Castles of the Middle East
Emerging on the far horizon in the summer haze, they rise like distant mirages to taunt and tease the unsuspecting eye. You shake your head, blink rapidly and check your senses. Buildings of fortified stone towering over the desert beg the question: What is this fortress doing all by itself, completely removed from civilization?
Approaching the lone and mysterious formation, your eyes stop playing tricks and you realize that the structures are not mirages. In fact, these edifices are the remains of real castles and fortified palaces of the past. Most were built between the fifth and ninth centuries as protection for Umayyad rulers. Based in Damascus, the Umayyads were instrumental in the renaissance of Arabian art and architecture rooted in the Greco-Roman-Byzantine traditions of the eastern Mediterranean world. The buildings also served as desert retreats of Umayyad princes and noblemen.
The genius behind the Umayyads' fortresses demonstrated their skill at hydraulic engineering, through which they harnessed scarce desert water resources. When the threat of gathering water and invasion eased, the castle interiors became a think tank spawning artistry and invention (see Collections spring ALO vol. 1. issue 1).
There are at least a dozen Umayyad sites in Jordan alone, most of them easily accessible from the capital, Amman. A new series of roads and rest areas permit visitors to take in the half-dozen desert castles in a one-day trip. Say "Crusader" and "castle" and the two words flow together.and with good reason. For nearly two centuries, spanning from the end of the eleventh century to the thirteenth, successive waves of European Crusaders struggled to gain and maintain control of the Mediterranean's eastern end. The motives which compelled the nobles, knights and peasants to make the difficult journey went beyond religion; they sought power and domination.
During these 200 years, the Crusaders controlled the region and they built castles to make up for their lack of defensive manpower. The stones' might replace the muscle of men, providing protection and generating intimidation. For awhile, the strategy worked. On one occasion, General Salah al-Din (Saladin, as he is called in the West) rode out to inspect the defenses of a mighty crusader castle, the Krak des Chevaliers, before attacking it. Saladin first inspected the triangular outer bulwarks, its deep surrounding ditch and the stone wall with round towers pierced by loopholes and surmounted by overhanging machicolation. Inside the walls, a deep, water-filled moat proposed another challenge. Just beyond loomed the mighty sloping talus of carefully fitted stones, piled 80 feet high and often referred to as "The Mountain." He contemplated the castle's enormous rounded keep, which towered over the entire mass and was linked to two equally impressive towers. Then, deciding that a general could find much better use for his army than committing it to a siege of indeterminate length and uncertain outcome, he withdrew.
Saladin himself utilized castles as homes and protectorates. At Saone, in the north of Syria, sits one of the many Crusader castles which fell to Saladin and was never recaptured. Saladin's Castle is representative of early castle design with a number of remarkable features. Water was stored in two rock-carved subterranean tanks, the largest of which is spanned by a stone barrel vault more than 100' long and 50' high. But the most unusual feature of Saladin's Castle is its moat, a little-known monument which deserves a place on any list of engineering wonders: 66'W x 82'D and over 500' long and cut entirely by hand through solid rock.
As a direct opposite to the desolate desert castles are the seaside fortresses that majestically match their lush, green settings. Perhaps the most famous is Sidon (also called Saida). The medieval sea castle lies in the middle of a Lebanese oasis of citrus orchards whose blossom scent announces the city long before one reaches its gates. The scenic city is now home to 200,000 inhabitants, spread from the old city all the way to the overlooking eastern hills of Hillalieh, Majdelioun and Aabra.
Sidon's reputation was built as a result of the stubborn will of its people. Similar to other Phoenician city-states, Sidon suffered from a succession of invaders. At the end of the Persian era in 351 B.C., unable to resist the superior forces of the emperor Artaxerxes III, the desperate Sidonians locked their gates and set fire to their city rather than submit. Later, when Alexander the Great fancied Sidon around 335 B.C., it took him over a decade of resistance to build a stable cobblestone road over the Mediterranean for his soldiers to attack. While victory over Sidon was eventually materialized, it came with a heavy price.
