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An Umayyad
site of Lebanon
Aanjar,
58 kilometers from Beirut, is completely different from any other archaeological
experience you'll have in Lebanon. At other historical sites in the
country, different epochs and civilizations are superimposed one on top of
the other.
Aanjar is exclusively one period, the Umayyad.
Lebanon's other sites were founded millennia ago, but
Aanjar is a relative new-comer, going back to the early 8th century A.D.
Unlike Tyre and Byblos, which claim continuous habitation since the day
they were founded, Aanjar flourished for only a few decades.
Other than a small Umayyad mosque in Baalbeck, we have
few other remnants from this important period of Arab History. |
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Aanjar also stands unique as the only historic example of an inland
commercial center. The city benefited from its strategic position on
intersecting trade routes leading to Damascus, Homs, Baalbeck and
the south. This almost perfect quadrilateral of ruins lies in the
midst of the richest agricultural land in Lebanon. It is only a
short distance from gushing springs and one of the important sources
of the Litani River. Today's name, Aanjar, comes from the Arabic Ain
Gerrha, "the source of Gerrha", the name |
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Aerial view of the
site of Aanjar |
of
an ancient city founded in this area during Hellenistic times.
Aanjar has a special beauty. The city's slender columns and fragile
arches stand in contrast to the massive bulk of the nearby
Anti-Lebanon mountains--an eerie background for Aanjar extensive
ruins and the memories of its short but energetic moment in history. |
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The Tetrapylon,
a monumental entrance
with four gates |
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History,
Aanjar's Masters, The Umayyads
The Umayyads, the first hereditary dynasty of
Islam, ruled from Damascus in the first century after the Prophet
Mohammed, from 660 to 750 A.D.
They are credited with the great Arab conquests that created an
Islamic empire stretching from the Indus Valley to southern France.
Skilled in administration and planning, their
empire prospered for a 100 years. Defeat befell them when the
Abbasids--their rivals and their successors--took advantage of the
Umayyad's increasing decadence.
Some chronicles and literary documents inform us that it was Walid
I, son of Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, who built the
city--probably between 705
and 715 A.D.
Walid's son Ibrahim lost Aanjar when he was
defeated by his cousin Marwan II in a battle two kilometers form the
city. |
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Excavating
Aanjar
Just after Lebanon gained independence in
1943, the country's General Directorate of Antiquities began to
investigate a strip of land in the Beqaa valley sandwiched between
the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon mountains some 58 kilometers east of
Beirut. This was Aanjar, then a stretch of blend bareness with
parched shrubbery and stagnant swamps that covered the vast area of
these archaeological remains.
The site at first seemed painfully modest,
especially when compared with the rest of Lebanon's archaeological
wonders. What attracted the antiquities experts to Aanjar was not
such the ruins themselves as the information they held. Beneath the
impersonal grayness of Aanjar, the experts suggested, lay the
vestiges of the eighth century Umayyad dynasty that ruled from
Damascus and held sway over an empire.
That idea was particularly interesting because Lebanon--that unique
crossroads of the ages--boasted ample archaeological evidence of
almost all stages of Arab history with the exception of the Umayyad.
Early in the excavation engineers drained the swamps. Stands of
evergreen cypresses and eucalyptus trees were planted and flourish |
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General view of the
site

The public baths
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today,
giving these stately ruins a park-like setting. To date, almost the
entire site has been excavated and some monuments have been
restored. Among the chief structures are the Palace I and the Mosque
in the south-east quarter, the residential area in the southwest,
the Palace II in the northwest and the Palace III and public bath
in the northeast. |
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V
I S I T I N G T H E S I T
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The Cardo Maximus
lined with shops |
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To sense the vastness of the city, drive around the outside of the
fortified enclosures before entering the 114,000 square-meter site.
The north-south walls run 370 meters and the east-west sides extend
310 meters. The walls are two meters thick and built from a core of
mud and rubble with an exterior facing facing of sizable blocks and
an interior facing of smaller layers of blocks. Against the interior
of the enclosures are three stairways built on each side. They gave
access to the top of the walls where guards circulated and protected
the town. Each wall |
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has
an imposing gate, and towers (40 in all) are sited on each stretch of
wall. The Umayyad's hundred-year history is steeped in war and conquest.
Apparently their rulers felt that these wall and tower defenses were a
necessary feature of their architecture.
Nearly 60 inscriptions and graffiti from Umayyad times are scattered on
the city's surrounding walls. One of them, dated 123 of the Hegira (741
A.D.), is located in the western wall between the fourth and the fifth
tower from the southwest.
Today visitors enter through the northern gate of the
site but as the main points of interest are at the southern half of the
city, it's better to walk up the main street to the far end of the site.
You are walking along the 20-meter-wide Cardo Maximus (a Latin meaning a
major street running north and south) which is flanked by shops, some of
which have been reconstructed. |
At the half-way point of this commercial street a second major
street called Decumanus Maximus (running east to west) cuts across
it at right angles. It is also flanked by shops. In all, 600 shops
have been uncovered, giving Aanjar the right to call itself a major
Umayyad strip mall.
The masonry work, of Byzantine origin, consists of courses of cut
stone alternating with courses of brick. This technique, credited to
the Byzantines reduced the effects of earthquakes.
The tidy division of the site into four quarters is based on earlier
Roman city planning. At the city's crossroads you'll have your first
hint that the Umayyads were great recyclers. Tetrapylons mark the
four corners of the intersection.
This configuration, called a tetrastyle is remarkably |
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The Great Palace |
reminiscent
of Roman architecture. One of the tetrapylons has been reconstructed
with its full quota of four columns. Note the Greek inscriptions at
the bases and the Corinthian capitals with their characteristic
carved acanthus leaves-delightful to look at but definitely not
original to the Umayyads.
A city with 600 shops and an overwhelming concern
for security must have required a fair number of people. Keeping
this in mind, archaeologists looked for remains of an extensive
residential area and found it just beyond the tetrastyle to the
southwest. However, these residential quarters received the least
attention from archaeologists and need further excavation.
Along both sides of the streets you'll see evenly
spaced column bases and mostly fallen columns that were once part of
an arcade that ran the length of the street.
Enough of these have been reconstructed to allow your imagination to
finish the job.
The columns of the arcade are by no means homogeneous; they differ
in type and size and are crowned by varying capitals. Most of them
are Byzantine, more indication that the Unayyads helped themselves
to Byzantine and other ruins scattered
around the area. |
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Reconstructed façade
of the Great Palace

A façade of the
Great Palace
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On your way to the arcaded palace ahead, notice the numerous slabs
of stone that cover the top of what was the city's drainage and
sewage system. These manholes are convincing evidence of the city's
well-planned infrastructure.
The great or main palace itself was the first landmark to emerge in
1949 when Aanjar was discovered. One wall and several arcades of the
southern half of the palace have been reconstructed. As you stand in
the 40-square-meter open courtyard, it is easy to picture the palace
towering around you all four sides. Just to the north of the palace
are the sparse remains of a mosque measuring 45x32 meters. The
mosque had two public entrances and a private one for the caliph.
If you enjoy a good game of archaeological hide and seek, the second
palace is the place for you. It is decorated with much finer and
more intricate engravings, rich in motifs borrowed from the
Greco-Roman tradition. Very little reconstruction has been done to
this palace so its floors and grounds are in their natural state.
With patience you will |
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find
stone carvings of delightful owls, eagles, seashells and the famous
acanthus leaves.
More evidence of the Umayyad dependence on the architectural traditions of
other cultures appears some 20 meters north of this second palace. These
Umayyad baths contain the three classical sections of the Roman bath: the
vestiary where patrons changed clothing before their bath and rested
afterwards, and three rooms for cold, warm and hot water. The size of the
vestiary indicates the bath was more than a source of phisical well-being
but also a center of social interaction. A second, smaller, bath or
similar design is marked on the map.
Aanjar Today
Aanjar is open daily. Close to the ruins of Aanjar
are a number of restaurants which offer fresh trout plus a full array of
Lebanese and Armenian dishes. Some of the restaurants are literally built
over the trout ponds. Aanjar has no hotels but lodging can be found in
Chtaura 15 kilometers away.
If you have time
Ain Gerrha. Aanjar's major spring is located 3 kilometers northeast of
the ruins.
Majdal Aanjar. A Roman period temple sits on a hilltop overlooking
this village, which is one kilometer from Aanjar.
The Mausoleum of El-Wali Zawur is the burial spot of a religious
personage from medieval times. Until the early 1980s fertility rites were
held here.
Kfar Zabad. Roman temple ruins and a cave with stalactites and
stalagmites. Special equipment needed for the cave. |
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VISIT
OTHER CITIES
(BEIRUT
- BYBLOS - JEITA GROTTO - TRIPOLI
- SIDON - ZAHLÉ - BAALBECK)
(THE CEDARS - TYRE - BEITEDDINE) |
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EGYPT - SYRIA - JORDAN
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