The Minaret of the Bride is the oldest and most beautiful minaret of the Umayyad Mosque. According to a 17th century historian, its name is attributed to the daughter of a Damascene merchant who was asked by the King to provide lead, a scarce material at this time, to cover the roof of the minaret. The merchant's daughter would not give him the material before he paid her the weight of the lead in silver, which he eventually did. Convinced that he was a man of his word, she donated the lead for free and agreed to marry the king. The minaret was thereafter given the title of the woman who provided the leaden covering: Al-Arous - The Bride.
5 comments:
Interesting story..
Do you know the name of the king or when did this story happen?
That's a really beauitful tower!
:: LUNA ::
Not really. The source is Ibrahim al-Khayari, an Arab historian and traveler who died in 1672. The bit about Al-Arous Minaret is from what he wrote about his Damascus trip. He did not mention the King's name or when this story took place. He simply said that he was told this story by some "trusted people."
"The Bride" name has nothing to do with that story.
It is called "The Bride" as its location was dedicated for worshiping Ishtar, the chief goddess of the Babylonians and the Assyrians and the counterpart of Astarte, a Phoenician goddess.
The Bride is, simply, Ishtar the goddess of fertility.
Hi ayman, I just wanted you to know that I used the information about the Bride on a pic of her I took in my visit to Syria. :) I hope you don't mind. You can check my blog if you want. BTW, I really love your Blog.
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