Cardo Maximus (Aanjar)

An Ancient City? - but where on Earth is it?

This is an ancient City which we saw recently...but where is it? Have a look at the movie and see if you recognise the architecture. Details are listed below but have a look first to test your knowledge...

Aanjar was built by the Umayyads, the first hereditary dynasty of Islam, ruled from Damascus, in the first century after the Prophet Mohammed, from 660 to 750 A.D.

The Umayyad's empire prospered for 100 years. They are credited with the great Arab conquests that created an Islamic Empire stretching from the Indus Valley to Southern France. Defeat befell them when the Abbasids - their rivals and their successors --

Some chronicles and literary documents inform us that it was Walid I, son of Caliph Abd al-Malik bin Marwan, who built the city - probably between 705 and 715 A.D..

Aanjar also stands unique as the only historic example of an inland commercial centre. The city benefited from its strategic position on intersecting trade routes leading to Damascus, Homs, and Baalbeck to the South.

The main pathway is a 20-meter-wide Cardo Maximus (a Latin term meaning a major street running north and south) which is flanked by shops, some of which have been reconstructed. At the half-way point of this commercial street a second major street called Decumanus Maximus (running east to west) cuts across it at right angles. It is also flanked by shops. In all, 600 shops have been uncovered, giving Aanjar the right to call itself a major Umayyad strip mall.

The masonry work, of Byzantine origin, consists of courses of cut stone alternating with courses of brick. This technique, credited to the Byzantines, reduced the effects of earthquakes.The tidy division of the site into four quarters is based on earlier Roman city planning. At the city's crossroads you'll have your first hint that the Umayyads were great recyclers. Tetrapylons mark the four corners of the intersection. This configuration, called a tetrastyle is remarkably reminiscent of Roman architecture.

Among the chief structures are the Palace I and the Mosque in the southeast quarter (The mosque had two public entrances and a private one for the caliph), the residential area in the southwest, the Palace II in the northwest and the Palace III and public bath in the northeast

Source for information: -from.best in lebanon
Music by Music4YourVids.co.uk -- Beginnings, thanks to Rickvanman