manuel cohen

Stylite Tower, Umm ar-Rasas, Amman, Jordan

Stylite tower, 13m high, built for stylite monks, ascetic recluses who spent time in a room atop a secluded tower seeking solitude and practising meditation, Umm ar-Rasas, Amman, Jordan. The tower was in a square courtyard with huge Byzantine water cisterns and a church to the South. It has no staircase but a door opens on the South side of the domed roof room. A channel on the inside wall served as a toilet. Umm ar-Rasas is a rectangular walled city which grew from a Roman military camp in the Jordanian desert. Its remains date from the Roman, Byzantine and Umayyad periods (3rd - 9th centuries), including 16 churches with mosaic floors. Excavations began in 1986, although most of the site remains unexplored. It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004. Picture by Manuel Cohen

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Filename: LC12_Jordan_MC440.jpg
Image Size: 8615x3664 / 8.1MB; www.manuelcohen.com; afternoon color color image colour colour image day exterior Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan heritage horizontal image Jordan Jordanian Middle East Middle Eastern outdoors outside photograph photography tourist attraction travel Unesco UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE tourism archaeology archeology archaeological archeological history site Umm ar-Rasas Umm ar Rasas Kastrom Mefa'a Kastrom Mefaa Kastron Mefa'a Kastron Mefaa Amman Mefaat tower stylite tower stylite monk ascetic recluse hermit monk monastic reclusive square religion religious belief faith Christian Christianity early Christian byzantine Byzantium desert ruins seclusion meditation structure architecture architectural building stone solitude Umm er-Rasas crack
Contained in galleries: Jordan

Stylite tower, 13m high, built for stylite monks, ascetic recluses who spent time in a room atop a secluded tower seeking solitude and practising meditation, Umm ar-Rasas, Amman, Jordan. The tower was in a square courtyard with huge Byzantine water cisterns and a church to the South. It has no staircase but a door opens on the South side of the domed roof room. A channel on the inside wall served as a toilet. Umm ar-Rasas is a rectangular walled city which grew from a Roman military camp in the Jordanian desert. Its remains date from the Roman, Byzantine and Umayyad periods (3rd - 9th centuries), including 16 churches with mosaic floors. Excavations began in 1986, although most of the site remains unexplored. It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004. Picture by Manuel Cohen