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Qasr al-Hallabat is located just off the main road about
30 kilometers east into the desert from Zarqa. It was
originally a Roman fort built during the reign of
Caracalla (198-217 CE) to defend against raiding desert
tribes.
 There is evidence that, before Caracalla, Trajan
had established a post there on the remains of a
Nabatean settlement. During the seventh century CE, the
site became a monastery, and the Umayyads then fortified
it and decorated it with ornate frescoes and decorative
carvings.
Its buildings include a palace (qasr), a mosque, a huge
reservoir, 8 cisterns dug into the western slope, an
irregularly shaped agricultural enclosure with an
elaborate system of sluices, and a cluster of poorly
built houses which extend to the northwest of the
reservoir. Two kilometers past Qasr al-Hallabat, heading
east, are ruins of the main bathing complex known as
Hammam al-Sarah. The baths were once adorned with marble
and lavish mosaics. Today, you can still see the
channels that were used for hot water and steam. |
