Full Tour of a Roman Fort! - Fort Mobene (Qasr Bshir)

Qasr Bshir was a Roman fort in the desert of Jordan. Mobene, as it was called in Antiquity, is the best-preserved Roman fort in the Middle East.
Qasr Bshir belongs to the chain of forts and watchtowers that is known as the Limes Arabicus and was meant to protect the province of Arabia against roaming desert nomads. They were not extremely dangerous or exceptionally violent, but their dromedaries made them swift, and if trouble arose, they could pillage large parts of the Roman countryside. The Limes Arabicus had to counter this threat, and Mobene was one of the fortifications.

Primary Sources:
-Ammianus Marcellinus. 14.8.
-Ammianus Marcellinus. 14.4.
-Eusebius of Caesarea. Onom. 10.15-24.
-Eusebius of Caesarea. Onom. 11.13-23.
-Notitia Dignitatum Pars Orientalis. 61.
-CIL III, 14149.

Secondary Sources:
-Arce, I. “Severan Castra, Tetrarchic Quadriburgia, Justinian Coenobia, and Ghassanid Diyarat: Patterns of transformation of limes Arabicus forts during late antiquity” in Collins, R; Symonds, M. & Weber, M. (eds.) Roman Military Architecture on the Frontiers Armies and Their Architecture in Late Antiquity, Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2015, 98-122.
-Kennedy, D. The Roman Army in Jordan. Council for British Research in the Levant: London, 2004.
-Parker, T. S. Romans and Saracens: A History of the Arabian Frontier. The American School of Oriental Research: Winona Lake, 1984..
-Parker, T. S. (ed.) The Roman Frontier in Central Jordan: Final Report of the Limes Arabicus Project 1980-1989. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection: Washington D.C.
-Parker, T. S. (ed.) The Roman Frontier in Central Jordan: Interim Report on the Limes Arabicus Project 1980-1985. BAR International Series: Oxford, 1987.

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