East Wall

View looking along the 125 ft. [38 m.] long outer east wall of the Tobiad palace at Iraq el–Amir.   On the right (north) side of the image note that the lower portion of the wall is three courses of stone block high.   A stone molding marks the division between the upper and lower floors.    All totaled, it is estimated that the building was 40 ft. [12 m.] high.

These large blocks were quarried in from the cliffs west of the Wadi es–Sir.  Note their very smooth face (= “boss”) and the fine edges (= “margins”).   Later, similar style stones would be produced by the stonemasons of Herod the Great (37–4 B.C.) for his building projects in Jerusalem and elsewhere.

Along the second course of these stones, left of center, there are seven large windows.  These gave light to the interior of the building.  To view these on the west side of the building Click Here .

Just below the center of the image is one of the two leopard fountains that were built into the lower courses of stones on both the east and the west walls.

Image courtesy of Mark Connally