Desert castles

[8] With a few exceptions, the desert castles conform to a common template consisting of a square structure similar to Roman castra[9] as their main building, typically boasting an elaborate entrance.

[6][dubious – discuss][9] The interior rooms of the main structure were ornately decorated with floor-mosaics and wall paintings featuring designs that exhibit both eastern and western influences.

[10] Yet other scholars, investigating the geographic distribution of desert castles, note that they are principally situated along the Silk Road or pilgrimage routes and may have operated as a type of caravanserai.

[11] Archaeologists have investigated the role of these desert castles, with the traditional view that they served as country estates or hunting lodges for the use of aristocratic families during the winter season.

The complex at Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi in Syria, for example, sits within a vast agricultural estate and the buildings include structures associated with the production of olive oil.

[14] After the Umayyad conquest, the quṣūr lost their original function and were either abandoned or continued to serve as local market places and meeting points until the 10th century.

[17] The more isolated "desert castles" built in arid regions are chiefly located on the ancient trade routes connecting Damascus with Medina and Kufa or adjacent to a natural oasis.

[1] Their location along major routes and next to the very scarce water sources seems to indicate that they enabled the Umayyads to control the roads militarily, monitor and tax the seasonal movement of people and their livestock, and not least, impress travellers and local tribes with lavish displays of monumental architecture, baths and ponds in the middle of an arid landscape.