Maldouin
| Maldouin Castle | ||
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| Alternative name (s): | Cistern rouge, Qalaat ad-Dam |
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| Creation time : | 12th Century | |
| Castle type : | Hill castle | |
| Conservation status: | ruin | |
| Geographical location | 31 ° 49 '2.9 " N , 35 ° 21' 41.7" E | |
| Height: | 180 m | |
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Maldouin Castle (Latin: Castrum Dumi ) or Cisterne rouge (Arabic: Qalaat ad-Dam (قلعة الدم), Latin: Cisterna Rubea ) is the ruin of a crusader castle in Palestine .
Surname
The name Maldoin possibly comes from Adumim (أدوميم), the Arabic name of the hill. Qalaat ad-Dam (قلعة الدم) means castle of blood , which probably indicates the red color of the iron oxide-containing soil in this region, as well as the Franconian name Cisterne rouge (“red cistern”) and the Hebrew name Maale Adumim (“red slope "). The biblical story of the Good Samaritan also takes place in this place ( Luke 10: 25–37 ELB ).
location
The castle was between Jericho and Jerusalem . In what was then the Kingdom of Jerusalem , it secured the road from Jerusalem to the Jordan .
history
The castle was built by the Knights Templar in the middle of the 12th century to protect the road, which is heavily frequented by Christian pilgrims, to the place on the Jordan near Jericho , where, according to tradition, Jesus Christ was baptized . The Templars probably used the remains of an existing complex from Roman times when building the castle .
The castle was located on a hill, below which a small civil settlement was formed. The castle had ample water reserves and a cistern has been preserved to this day. As a resting place, the castle offered pilgrims a safe refuge in the dry area between Jerusalem and the Jordan.
After the Battle of Hattin in 1187, the Templars gave up the castle. It was then occupied by the Ayyubids , but they did not make any improvements to it. As part of the barons' crusade , the castle came into the possession of the crusaders again around 1241.
Web links
literature
- Hans Wolfram Kessler, Konrad Kessler: Knights in the Holy Land: Crusader sites in Israel . Philipp von Zabern, Darmstadt 2013, ISBN 978-3805345521