Qasr al-Abd

Hellenistic palace of the Tobiad family, 2nd century BC

Qasr al-Abd is the centrepiece of Iraq al-Amir — one of the very few Hellenistic buildings surviving in Jordan and one of the most unusual in the Middle East. The palace, built in the second century BC by Hyrcanus of the Tobiad family, was partially reconstructed by a French archaeological mission in the 1980s using the original stones, which had collapsed in an earthquake. The result is both archaeological and architectural: you can see the scale and ambition of the original building clearly.

The carved animals are the outstanding feature — massive lions and eagles worked into the walls with a naturalism unusual for the period. The scale of construction is also striking: the main walls use some of the largest individual blocks in any ancient structure in the Middle East. A small museum on site explains the site and the Tobiads. Allow an hour.

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The palace was built by Hyrcanus of the Tobiad family around 175 BC, likely to escape his family's bitter factional warfare. Josephus described him as a man of immense talent and great ambition who "built a large and magnificent palace, with all the most costly material." The structure collapsed in an earthquake, probably in 362 AD, and the reconstruction work in the 1980s used original stones numbered on the ground — each block weighing up to 20 tonnes, fitted without mortar.