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Qasr Al-Abd is a Hellenistic palace dating from approximately 200 BCE whose ruins stand in western Jordan, approximately 17 kilometers west of Amman. It is a two-story stone structure (measuring about 40 meters by 20 meters, and 13 meters high) and was described by Flavius Josephus in the 1st century CE as a "strong fortress, which was constructed entirely of white marble up to the very roof and had beasts of gigantic size carved on it; and he enclosed it with a wide and deep moat". Little is known for sure about the actual history of this palace, but it is widely believed to have been built in the 2nd century BCE by Hyrcanus, head of the powerful Tobiad family (a Jewish faction at the beginning of the Maccabean period) and governor of the Kingdom of Ammon.
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Cite This Work
APA Style
Raddato, C. (2018, May 11). Hellenistic Palace Qasr Al-Abd. World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.worldhistory.org/image/8748/hellenistic-palace-qasr-al-abd/
Chicago Style
Raddato, Carole. "Hellenistic Palace Qasr Al-Abd." World History Encyclopedia. Last modified May 11, 2018. https://www.worldhistory.org/image/8748/hellenistic-palace-qasr-al-abd/.
MLA Style
Raddato, Carole. "Hellenistic Palace Qasr Al-Abd." World History Encyclopedia. World History Encyclopedia, 11 May 2018. Web. 25 Apr 2024.
