Qasr Bshir (Arabic: قصر بشير; also rendered Qasr Bashir, Qasr Bshayr, and at times Kasr Bschêr or Ksour-Bchêr) is a Roman fortlet set upon an arid, desert plateau overlooking the valley of the Wadi al-Mujib in present-day Jordan.
Erected around the year 300, during the Tetrarchy, on the site of an earlier Nabataean installation, this modest outpost is attested by an inscription bearing the Latin names castra praetori Mobeni or praetorium Mobeni. Intended to house a cavalry unit, it formed, in the 4th and 5th centuries, a link in the defensive chain known to modern historians as the limes Arabicus. Abandoned by the Romans in the 5th century, it was briefly reoccupied under the Umayyads before falling into permanent desolation.
Its solitary ruins were rediscovered by Western explorers in the late 19th century and have been the subject of archaeological study since 1982. They stand today among the best-preserved examples of frontier fortifications from the Roman Empire. Since 2001, Jordan has sought their inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List, a distinction contingent upon the site’s continued restoration and protection.
