SASANIAN PRINCESS
  13. 9. QUSAYR 'AMRA CONTEXTUALIZED
  14. 10. UMAYYAD SELF-REPRESENTATION
  15. Epilogue
  16. Appendix: The Value of Arabic Literary Sources
  17. Bibliography
  18. Index