Quṣayr [al-]

A Nabataean settlement and presumably a seaport located in northwest Saudi Arabia, linked to Roman harbours on the Red Sea and probably to Hegra (Madāʾin Ṣāliḥ), through a potential caravan route along the Wādī al-Ḥamḍ.

The site (25,95411° N; 36,7548586° E) is located ca. 45 km south of al-Wajh, on the southern bank of the Wādī al-Ḥamḍ, and ca 8 km away from its outlet (Fig. 1). In the late 19th century, the site was visited by Richard F. Burton who described the remains of a monumental building there as representing “Classical culture.” In 1992, that building was excavated by the SCTH, and interpreted as a Nabataean temple (al-Ghabban 1993, 2017). Excavated architectural elements and other objects are currently exhibited in the Riyadh National Museum, labelled as coming from “Akra Komi” but undoubtedly originating from al-Quṣayr (Nehmé 2009: 41). In 2016, the site was further investigated by the al-ʿUlā–al-Wajh Survey Project (Fiema et al. 2020).

The monumental building is very poorly preserved — the entire eastern side has been eroded away and the rest is seriously damaged — permitting only a tentative reconstruction (Figs 2, 3). The building is square (ca. 8.30 m per side), stands on a rectangular podium, and features no subdivisions. Two wide benches remain against the NW and SW walls; the third, against the SE wall, is no longer extant. The impressive array of architectural elements includes fragments of column and pilaster bases and drums, Nabataean blocked-out capitals (Fig. 4), a cornice, bevelled blocks of the crepidoma, and stucco decoration. As the original location of columns cannot be ascertained, these probably surrounded the building, which was either hypaethral or covered with a light roof. In the absence of a raised platform (motab) and as the benches seem to be dominant elements, the building appears to have been a monumental triclinium, a gathering place for ritual banquets and official meetings, used by the Nabataean elite and/or other social groups or local tribes.

Wall lines and pavement fragments mark other building remains at the site. A nearby circular tumulus (diam. ca 10 m), formed by huge quantities of camel bones, could represent a long-lasting practice of bone burial, presumably linked to the triclinium banquets. An area of hillocks further south corresponds to the ancient settlement (ca. 350 x 200 m). The surface ceramics featured Nabataean fine and common ware, and Mediterranean pottery including numerous amphorae: probable Lamboglia 2 from the Adriatic region, Campanian (e.g., Dressel 2-4), and biconical types from the Nile Valley. Also, Eastern terra sigillata from Asia Minor and one possible western sigillata sherd were found. The entire assemblage is chronologically very homogeneous and dated between the 1st c. BCE and the 1st c. CE (Durand, in press).

The Nabataean ceramics imply the existence of an important settlement linked to Petra. The same Mediterranean and Egyptian ceramic types are well represented at Myos Hormos (Quṣayr al-Qadīm, Egypt), the contemporaneous harbour facing al-Quṣayr on the opposite Red Sea coast. This indicates contact between the coasts and reflects the commercial nature of al-Quṣayr as linked to the Roman trade routes. The location of al-Quṣayr, almost at the same latitude as Myos Hormos, favours the geographical description of Leuke* Kome in the Peripl. M. Rubr. (§19). The chronological frame provided by al-Quṣayr finds corresponds well to the time of Aelius Gallus’s expedition (Strabo Geog. 16.4.23-24) and the peak in Leuke Kome’s trade activities.

Zbigniew T. Fiema, Caroline Durand & Will Kennedy

References and suggested reading

• Burton, R.F. 1879. The Land of Midian (Revisited). Vol II. London.
• Durand, C. in press. When the Merchants from Roman Egypt meet the Nabataean Caravaneers: Recent Finds from al-Quṣayr (al-Wajh, Saudi Arabia). Arabian Red Sea Route Workshop, University of Warsaw 2017. To appear in “Red Sea VIII: “Coveted Treasure” Conference Proceedings.
• Fiema, Z.T., N.A. al-Qanoor, C. Durand, W. Kennedy, et al. 2020. The 2016 Season of al-ʿUlā–al-Wajh Survey Project: Preliminary Report. Atlal 29: 81–111.
• Al-Ghabban, A.I.H. 1993. Akrā Kūmī – mīnāʾ al-hijr (qissat ʾiktishāf mīnā akrā). Kinda 1: 21–25 [in Arabic].
• Al-Ghabban, A.I.H. 2017. Akra Kome, Loki Komi and Amblone: Historical Ports on the Red Sea of Saudi Arabia (Achieving their location in Light of the Results of Archaeological Research). Riyadh: SCTH.
• Nappo, D. 2010. On the location of Leuke Kome. JRA 23: 335–348. DOI : 10.1017/S1047759400002439.
• Nehmé, L. 2009. Quelques éléments de réflexion sur Hégra et sa région à partir du II^e siècle après J.-C., in J. Schiettecatte & C.J. Robin (eds) L’Arabie à la veille de l’Islam: bilan clinique (OM, 3): 37–58. Paris: De Boccard.

_{Alternate spellings: al-Quṣayr, al-Qusayr, al-Quseir, al-Qusair, Quṣayr, Qusayr, Quseir, Qusair}