Coliath ( ar, قلعة قليعات ''Qalaat al-Qlaiaat''; french: Colée) are
ruins
Ruins () are the remains of a civilization's architecture. The term refers to formerly intact structures that have fallen into a state of partial or total disrepair over time due to a variety of factors, such as lack of maintenance, deliberate ...
of a
fortification
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere' ...
of the
crusaders
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...
in
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...
. It belonged to the
Knights Hospitaller
The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headq ...
. This large plain castrum, built during the first phase of Frankish occupation, dominates a slight knoll only two kilometers from the shore and five kilometers north of Archas. Coliath or "La Colée" - a francization of the non-Arabic ''al-Qulai'a'', "the little fortress", the fort, plural ''al-Qulai'at'', the forts - was given by Count
Pons of Tripoli
Pons ( 1098 – 25 March 1137) was count of Tripoli from 1112 to 1137. He was a minor when his father, Bertrand, died in 1112. He swore fealty to the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos in the presence of a Byzantine embassy. His advisors sent h ...
to the Hospitaller order in 1127.
Saladin's brother,
al-Adil, seized it in 1207 and dismantled it. It was then reoccupied by the Franks, but it was the terrible Mamluk sultan
Baibars who, in the summer of 1266, completely ruined it as a prelude to the
capture of Tripoli.
Its defensive role was mediocre, so it was generally used as a dwelling for a troop in the field in times of war, as a base for economic domination in times of peace, or more simply as a place of refuge against rezzous. The plan of its construction is that of a ''château-halle'' similar to that of several other sites fortified by military orders in the region. It is a square enclosure flanked by towers, housing on its reverse side large vaulted multifunctional halls. Comparative examples include the inner enclosure of the citadel of
Belvoir overlooking the Jordan Valley, the first enclosure of the
Krac des Chevaliers, and the more modest enclosures of qalaat Yahmour and Umm Hosh.
References
Coliathat ''maxime.goepp.free.fr'' (French)
{{coord, 34.5819, N, 36.0158, E, source:wikidata, display=title
Castles and fortifications of the Knights Hospitaller
Ruined castles in Lebanon