Painting of the Six Kings
| Painting of the Six Kings | |
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Painting of the Six Kings, with visible damage
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| Artist | Unknown Umayyad 8th century painter |
| Year | c. 710–750 |
| Type | Fresco painting |
| Condition | damaged |
| Location | Qasr Amra, Jordan |
| 31°48′07″N 36°34′36″E / 31.801935°N 36.57663°E | |
The Painting of the Six Kings is a fresco found on the wall of Qasr Amra, a desert castle of the Umayyad Caliphate located in modern-day Jordan. It depicts six rulers standing in two rows of three. Four of the six have inscriptions in Arabic and Greek identifying them as the Byzantine emperor, King Roderic of Hispania, the Sasanian emperor, and the Negus of Aksum. The painting, now substantially damaged, is thought to be from between 710 and 750, commissioned by the Umayyad caliph or someone in his family. It is one of the most famous frescoes in the Qasr Amra complex.
The painting is located in Qasr Amra (also transcribed "Quseir Amra", literally "little palace of Amra"), an Umayyad desert structure and a UNESCO World Heritage Site about 85 kilometres (53 mi) east of Amman and 21 kilometres (13 mi) southwest of the Azraq Wetland Reserve, Jordan. The complex has several frescoes painted on its walls. The remoteness and size of the structure suggest that it served as a desert retreat for Umayyad rulers at the time.
The painting is on the southern end of the west portion of the main wall. Along with other works in the complex, it was cleaned and preserved in the 1970s by a team from the National Archaeological Museum of Spain.
Historian Elizabeth Drayson estimated the earliest possible date for the painting to be 710, the year of the accession of Roderic – one of the kings portrayed in the painting – and the latest to be 750, the year of Abbasid Revolution that overthrew the Umayyads. The artist who painted the fresco is unknown. The patron who commissioned the building, including the painting, was likely one of the caliphs al-Walid I (reigned 705–715), al-Walid II (r. 743–744) or Yazid III (r. 744). It might have been commissioned after the patron became caliph, or before, when the patron was a member of the caliph's family and held the position of governor or heir.
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