Citadel of Silifke
| Citadel of Silifke | ||
|---|---|---|
 Silifke and Göksu Castle |
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| Creation time : | Byzantine period | |
| Castle type : | Hilltop castle | |
| Conservation status: | Ruin, castle wall preserved | |
| Construction: | Quarry stone / cuboid | |
| Place: | Silifke | |
| Geographical location | 36 ° 22 '36 " N , 33 ° 54' 56" E | |
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The citadel of Silifke ( Turkish Silifke Kalesi , Armenian Gomardias , Latin Camardesium ) is the ruin of a medieval castle on a hill above the Turkish city of Silifke , the ancient Seleukia on the Kalykadnos .
location
The fortress is located on a hill, about 160 m above sea level, above the river Göksu , the ancient Kalykadnos, on the western outskirts of Silifke in the Turkish province of Mersin . It served to control the road leading westwards from Cilicia and the road leading along the Kalykadnos to the north over the Taurus . From the Alparslan Türkeş Bulvarı, the D-715 leading to Karaman and Konya, a road (Kale Yolu) branches off to the castle.
history
The exact construction time of the fortification is not known. It was built in Byzantine times on the site of an ancient acropolis under the name Kastron Seleukeias . Despite Arab attacks, it remained in Byzantine possession until it was occupied by the Crusaders in 1098 . Then it belonged alternately to Byzantium and the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia , until the Armenian King Leon II handed it over to the Knights of St. John in 1210, along with the city of Seleukia and the Norpert Castle ( Tokmar Kalesi ) to the west, armed by 400 in return for support against the Seljuks Knight and an annual payment. When the knights of the order gave up the property in 1226, the castle was again taken over by the Armenians and renovated and remained in their hands. From the 14th century Silifke belonged to the Karamanoğulları Beylik .
construction
The ruins that exist today are mostly of Byzantine origin with Armenian influences. The castle has a circumferential, partially preserved, partially restored crenellated wall with formerly 23 towers, which was surrounded by a moat. The main entrance is in the north. Commercial and residential buildings inside were grouped around an open courtyard. The visible, heavily overgrown remains include a palace ruin, a pantry, a cellar dungeon, a cistern and a mosque from the time of the Emirates.
Historical mentions
In the 15th century the Italian traveler Giosafat visited Barbaro Silifke and describes in his travelogue Viaggi fatti de Venetia sarcophagi and rock tombs on the castle hill, iron gates and a three-mile-long enclosure wall. In the 17th century, the Turkish travel writer Evliya Çelebi reported a visit to the fortress, mentioning the 23 towers and a mosque of Sultan Beyazit . 1811-12 the British captain Francis Beaufort explored the Cilician coast on behalf of the Admiralty and found two Armenian inscriptions on the castle , which he could not read. This is also reported by the French orientalist Victor Langlois , who visited Silifke on his trip to Cilicia from 1852–53 and mentions the castle in his travel report.
literature
- 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. 249-254
- Friedrich Hild , Hansgerd Hellenkemper: Kilikien and Isaurien. Tabula Imperii Byzantini Volume 5. Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1990, ISBN 3-7001-1811-2 , pp. 402–405.
- Kristian Molin: Unknown crusader castles . Continuum International Publishing Group, 2001 ISBN 978-1-85285-261-0 at GoogleBooks
- DW Morray: Silifke In: The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition . Vol. 9, Brill, Leiden, p. 611.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Adrian J. Boas: Archeology of the military orders: a survey of the urban centers, rural settlement and castles of the Military Orders in the Latin East (c. 1120-1291). Taylor & Francis, 2006 pp. 253-254 ISBN 978-0-415-29980-0 on GoogleBooks
- ↑ F. Sümer: Karāmāno gh ullari In: The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition . Vol. 4, Brill, Leiden, pp. 619-625
- ↑ Marianne Mehling (Ed.): Knaurs Kulturführer in Farbe Turkey . Droemer-Knaur, 1987, ISBN 3-426-26293-2 , p. 472
- ↑ Celâl Taşkıran: Silifke (Seleukeia am Kalykadnos) and surroundings. Sim Matbaası, Ankara 1999 pp. 23-26
- ^ Francis Beaufort: Karamania: or, A brief description of the south coast of Asia-Minor and of the remains of antiquity . R. Hunter, 1818 p. 226 on GoogleBooks
- ^ Victor Langlois: Voyage dans la Cilicie et dans les montagnes du Taurus: exécuté pendant les années 1851-1853 ... B. Duprat, 1861 p. 184ff.