Tokat Castle, is an ancient

citadel A citadel is the core fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of "city", meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core. In ...

with 28 towers built on top of a rocky peak in the center of

Tokat Tokat is the capital city of Tokat Province of Turkey in the mid-Black Sea region of Anatolia. It is located at the confluence of the Tokat River (Tokat Suyu) with the Yeşilırmak. In the 2018 census, the city of Tokat had a population of 155,00 ...

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 ...

. While its first residents are unknown, the city's history dates back to 3,000 BC. The

Hittites The Hittites () were an Anatolian people who played an important role in establishing first a kingdom in Kussara (before 1750 BC), then the Kanesh or Nesha kingdom (c. 1750–1650 BC), and next an empire centered on Hattusa in north-centra ...

and

Persians The Persians are an Iranian ethnic group who comprise over half of the population of Iran. They share a common cultural system and are native speakers of the Persian language as well as of the languages that are closely related to Persian. ...

ruled over the area. The earliest known artifacts of the castle date back to the 5th century, and its first recorded residents were

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

groups migrating from Comana Pontica. The castle was under the control of the

Byzantine Empire 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 ...

until its takeover by Danishmend Gazi in 1074 and eventual rule by the Great Seljuq Empire. It went through renovations in the Seljuq and Ottoman periods. Because it was used as a prison for rebels and government administrators at times, it was also called ''Çardar-ı Bedevi'', meaning the Wild Arbor. Vlad the Impaler (Dracula) was one of its inmates early in the 15th century. The castle is being restored and its secret passage is open to visitors.

References

{{coord, 40.3175, N, 36.5481, E, source:wikidata, display=title Tokat Castles in Turkey Ruins in Turkey