Jabal Sais

{{short description|Syrian desert fortification}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2019}} {{Infobox building |name = Jabal Sais<br/>جبل سايس |image = |caption = |pushpin_map = Syria |coordinates = {{coord|33.303116|37.359575|type:_region:|display=inline,title}} |location_town= Rif Dimashq |location_country= Syria |architect= |construction_start_date= |completion_date= |demolished_date= |cost= |structural_system= |architectural_style= |size= | material = adobe }}

'''Jabal Sais''' ({{langx|ar|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.<ref name="Barker">{{cite book |last1=Barker |first1=Graeme |title=Companion Encyclopedia of Archeology Volume 1-2 |date=1999 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |page=1086 |isbn=9781134921935 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7XVom3FDKmgC&dq=Jabal+Sais+syria+desert+fortification&pg=PA1086 |access-date=13 December 2021 |archive-date=26 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220226150918/https://www.google.com/books/edition/Companion_Encyclopedia_of_Archaeology/7XVom3FDKmgC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Jabal+Sais+syria+desert+fortification&pg=PA1086&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref> Jabal Says is mountain peak next to the fortification which sits 621 meters above sea level.<ref name="Geo">{{cite web |title=Jabal Says |url=https://sy.geoview.info/jabal_says,164700 |website=Geo View |access-date=13 December 2021 |archive-date=13 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211213012201/https://sy.geoview.info/jabal_says,164700 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==History== Built from 707-715 AD and located in the Syrian Desert.<ref name="Ruggles">{{cite book |last1=Ruggles |first1=D. Fairchild |title=Islamic Gardens and Landscapes |date=2008 |publisher=University of Pennsylvanian Press |location=Philadelphia Pennsylvania |page=15 |isbn=978-0812207286 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=848k_veh0IkC&dq=Jabal+Sais+syria+desert+fortification&pg=PA15 |access-date=13 December 2021 |archive-date=26 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220226150906/https://www.google.com/books/edition/Islamic_Gardens_and_Landscapes/848k_veh0IkC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Jabal+Sais+syria+desert+fortification&pg=PA15&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref> The location was dependent on the seasonal supply of water which pooled next to the volcano crater. The palace is now just a vestige.<ref name="Heritage">{{cite web |title=Remains of the Ummayad Palace in Jabal Says |url=https://syrian-heritage.org/remains-of-the-ummayad-palace-in-jabal-says/ |website=Syrian Heritage |publisher=Syrian Heritage Archive |access-date=13 December 2021 |archive-date=13 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211213012202/https://syrian-heritage.org/remains-of-the-ummayad-palace-in-jabal-says/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The settlement at Jabal Says has existed since 528 AD.<ref name="Fisher">{{cite book |last1=Fisher |first1=Greg |title=Rome, Persia, and Arabia : shaping the Middle East from Pompey to Muhammad |date=3 December 2019 |publisher=Routledge |location=Abingdon, Oxon |isbn=978-0415728805 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n3zADwAAQBAJ&dq=syria+Jabal+Says+extinct+volcano&pg=PT125 |access-date=13 December 2021 |archive-date=26 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220226150906/https://books.google.com/books?id=n3zADwAAQBAJ&dq=syria+Jabal+Says+extinct+volcano&pg=PT125 |url-status=live }}</ref> 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'.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bacharach |first1=Jere L. |author-link=Jere L. Bacharach |editor1-last=Necpoğlu |editor1-first=Gülru |title=Muqarnas: An Annual on the Visual Culture of the Islamic World, Volume 13 |date=1996 |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden |isbn=90-04-10633-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NdCTI5FqayAC |chapter=Marwanid Umayyad Building Activities: Speculations on Patronage |pages=31–32}}</ref>

== 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.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Fisher |first=Greg |title=Rome, Persia, and Arabia: shaping the Middle East from Pompey to Muhammad |date=2020 |publisher=Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group |isbn=978-0-415-72880-5 |location=London New York |pages=128, 140}}</ref><ref name=":022">{{Cite book |last=Genequand |first=Denis |title=Arabs and empires before Islam |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-965452-9 |editor-last=Fisher |editor-first=Greg |edition= |location=Oxford, United Kingdom |pages=175–193 |chapter=The Archaeological Evidence for the Jafnisa and the Naṣrids}}</ref>

==See also== {{Commons}} *Desert castles *List of castles in Syria

==Notes== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jabal Sais}} Category:8th-century fortifications Category:Desert castles in Syria Category:Buildings and structures in Homs Governorate Category:8th-century establishments in the Umayyad Caliphate Category:715 establishments