The green circle shows Fort Bashir (Qaser Bashir). I took the image after putting the camera inot a binocular that I have. Read how I took this pohto. Click here!
I used google maps to navigate from my village to Fort Bashir. See how far is Smakieh from Fort Bashir!
Last year, for one day, I luckily had the honor of meeting and seeing the European man in the above image. This man lived in Smakieh during last summer. He was part of a German Archaeological team that worked in Khirbat Balua (Baloua) northern of Smakieh, Karak.
He is a German Archaeologist. He told me that he got his PhD from an American University. After being baffled, I asked him why he studied in the USA. Don’t they have good universities in Germany? “This University has a good Archaeology department!” He answered confidently. The Bedouin workers called him “Abu Hanna”. Hannah is the Arabic translation of the name of the oldest son of this doctor. His son’s name is like “Johanos”.
He is quite a nice person. Though he has a PhD, he is very modest. He has got a sense of humor. He is generous as well. If I had the chance of working with this man, I would certainly have improved my personality. I ruined my future with him! I was like a hungry man who found food… I kept asking him questions about the Archaeological history of the region! He must suspected that I am a spy or whatever!
I found the above image in a LiveJournal diary. He is back here in Jordan this year. This time, however, this Archaeological team didn’t rent a house in Smakieh How unlucky are Smakieh people!
Now is the important question: Is the man in the above picture Dr. Udo Vorshack?
By writing this post about this doctor, I hope that whoever will google the name “Udo Vorshack” will arrive at this post. Maybe “Udo Vorshack” himself will arrive at this page! Who knows!
Do you see Udo Vorshack in the
above picture?
This Stele is now present in the Jordanian Arachaeological Museum in Amman. Moabite was there:
http://amanfrommoab.wordpress.com/2007/09/22/stela-of-balau-again/
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Some time in the past 2 weeks, I had the chance of going to the Jordanian Archaeological museum which is situated on the top of the mountain known as: “Jabal Al Qalah”. I surely forget about all the very exotic and fanatstic ruins of all kind and from all periods and went to see the most important thing for me, the thing that I have talken much about in my Blog. I went to the Stela, the Stela which was found near my village. You must have seen me standing in front of it not knowing how to express my feelings. I was able to take a photo of myself with my precious friend.
On the right, is a board [Highlighted in green circle in the photo belove] which was put beside the Stela…
Who is Burchardt? Here is an excerpt from wikipedia:
Johann Ludwig (also known as John Lewis, Jean Louis) Burckhardt (November 24, 1784 – October 15, 1817) was a Swiss traveller and orientalist. He wrote his letters in French and signedLouis. He is best known for rediscovering the ruins of the city of Petra (today in Jordan)
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Ludwig_Burckhardt
Burckhardt’s journey took place around 1812. Before reaching petra, south of Jordan, Burckhardt had to pass through karak. In doing so, he visited the archaeological sites in the area. One of them, to my amazement, is Fort bashir. Although it is situated in a very isolated place, he visited it. Even today, 2010, the area around fort Bashir is still uninhibited by people. You can navigate around Fort Bashir in google earth. Yes, you can see Fort Bashir using google earth. If don’t have the program installed, visit the google maps website. It doesn’t require a program. Click here for the link and the instruction.
In record of his travels through the area, he wrote a book entitled “Travels in Syria & the Holy Land”. The whole book is availabe online for free. I borrowed the book from the Library of Mu’tah University. The online version, however, doesn’t contain some Arabic words that the paperback copy contains. Burkhardt worte some Arabic words in his book. I guess they were mainly the Arabic names of the locations which he visited. Click here to read the online free copy of “Travels in Syria & the Holy Land by John Burckhardt”.
Here are the exerts from Burchardt’s book when he passed and visited the Roman Fort shown in this photo; Fort Bashir. The following text was written in the early part of the nineteenth century, around 1812. This is exactly the text from the paperback book without any modifications from me! The Arabic words are from the author. I borrowed the book from the library of Mu’tah University, Karak:
[On the spot where we reached the highest banks of the Modjeb are the ruins of a place called Akeb El Debs(عقب الدبس). We followed from thence to the top of the precipice at the foot of which the river flows, in an eastern direction, for a quarter of an hour, when we reached the ruins of Arrayr (عرعاير) , the Aroer of the scriptures, standing at the edge of the precipice, from hence a foot path leads down to the river in the Koura, about one hour to the west of Arrayr, are some hillocks called Kesour el Basheir ( قصور البشير) ...]
Burchardt doesn’t mention any further information about the site, as you can red, there are almost 3 sites in his few hours walk. If he was going to write in details about every ruin site he met, pages and pages will not be enough. I was even amazed to know that there are that huge number of ruins near my village. Of all the sites mentioned above, I only knew about Kesour el Basheir (Bashir), since it is visible from my house. Read how I took this photo. Click here.
For further information, I went to the very great site: www.vkrp.org. Virtual Karak Resources Project website is authored by American Archaeologists who did studies in the governorate of Karak. It gives very detailed information about the area. The site doesn’t only provide Archaeological studies about the area, but aslo, historical, environmental, and cultural. In a page, they write about Fort Bashir.
Another example of a castra is Qasr Bshir, a cavalry outpost located nine miles northeast of el-Lejjun. An inscription over the front entrance indicates a construction date of AD 293-305. [Photo
] It is a quadriburgium fort, which means it is square with large corner towers. It is a square trapezoid 0.31 ha (0.77 acres) in size. Four large towers (12 m2) project from the corners. They are three stories high and contain slit windows. Around the perimeter of the lower level were stables for animals. Above the stables were barracks, which could house 150 men. [Photo, Plan of Qasr Bshir - 80K
Source: http://www.vkrp.org/studies/historical/roman-forts/info/castella.asp
Wow! It was built almost 1700 years ago! This is why I love Archaeology!
# Read a very interesting article written by Written by Marc-Henry Saillard. The article is present in a Jordanian Blog called 7iber.com. Click here to read the article.
Source: Virtual Karak Resources Project: www.vkrp.org
Source: Virtual Karak Resources Project: www.vkrp.org
Source: Virtual Karak Resources Project: www.vkrp.org
Source: http://www.vkrp.org/studies/historical/roman-forts/images/maps/map005.jpg
Source: http://www.archaeology.org/0011/abstracts/insight.html
source: http://www.vkrp.org/studies/historical/
Source: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/12811974
Source: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/12812000
Source: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/27576990
Source: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/38280890
Source: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/34351431
I took this photo through the eye of a modest Binocular. As you can see, I won’t any hardship convincing you that this is a picture taken in Karak; the deserted land, the Azazmehs’ (Bedouins originally from south of Palestine) tents, and finally, the far horizon which is a real desert. Why am I enclosing this photo in my post about “Romans”?
If I haven’t circled that squared dot in the distance, I would be teasing you know to guess what is in the photo related to the Romans. I could go back to Adobe Photoshop and correct the “mistake”, however, I don’t have time! You might object and tell me that I have all the time ’cause I had finished my summer semester of university. It would be true, if I am not working as a full-time secretary sending requests and receiving “business” contracts from people whom might be interested in learning Arabic.
Anyway, going back to the circled area, those are Roman ruins. What is within this circle? Can you
tell me? Yes, exactly, there is nothing but a black dot, good observation. It is a black dot on the image ’cause it is very far from my house. But what does it represent? Now your guess have a value, What? No, it is not. It is a roman fortress, which was built-as I remember- a protection from the raids coming from the desert. What more information I know about this fortress? The swiss explorer who discovered Petra in the early nineteenth century passed from here. Do you know who am I talking about? He is Johann Lewis Burkhardt. In other words: “Burckhardt was there”! Wow! This great swiss explorer months before his going to Petra, took a look at that Roman castle. For more information, you can read his book: “Travels in Syria and the holy land”. On Sunday, I will go to Mu’tah University so as to return 2 books I have borrowed. I will add another task to this,I will go to Burckhardt’s book and copy the lines where he talked about his passing from this area.
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