Arqa
| Archas | ||
|---|---|---|
 Fortress ruins, 2008 |
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| Alternative name (s): | Arqa, Aarqa, Irqa | |
| Castle type : | Niederungsburg | |
| Conservation status: | ruin | |
| Place: | Arqa | |
| Geographical location | 34 ° 31 '50 " N , 36 ° 2' 45" E | |
| Height: | 100 m | |
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Arqa (actually Irqata , Arkite in the Bible , Arabic عرقا, DMG ʿArqā , also 'Irqa ) is a place near Miniara in the Akkar district in northern Lebanon near the coast and 22 kilometers northeast of Tripoli .
history
Arqa is known for Tell 'Arqa , an archaeological site that dates back to the Neolithic .
Irqata was already mentioned in the Egyptian Amarna letters to Pharaoh Akhenaten around 1350 BC. And mentioned in Assyrian documents (EA 100). The Roman city was called Caesarea in Lebanon or Arca Caesarea ; the emperor Severus Alexander was born here.
In the Middle Ages, the fortified settlement Arqa was an important stronghold, the control of the Strait of Tartus after Tripoli allowed. At that time, the fortress was under the Qadi of Tripoli, Fakhr el-Mulk , of the Banū Ammar dynasty . Arqa was in 1099 by the army of the First Crusade besieged unsuccessfully before it moved on to Jerusalem. After Tripoli had submitted to the rule of the Egyptian Fatimids in 1108 in the absence of the Fakhr el-Mulk under the pressure of the siege by the Crusaders , Arqa joined the empire of the Atabeg Tugtakin of Damascus under the leadership of a loyal page Fakhr . The Atabeg then traveled personally with an army to Arqa to inspect his new possession, but was slowed down by the winter rains in the Lebanon Mountains, was ambushed by the crusaders under Wilhelm-Jordan von Cerdanya and had to flee to Homs . Following this victory, Arqa surrendered in March / April 1109 after a three-week siege to Wilhelm Jordan, who added the fortress to the county of Tripoli . The Crusaders named the fortress Archas . While Count Raimund III. was captured by Tripoli , the fortress was unsuccessfully besieged by Nur ad-Din in 1167 . A little later, the fortress was entrusted to the Order of Hospitallers by King Amalrich I of Jerusalem , who took over the reign of Tripoli . In 1171 the fortress withstood a siege by the Atabeg of Mosul . The fortress was finally conquered by the Mamluks under Sultan Baibars I around 1266 .
literature
- Steven Runciman : History of the Crusades. Special edition in one volume without references to sources and literature, 33. – 35. Thousands of the total print run. CH Beck, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-406-39960-6 .
Web links
- Archas at maxime.goepp.free.fr (French)