Fowden, Quṣayr Ἁmra (2004)
[Bibliography]
Garth Fowden, Quṣayr Ἁmra. Art and the Umayyad Elite in Late Antique Syria series Transformation of the Classical Heritage (University of California Press, Berkley, Los Angeles, London 2004)
“From the stony desolation of Jordan's desert, it is but a step through a doorway into the bath house of the Quṣayr Ἁmra 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, Quṣayr Ἁmra, 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.”
Table of Contents: List of Maps and Illustrations. Abbreviations Preface. 1. Musil's Fairy-Tale Castle. 2. Luxuries of the Bath. 3. The Hunt. 4. "O God, Bless the Amir". 5. The Princely Patron. 6. Maintaining the Dynasty. 7. The Six Kings. 8. A Captive Sasanian Princess. 9. Qusayr 'Amra Contextualized. 10. Umayyad Self-Representation. Epilogue. Appendix: The Value of Arabic Literary Sources. Bibliography. Index. Illustrations: 68 b/w photos, 2 maps. Pages: I-XXIX and 1-390, total pages 424, hard cover.