The Qasr al-Abd is believed to be Tyros, the palace of a Tobiad notable, Hyrcanus of Jerusalem, head of the powerful Tobiad family and governor of Ammon in the 2nd century BCE. The first known written description (see Note 1) of the castle is from Josephus, a first-century Jewish-Roman historian.

In its heyday, the palace of Qasr al-'abd would have resembled a ship floating on an inland body of water. It was built in an artificial lake fed by water from the nearby sources; this was brought underground to two fountains in the form of panthers. The palace dates to the second century BCE and may have been constructed as a summer residence by a prince of the Ammonite-Tobiad dynasty.

The palace is believed to have been badly damaged by the 363 CE Galilee earthquake. It preserved its original two stories due to the fact that was reused as a church during the Byzantine period.

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Exterior
The palace (measuring about 40 metres by 20 metres, and 13 metres high), with it massive stone-architecture and splending carvings, consists of two storeys topped by representations of lions, panthers and eagles. Although construction was never completed, the palace still stands as a model for luxurious architecture of the time and is a rare example of Hellenistic architecture in Jordan. The building was unfinished at the time of Hyrcanus' death (as indicated by several incomplete carvings and columns on site), and was seized by Antiochus Epiphanes.

The structure was originally surrounded by a large excavated reflecting pool, leading Josephus to assume that this was a moat and the building a fortress. However, more recent evidence for the building's original function being as a country pleasure palace has been presented by the Israeli archaeologist Ehud Netzer. It has also been suggested that the site was in fact intended to serve as a mausoleum of the Tobiads. In any case, it was never completed.

Josephus mentions the "beasts of gigantic size carved on it" (Antiquities of the Jews, Book XII, 230), and carved tigers or lions (inspect) are still perfectly preserved on the remains visible today.

The palace-castle is built from some of the largest single blocks of any building in the Middle East, with the largest block measuring seven by three metres. However, these blocks were at most only 40 centimetres wide, making the building relatively vulnerable to the earthquake which eventually destroyed it.

Archaeologists have established that Qasr al-Abd once stood in a much larger estate, which was originally surrounded by a wall and included a park with trees and shrubs. A large stone olive press has been found on the site, suggesting the estate was partially self-sufficient in agricultural produce. Much of the estate now remains buried beneath the village of Iraq al-Amir.

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Interior
One entrance to this palace leads to the four ground-floor rooms with a surrounding portico. The rooms may have been used for storing grain and as accommodation for the palace guards. In the north-west and south-east corners, two water tanks supply fountains in the form of panthers that pour water from their mouths.

On the upper storey, a central hall may had been used for celebrations; four bedrooms are placed at its corners. This storey has no ceiling, suggesting that the construction was never completed. The partially constructed masonry collapsed as a result of earthquakes and tremors, especially during the great earthquake of 365 CE. What remains of the monumental palace today is that which was restored and preserved by the Department of Antiquities in cooperation with the French Institute of Archaeology of the Near East.

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A group of fiteen natural caves interspersed with corridos that lead to small rooms. The rooms are decorated with samll niches in the walls. The settlement in these caves dates back to the second half of the second century BCE, which is the same period of the settlement at Qasr al-Abd.

This is illustrated by the engraving on one of the facades of these caves (cave number 13), which consists of five Aramaic letters representing the name "Tobiad" (inspect). These caves were used as burial spaces, sheltersin times of crisis and later as houses for the local inhabitants.

The association of the site with the Tobiads is based on a cave inscription found nearby. The Hebrew name 'Tuvya' or 'Toviyya' (Tobias) is engraved (טוביה, but in a more Aramaic script

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The name Qasr al-Abd can be translated as "Castle of the Slave" or "Castle of the Servant", a title which may refer to Hyrcanus himself, who, as governor, was a "servant of the king". The biblical Book of Nehemiah mentions "Toviyya, the Servant, the Ammonite" (Neh. 2:10 - see Note 2); the Hebrew word used, "ebed" or "eved", is translated here as "official", but more generally means "slave" or "servant"). According to a dubious local Arab legend, Tobias was a commoner who fell in love with the daughter of a nobleman. When he asked for her hand in marriage, the nobleman said that Tobias could only have her hand if he built the so-called "Castle of the Slave." After completing the castle, the nobleman had Tobias killed as he did not want his daughter marrying a commoner.