Tece Castle ( tr, Tece Kalesi) is a ruined castle in

Mersin Province Mersin Province ( tr, ), formerly İçel Province ( tr, ), is a province in southern Turkey, on the Mediterranean coast between Antalya and Adana. The provincial capital and the biggest city in the province is Mersin, which is composed of fo ...

, southern

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

Location

The castle is in the Tece suburb of

Mezitli Mezitli is a municipality and district governorate in Greater Mersin, Turkey. Mersin is one of 30 metropolitan centers in Turkey with more than one municipality within city borders. Now in Mersin there are four second-level municipalities in add ...

which is a secondary municipality of

Mersin Mersin (), also known as İçel, is a large city and a port on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast of southern Turkey. It is the provincial capital of Mersin Province, Mersin (İçel) Province. It is made up of four municipalities and dis ...

. Its distance to Mersin city center is about . Although it is close to the state highway D.400, it is difficult to visit the castle by motor vehicle because it is situated in a citrus plantation.

History

There is no record about the origin of the castle. However, judging from the architecture, it was probably a late

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 letter ...

or a

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

castle. It was a low elevation castle, and it was built to control the road running parallel to the

Mediterranean Sea 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 and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

coast. It was also used by the

Crusades 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 ...

and

Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia The Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia (Middle Armenian: , '), also known as Cilician Armenia ( hy, Կիլիկեան Հայաստան, '), Lesser Armenia, Little Armenia or New Armenia, and formerly known as the Armenian Principality of Cilicia ( hy, ...

, during which the castle underwent renovation. In June 1981 the American archaeologist and art historian Dr. Robert W. Edwards conducted a formal survey of this site and drew the following conclusions. The rectangular circuit wall and the fragments of its seven small towers were so badly decayed that it was impossible without a formal excavation to deduce the date of construction. However, the surviving portion of the three-storey estate house (keep) is primarily from one period of construction with masonry and architectural features identical to those used during the 12th and 13th centuries in the

. It is similar to the nearby medieval site of Kız near the Durak railway station. These sites were built by Armenian masons, perhaps for Crusader occupants.

Architecture

The area within the now ruined ramparts is . Most of the buildings are ruined. The only partially standing building is a three-story

donjon A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in c ...

. The length of the eastern wall is and its height is . The northern wall is long and high. The width of the outer wall is .Hasan Buyruk Kafkas University bulletin
/ref> The masonry of the inner walls is of

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...

blocks and the outer walls of

bossage Bossage is uncut stone that is laid in place in a building, projecting outward from the building, to later be carved into decorative moldings, capitals, arms, etc. Bossages are also rustic work, consisting of stones which seem to advance beyond ...

blocks.Mersin Governorship: ''Mersin Ören Yerleri Kaleleri Müzeleri'' ("Mersin Ruins, castles and museums"), p.65 The 1981 survey was conducted under the auspices of the University of California at Berkeley.Carefully documented photographs and plan of Tece Castle
/ref>

References

{{Castles in Turkey Mersin Castles in Mersin Province Mezitli District Ruined castles in Turkey Byzantine fortifications in Turkey