Qal'at al-Mudiq
| Qal'at al-Mudiq | ||
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 Qal'at al-Mudiq, view from Apamea |
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| Geographical location | 35 ° 25 '12 " N , 36 ° 23' 31.7" E | |
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Qal'at al-Mudiq ( Arabic قلعة المضيق, DMG Qalʿat al-Muḍīq ) is a citadel in Syria that was fortified by the Seleucids and expanded by the Crusaders. The citadel was rebuilt several times and is now inhabited - similar to the citadel of Tartus .
history
The elevation of the later citadel Qal'at al-Mudiq was settled very early - traces of settlement from the fourth millennium were discovered on the southeast slopes of the Acropolis; the place is equated with the city of Nija, which was visited at the beginning of the Egyptian New Kingdom by Thutmose I and Amenhotep II on their Syrian campaigns. Further traces come from the second millennium BC and from the 9th century. Under Seleucus I , the nearby city of Apamea was founded and the citadel hill was fortified. As an important base in the Orontestal, Qal'at al-Mudiq was fought over by Christians and Muslims from the 10th century. In 975 the Byzantines succeeded in conquering the citadel. It was recaptured by the Fatimids as early as 993. In 1106 the citadel was conquered by the crusader Tankred . Above all, the Munqidhites from Shaizar, 25 km away, offered bitter resistance. An important source for this is the Arab author Usama ibn Munqidh , who fought against the Crusaders himself and wrote down his experiences in his book kitab al-i'tibar ("Book of Instruction by Examples"). In 1149 the city was recaptured by Nur ad-Din . Today the citadel is used as living space.
The city had been a contested area during the Syrian Civil War since 2012. In early May 2019, Syrian government troops succeeded in conquering the site. Because of the ongoing fighting, the United Nations World Food Program announced on June 11, 2019 that supplies in the region could not be maintained.
literature
- Frank Rainer Scheck, Johannes Odenthal: Syria. High cultures between the Mediterranean and the Arabian desert. 4th edition, DuMont, Ostfildern 2009, pp. 194–203. ISBN 978-3-7701-3978-1
Individual evidence
- ^ "Government forces capture strategic town northwest Syria" alarabiya.net of May 9, 2019
- ^ "Syria escalation hampers food delivery to affected areas: WFP" Aljazeera from June 11, 2019