Sidon's Sea Castle ( ar, قلعة صيدا البحرية, ''Kalaat Saida al-Bahriya'') was built by 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 the thirteenth century as a fortress of the
holy land. It is one of the most prominent historical sites in the port city of
Sidon
Sidon ( ; he, צִידוֹן, ''Ṣīḏōn'') known locally as Sayda or Saida ( ar, صيدا ''Ṣaydā''), is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate, of which it is the capital, on the Mediterranean coast. ...
,
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 ...
.
History
The city of Sidon is located on the
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...
coast of Lebanon. This ancient
Phoenicia
Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their histor ...
n city has been of great religious, political and commercial value; it is said to be inhabited since 4000 B.C. In AD 1228, 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 ...
built Sidon's Sea Castle as a fortress on a small island connected to the mainland by a narrow 80m long roadway. The island was formerly the site of a temple to
Melqart, the Phoenician version of
Heracles
Heracles ( ; grc-gre, Ἡρακλῆς, , glory/fame of Hera), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptiv ...
. The beauty of the Castle can be seen in old illustrations of it; however, after bearing several wars, it has been damaged and renovated several times. It was partially destroyed by the
Mamluks when they took over the city from the Crusaders, but they subsequently rebuilt it and added the long causeway. The castle later fell into disuse, but was again restored in the 17th century by
Emir Fakhreddine II, only to suffer great damage.
There is a possibility that the island on which the castle is built was, in fact, the location of the Phoenician King's palace and several other Phoenician monuments which were destroyed by
Esarhaddon
Esarhaddon, also spelled Essarhaddon, Assarhaddon and Ashurhaddon ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , also , meaning " Ashur has given me a brother"; Biblical Hebrew: ''ʾĒsar-Ḥaddōn'') was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from the death of hi ...
and then by natural earthquakes.
This island has also served as a shelter from inside attacks on the city.
[Almashriq. Retrieved from: http://almashriq.hiof.no/lebanon/900/910/919/saida1/history.html] Great Sidon, Little Sidon, powerful fortresses, pastures, cisterns and fortifications are all mentioned in the
Assyria
Assyria ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the ...
n king
Sennacherib
Sennacherib ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: or , meaning " Sîn has replaced the brothers") was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from the death of his father Sargon II in 705BC to his own death in 681BC. The second king of the Sargonid dynas ...
's recordings of his attacks on Sidon and nearby cities.
Description
Today, the castle consists primarily of two towers connected by a wall. In the outer walls,
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
columns were used as horizontal reinforcements, a feature often seen in fortifications built on or near former Roman sites. The rectangular west tower to the left of the entrance is the better preserved of the two. There is a large vaulted room scattered with old carved capitals and rusting cannonballs. A winding staircase leads up to the roof, where there is a small, domed
Ottoman-era
mosque
A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...
. From the roof, there is a view across the old city and fishing harbor. The east tower isn't as well preserved and was built in two phases; the lower part dates to the Crusader period, while the upper level was built by the
Mamluks. There has also been evidence of the old Phoenician city being buried under the sea in the area surrounding the castle: structures of walls, columns, stairways, remains of buildings, statues and cisterns.
Gallery
File:AUSTRALIAN FORCES IN LEBANON, 1941 AUS533.jpg, Australian troops among the ruins of the Sidon Sea Castle during the Syria-Lebanon Campaign, 1941
File:Sidon Sea Castle.jpg, Sidon Sea Castle
File:SaidaCastle.jpeg, Sidon Castle at night
File:View from Sidon's Sea Castle, Sidon, Lebanon.jpg
File:Sidon Sea Castle, Sidon, Lebanon.jpg
File:Sidon's Sea Castle, Sidon, Lebanon.jpg
File:Sidon Sea Castle, Mediterranean Sea, Sidon, Lebanon.jpg
File:Sidon.jpg
See also
*
Lordship of Sidon
The Lordship of Sidon (french: Saete/Sagette), (Later County of Sidon) was one of the four major fiefdoms of the Kingdom of Jerusalem,According to the 13th-century writer John of Ibelin one of the Crusader States. However, in reality, it appears ...
References
* Sidon (Pamphlet), Ministry of Tourism of Lebanon, Arab Printing Press, 2009
* Sea Castle. Lonely Planet Review for sea castle.
Lonely Planet
Lonely Planet is a travel guide book publisher. Founded in Australia in 1973, the company has printed over 150 million books.
History Early years
Lonely Planet was founded by married couple Maureen and Tony Wheeler. In 1972, they embarke ...
* Sidon. Discover Lebanon. Lebanon Guide.
* Sidon in History. Old engraving of Saida and the Sea-Castle. Al-Mashriq.
* Sidon. Amenagement et urbanisme. Culture and Heritage Report.p 9.2
External links
Sidon infoFortress, Khan and the Great Mosque - DiscoverLebanonlonelyplanet.comlebanonguide.comcharbelnahas.org(PDF)
{{Castles in Lebanon
Buildings and structures completed in the 13th century
Castles in Lebanon
Sidon District
Tourism in Lebanon
Tourist attractions in Lebanon
Castles and fortifications of the Knights Templar