Tilbeşar
| Tilbeşar | ||
|---|---|---|
| Alternative name (s): | Tell Bashir, Turbessel | |
| Creation time : | before 1097 | |
| Castle type : | Hill castle | |
| Conservation status: | Wall remains | |
| Standing position : | Barons | |
| Place: | Oğuzeli | |
| Geographical location | 36 ° 52 '27 " N , 37 ° 33' 32" E | |
| Height: | 620 m | |
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Turbessel (also Tell Bashir , Turbessel ) is a medieval fortress in the southeast of Turkey . Other names are Seraser Hissar, Seleser Hissar and Kızıl Hissar. It is identified with the Aramaic Bishri.
location
Tell Bashir is located south of Gaziantep on a tributary of the Euphrates . The medieval castle stands on a settlement hill ( Tell ) of around 6 hectares (180 × 320 m), which has been inhabited since the Halaf period. The lower town has gates in the south, east and west.
Today's ruins played an important role at the beginning of the Crusades and in the county of Edessa . It lies on the right bank of the Euphrates and is strategically important because of its proximity to the ford at Karkemisch .
history
At the beginning of the winter of 1097, Turbessel was conquered by Baldwin of Boulogne , where at the turn of the year he received an offer from Thoros from Edessa to adopt him and make him his heir - the Armenian Orthodox Christian Thoros needed Baldwin's help in defending himself against the Muslims. Baldwin wanted more than just serve as a mercenary . After Thoro's death, in which he was involved, and the subsequent founding of the county of Edessa in 1099, the fortress was an important outpost against the Seljuks .
After Baldwin I had become King of Jerusalem and Count of Edessa in 1100, Baldwin von Bourcq appointed his cousin Joscelin von Courtenay as the commander of Turbessel, which underlines the importance of the fortress again.
When the county of Edessa up to the Euphrates, and thus also the capital Edessa, was lost to Zengi in 1144 , Count Joscelin II fled to Turbessel, from where he defended the remnants of the county west of the Euphrates .
In 1149 the Second Crusade failed , Joscelin II was captured by Nur ad-Din , where he died in 1159. His wife sold the remains of the county, especially the Turbessel fortress, to the Byzantine emperor Manuel I Komnenos , who lost it to Nur ad-Din in July 1151 after a long siege. The castle was destroyed by the Mongols in 1263 .
Research history
BB Charles described the settlement hill as early as 1905. He identified gates in the east and west and thought it was a Hittite complex because of the black basalt wall blocks . At the east gate was the tomb of Kara Baba (Black Father). The first surveys were carried out by Hans Henning von der Osten (1899–1960) in the twenties. 1994–1995 Christine Kepinski-Lecomte carried out a survey of the area. She found shards and other material in the castle mound that has been used since the Obed and Halaf times. Ceramic from the Middle Bronze Age is particularly well represented.
literature
- Albert T. Olmstead : Shalmaneser III and the establishment of the Assyrian power. Journal of the American Oriental Society 41, 1921, pp. 345-382.
- Hansgerd Hellenkemper : Crusader castles in the county of Edessa and in the Kingdom of Lesser Armenia. (= Geographica Historica 1 ) Habelt, Bonn 1976, ISBN 3-7749-1205-X , pp. 38–43 plate 6, 75.
- Marie-Henriette Gates: Archeology in Turkey . American Journal of Archeology 100/2, 1996, pp. 277-355.