PAINTINGS The earliest illustrations of Muslim pictorial art are the frescoes of Qusayr Amrah, which suggest workmanship of Christian painters. On the walls of this Transjordanian pleasure house and bath of the Umayyads are pictures of six royal personages, including the caliph himself and his enemy Roderick, the last Visigothic king of Spain. Other symbolic figures represent Victory, Philosophy, History and Poetry. A hunting scene depicts a lion attacking a wild ass. A number of nude pictures represent dancers, musicians and merrymakers. The ornament consists of draperies, foliage growing out of vases, vines, palm tree with clusters of fruit, laurel and birds of the desert. The inscriptions are mostly Arabic, with few names in Greek. Nowhere else in the Muslim world have pictures been preserved in such perfect condition.8
