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full size in new window. | Title / Description: Tower Tomb; background, Q'laat ibn Maan castle
Provenance: Palmyra, Syria
Object Type: image - architecture
Commentary: This picture shows one of Palmyra's Tower Tombs, which were located in the Valley of the Tombs. The Q'laat ibn Maan castle visible on the hill in the background of this picture was built by the emir Ibn Ma'an Fakhr al-Din, who lived during the 16th and 17th centuries CE. Inside the tower tombs, the wealthy families of Palmyra placed their deceased for eternity. The towers sometimes reached a height of up to five stories, and were often decorated in the interior with busts of the entombed and other adornments. The tower tomb phenomenon was also found in areas of North Africa as well as in Palmyra.
Bibliography:
The Archaeological Encyclopedia of the Holy Land;
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East, vol. 2, 4
Author of Commentary: Adam Mendelson
Source: Cutts, Edward L.
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