Masyaf Castle ( ar, قلعة مصياف), also Masyaf Castle, is a medieval structure in the town of

Masyaf Masyaf ( ar, مصياف ') is a city in northwestern Syria. It is the center of the Masyaf District in the Hama Governorate. As of 2004, Masyaf had a religiously diverse population of approximately 22,000 Ismailis, Alawites and Christians. The c ...

Hama Governorate Hama Governorate ( ar, مُحافظة حماة / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat Ḥamā'') is one of the 14 governorates of Syria. It is situated in western-central Syria, bordering Idlib and Aleppo Governorates to the south, Raqqa Governorate to th ...

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

, situated in the Orontes Valley, approximately 40.03 kilometres to the west of

Hama Hama ( ar, حَمَاة ', ; syr, ܚܡܬ, ħ(ə)mɑθ, lit=fortress; Biblical Hebrew: ''Ḥamāṯ'') is a city on the banks of the Orontes River in west-central Syria. It is located north of Damascus and north of Homs. It is the provincial ...

. It served to protect the approach to other Ismaili castles in the

Syrian Coastal Mountain Range The Coastal Mountain Range ( ar, سلسلة الجبال الساحلية ''Silsilat al-Jibāl as-Sāḥilīyah'') also called Al-Anṣariyyah is a mountain range in northwestern Syria running north–south, parallel to the coastal plain.Federal ...

(Jabal Ansariya) at a site controlling the trade routes to cities further inland such as Banyas. The castle itself stands on a platform about 20 metres above the surrounding plain. It became famous as the stronghold from which Rashid ad-Din Sinan, known as the Old Man of the Mountain, ruled from 1166-1193. He was a leader of the Syrian branch of the

Shia Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, mos ...

Nizari The Nizaris ( ar, النزاريون, al-Nizāriyyūn, fa, نزاریان, Nezāriyān) are the largest segment of the Ismaili Muslims, who are the second-largest branch of Shia Islam after the Twelvers. Nizari teachings emphasize independent ...

Isma'ili Isma'ilism ( ar, الإسماعيلية, al-ʾIsmāʿīlīyah) is a branch or sub-sect of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili () get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor ( imām) to Ja'far al- ...

sect, also known as the

Assassins An assassin is a person who commits targeted murder. Assassin may also refer to: Origin of term * Someone belonging to the medieval Persian Ismaili order of Assassins Animals and insects * Assassin bugs, a genus in the family ''Reduviid ...

, and a figure in the history of 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 ...

History

Evidence suggests that the lower layers and foundations of the castle are of Byzantine origin. Later levels were added by the

Shia Isma'ilis,

Mamluks Mamluk ( ar, مملوك, mamlūk (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural), translated as "one who is owned", meaning " slave", also transliterated as ''Mameluke'', ''mamluq'', ''mamluke'', ''mameluk'', ''mameluke'', ''mamaluke'', or ''marmeluke'') ...

, and

Ottomans The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...

, with most of the current remains dating back to Rashid and the Nizari construction phase of the 12th century. The castle was captured by the Assassins in 1141 from Sanqur, who had held it on behalf of the Banu Munqidh of Shaizar, and was later refortified by

Rashid al-Din Sinan Rashid al-Din Sinan ( ar, رشيد الدين سنان ''Rashīd ad-Dīn Sinān''; 1131/1135 – 1193) also known as the Old Man of the Mountain ( ar, شيخ الجبل ''Shaykh al-Jabal'', la, Vetulus de Montanis), was a ''da'i'' (missionary) a ...

. Masyaf and the surrounding town functioned as the capital of a Nizari

emirate An emirate is a territory ruled by an emir, a title used by monarchs or high officeholders in the Muslim world. From a historical point of view, an emirate is a political-religious unit smaller than a caliphate. It can be considered equivalen ...

from the middle of the 12th century until the end of the 13th century.

Saladin Yusuf ibn Ayyub ibn Shadi () ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known by the epithet Saladin,, ; ku, سه‌لاحه‌دین, ; was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from an ethnic Kurdish family, he was the first of both Egypt an ...

besieged it in May 1176, but the siege did not last long and it concluded with a truce. Current research indicates it was held by the Nizari Isma'ilis at that time. In 1260, Masyaf and three other Nizari fortresses were surrendered to the

Mongol The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal member ...

s. Later that year in September, the Nizaris allied with the

victorious ''Victorious'' (stylized as ''VICTORiOUS'') is an American sitcom created by Dan Schneider that originally aired on Nickelodeon, debuting on March 27, 2010, and concluding on February 2, 2013 after four seasons. The series revolves around asp ...

Mamluks to drive the Mongols out from Syria, reclaiming four of their castles, including Masyaf. After a decade, in February 1270, Mamluk sultan

Baibars Al-Malik al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baybars al-Bunduqdari ( ar, الملك الظاهر ركن الدين بيبرس البندقداري, ''al-Malik al-Ẓāhir Rukn al-Dīn Baybars al-Bunduqdārī'') (1223/1228 – 1 July 1277), of Turkic Kipchak ...

took hold of the castle. In 1808, the

Nusayri The Alawis, Alawites ( ar, علوية ''Alawīyah''), or pejoratively Nusayris ( ar, نصيرية ''Nuṣayrīyah'') are an ethnoreligious group that lives primarily in Levant and follows Alawism, a sect of Islam that originated from Shia Isla ...

s (Alawites) murdered the Ismaili emir of Masyaf and seized the castle, but the Ismailis managed to recover it with the help of the Ottoman authorities. During the 1830s, the troops of the Egyptian governor, Ibrahim Pasha, caused serious damage to the castle. Restoration funded by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture Historic Cities Support Programme began in 2000.

References

{{coord, 35.06624, N, 36.34329, E, source:wikidata, display=title Aga Khan Trust for Culture projects Castles in Syria Buildings and structures in Hama Governorate Castles of the Nizari Ismaili state Order of Assassins

History

See also

References