Roman Palace at Inkhil (Qasr Zain al-Abidin)

A large Roman-period house of basalt stands in the town of Inkhil in the northern Hauran. Arabic sources call it Qasr Zain al-Abidin, sometimes Qasr al-Hariri; both names come from families who lived in it in later times. It is counted among the largest and best-preserved old houses in southern Syria and has been on the national heritage list since 1968.

Getting there

Inkhil is about 60 kilometres south of Damascus, in the as-Sanamayn district of Daraa province, between Jasim and al-Qunayyah. The palace is inside the town. Its coordinates could not be confirmed by an independent source, so this page carries no map; ask for it in town. Do not confuse it with Qasr al-Alwa, the other old basalt building in Inkhil; they are two separate buildings.

How long it takes

Forty-five minutes. The courtyard, the central hall and the side wing all adjoin one another.

What to see

A paved stone courtyard lies in front. At the centre of the ground floor is a large reception hall. Its ceiling is made of stone beams laid on stone corbels projecting from the walls, and a great arch divides the hall in two. Service rooms line the eastern and western wings. The upper floor held small rooms, probably bedrooms; too little is left today to recover the plan. A separate wing reached through the main façade has feeding troughs set into the walls, which is why it is thought to have been a stable or storeroom. The decoration is geometric and floral.

Whose house

The architecture, the pottery found there and the likeness to other wealthy houses in the Hauran place the building in the Roman period; Arabic sources give the end of the 2nd century and the start of the 3rd. It is thought to have been the house of a local notable, perhaps the governor. In English, Warwick Ball describes a 2nd-century villa at Inkhil with a vaulted central hall, rooms that held basalt busts and statues, decorated entrances and conch-headed niches. That villa is very likely Qasr Zain al-Abidin, but no source found explicitly matches the two names.

Do not miss

The arch that splits the hall. Timber was scarce in the Hauran, so roofs had to be stone, and a stone beam can only cross a short span. By dividing the hall into two narrower bays, the great arch makes it possible to roof a large room in stone. Look up and follow how the beams sit on the arch and the corbels.

The older town

In antiquity Inkhil was called Neeila. An inscription on lintel fragments found in an abandoned house records a temple built in 161-163 at the expense of the temple treasurers Ailius Torquatus and Sados. A Roman bronze statuette found in the town is now in the National Museum of Damascus. In the Byzantine period the area was controlled by the Ghassanids, Arab clients of the empire. The Ottoman tax registers of 1596 list the town as Nahal.

The site today

The palace was a lived-in house until 1992. That year ownership passed to the Daraa antiquities department and restoration began: stone arches were rebuilt, the roof was renewed using traditional methods, and the basalt walls were repaired. Local press reports further work in 2019. Inkhil saw fighting after 2011; the present condition of the building and whether it is open to visitors could not be verified.