1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910783318303321

Autore

Fowden Garth

Titolo

Quṣayr ʻAmra : art and the Umayyad elite in late antique Syria / / Garth Fowden

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Berkeley, Calif. : , : University of California Press, , 2004

©2004

ISBN

1-282-35702-6

9786612357022

0-520-92960-8

1-59734-844-9

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (xxix, 390 pages) : illustrations, map

Collana

The transformation of the classical heritage ; ; 36

Disciplina

751.7/3/0956959

Soggetti

Mural painting and decoration, Umayyad - Jordan - Foreign influences

Arabic poetry - 622-750 - History and criticism

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 335-374) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- Maps and Illustrations -- Abbreviations -- Preface -- 1. Musil's Fairy-Tale Castle -- 2. Luxuries of the Bath -- 3. The Hunt -- 4. "O God, Bless the Amír" -- 5. The Princely Patron -- 6. Maintaining the Dynasty -- 7. The Six Kings -- 8. A Captive Sasanian Princess -- 9. Quṣayr Ἁmra Contextualized -- 10. Umayyad Self-Representation -- Epilogue -- Appendix. The Value of Arabic Literary Sources -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

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, h'as 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.