This volume on Khirbat al-Minya is a welcome addition to studies on the phenomenon of the early Islamic qusur (singular qasr, often styled ‘desert castles’). The palace is located close to the western shore of the Sea of Galilee (Lake Tiberias), and is contemporaneous with the palace of Sinnabra (Khirbat el-Karak, or Beit Yerah) and the district capital of Tiberias (al-Tabariyya). The studies published in this volume originate from a colloquium held at Berlin in 2011, a remarkable assembly of scholars interested in all aspects of this site (it is regrettable that the group photograph on page 2 does not name each participant). The ‘Vorwort’ by the editor, Hans-Peter Kuhnen, gives a brief background of the research by Mainz, Berlin and other institutions that is shaping a long-term programme of conservation and presentation of this remarkable monument.

The volume begins with notes on landscape change and on the geoarchaeology around Khirbat al-Minya, the former by the editor. Kuhnen discusses the landscape stratigraphy of Tiberias in terms of relative lake-level changes and sedimentation; the latter process is evident in the Byzantine through to the Abbasid periods (sixth to ninth centuries AD). The evidence from around Khirbat al-Minya suggests an improvement in agricultural potential during the early Islamic period. This discussion is intended to lay the foundations for a long-term study of the region from Khirbat al-Minya south to Magdala, an area known on nineteenth-century maps as Genezareth, or el-Ghuweir. This chapter makes a strong case for the conservation of Khirbat al-Minya in conjunction with the study of its wider historical landscape.

Wolfgang Zwickel presents the setting for Khirbat al-Minya in a broad landscape analysis of Islamic settlements. The regions around the Sea of Galilee are divided into Upper and Lower Galilee on the west, the Golan and eastern Jordan on the east, and the Jordan valley to the south. A series of maps with uniform yellow lozenge symbols indicate settlements of each Islamic period. These are most peculiar maps without any place names, roads or indications of relative site size. Happily, there is a chart, Appendix A (pp. 99–104), which gives the names, periods and coordinates for the reader to fill in missing details on the maps—not perhaps the best way to present these data.

Direct consideration of Khirbat al-Minya begins with analysis by Markus Ritter of the foundation inscription. This prime historical evidence is reconsidered in terms of the circumstances of its discovery and early interpretations. Ritter carefully reconstructs the four phases of its use in the building, and posits its original form as a lintel, possibly over an entrance to the mosque. He continues with an epigraphic analysis of the extant inscription, with protocols and parallels for other inscriptions. This is augmented with a most useful appendix listing information on some 24 Umayyad foundation inscriptions. In conclusion, Ritter suggests strong circumstantial evidence for Walid II (AD 743–744) as the original builder, although he admits the traditional identification with Walid I (AD 705–715) remains a possibility. He concludes “‘What's in a name?’ So far we have only the scent of the rose” (p. 74). The reputation of Walid II, however, is hardly that of a rose, and one is loathe to extend the erroneous attribution of Khirbet al-Mafjar (e.g. Hamilton Reference Hamilton1988) to this site. Perhaps one might compromise between the two Walids by adopting Bacharach's (Reference Bacharach1996: 35) suggestion that the builder was ‘Umar, the son of Walid I, although that analysis ignores this inscription.

The most detailed archaeological discussion is found in the chapter by Katya Cytryn, an active specialist in Islamic archaeology who has excavated at both Tiberias and Khirbat al-Minya. Her presentation of Tiberias is particularly welcome as this city was the district jund (capital) throughout the early Islamic period, and was located between the two palatial complexes of Khirbat al-Minya and Sinnabra (Khirbat al-Karak). The latter has been excavated by Tawfiq Da'adli, who was present at the 2011 Berlin conference and apparently deferred publication in this volume for his own monograph (Greenberg et al. n.d.). Cytryn has revised her 2011 paper to include the results of her extensive excavations defining the Friday mosque at Tiberias. The four phases of this monumental building are clearly depicted on the plan (p. 113, fig. 2). The earliest mosque was built just after the conquest in the seventh century and replaced by a monumental building in the early eighth century (phase 2 and contemporaneous with Khirbat al-Minya). Cytryn ably compares this mosque to the great mosques of Damascus and Jerusalem, as well as that of Ramla. Phases 3 and 4 encompass restoration after the AD 749 earthquake through to the final destruction, apparently from another quake in 1068. Thereafter, at least part of the mosque was used by the later sugar industry.

When Cytryn turns to Khirbat al-Minya, its role in medieval sugar production commands her attention, as she confines her discussion to the excavations of 2005 and 2006 by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Two rooms revealed ovens and other installations, as well as ceramics associated with sugar production, located above the original Umayyad mosaics. The new mosaic in Room B is presented here in colour for the first time (p. 123, fig. 14). Perhaps more important are Cytryn's documentary references to a day'a (agricultural estate) called Munyat Hisham and to the Arab geographer al-Muqaddasi's comment about sugar cane, both of which suggest production in the tenth and eleventh centuries, antecedent to Crusader activities.

The chapter by Jutta Haser provides a brief overview of urban settlements based upon Walmsley's research and discusses the site of Tall Zira'a (near Gadara). She gives plans of two excavations (areas I and II), each showing near identical late Byzantine and Umayyad phases. Never has there been more startling proof of settlement continuity over this oft-considered dramatic political break.

The final chapter is an appreciation of Khirbat al-Minya by Franziska Bloch, in which she gives a masterful history of the excavations, with a description and map of other desert castles (qusur). She mentions 22 similar complexes, although this number is far from complete and likely to remain so, as long as Genequand (Reference Genequand2014) may be active in this field. The dating of Khirbat al-Minya is compared to other similar sites, with a brief mention of the ceramic evidence that she discusses elsewhere (Bloch Reference Bloch, Bloch, Daiber and Knötzele2006). With the end of this chapter, the fund of archaeological information is suddenly and sadly curtailed. One is left with a desire for more publications, such as Ritter (Reference Ritter2016), and indeed with great hopes that this German initiative will lead to a fuller understanding of this important monument in the context of its historical landscapes.