Silifke Castle ( tr, Silifke kalesi) is a medieval castle in

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 ...

Geography

The castle is in

Silifke Silifke ( grc-gre, Σελεύκεια, ''Seleukeia'', la, Seleucia ad Calycadnum) is a town and district in south-central Mersin Province, Turkey, west of the city of Mersin, on the west end of Çukurova. Silifke is near the Mediterranean coast ...

district of

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 ...

. It is situated to the west of Silifke city center, to the south of

Göksu River The Göksu ( Turkish for "sky water" also called ''Geuk Su'', ''Goksu Nehri''; la, Saleph, grc, Καλύκαδνος, translit=Calycadnus) is a river on the Taşeli plateau (Turkey). Both its sources arise in the Taurus Mountains—the northern ...

(''Calydanus'' of the antiquity) and to the north of the Turkish state highway . Although its altitude is only with respect to sea level, it is dominant over Silifke plains and the southern section of Göksu valley.

History

Silifke (Roman: ''Seleucia''; Byzantine: ''kastron Seleukeias''; Arab: ''Salûqiya''; Armenian: ''Selefkia'' or ''Selewkia''; Frankish: ''Le Selef'') was an important city in antiquity. Founded by and named after

Seleucus I Nicator Seleucus I Nicator (; ; grc-gre, Σέλευκος Νικάτωρ , ) was a Macedonian Greek general who was an officer and successor ( ''diadochus'') of Alexander the Great. Seleucus was the founder of the eponymous Seleucid Empire. In the po ...

(359 BC-281 BC), one of the Diadochi who served as an infantry general under

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...

. Few traces of the 3rd-century-B.C. settlement survive. There are fragments of a late Roman theater, necropolis, bath, 2nd-century temple, as well as a 5th-century Byzantines cistern. The 1st-century-A.D. stone bridge built during the reign of Emperor

Vespasian Vespasian (; la, Vespasianus ; 17 November AD 9 – 23/24 June 79) was a Roman emperor who reigned from AD 69 to 79. The fourth and last emperor who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty that ruled the Empi ...

was replaced in the 1870s. In the late 7th century, to counter Arab invasions, the Byzantines fortified the acropolis, which is situated above the Calycadnus River. The site had a weapons factory and was the administrative center for the coastal theme. In the late-1180s the Rubenid Baron Leo II, who became a decade later

Leo I, King of Armenia Leo II (, ''Levon I. Metsagorts''; 1150 – 2 May 1219), also Leon II, Levon II or Lewon II, was the tenth lord of Armenian Cilicia or “Lord of the Mountains” (1187–1198/1199), and the first king of Armenian Cilicia (sometimes as Levon I th ...

n Cilicia, captured the town and fortress. In exchange for money and cavalry support King Leo granted the castle in 1210 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 Church, Catholic Military ord ...

who were to defend the western border of his kingdom from the

Seljuk Turks The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; fa, سلجوقیان ''Saljuqian'', alternatively spelled as Seljuqs or Saljuqs), also known as Seljuk Turks, Seljuk Turkomans "The defeat in August 1071 of the Byzantine emperor Romanos Diogenes by the Turk ...

. According to a survey published in 1987, most of the present castle is a Crusader construction. On the death of King Leo in 1219 his daughter and designated heiress Zapēl, (also known as

Isabella, Queen of Armenia Isabella ( hy, Զապել; 27 January 1216/ 25 January 1217 – 23 January 1252), also Isabel or Zabel, was queen regnant of Armenian Cilicia from 1219 until her death in 1252. She was proclaimed queen under the regency of Adam of Baghras. Afte ...

n Cilicia), was contracted to marry Philip, the son of

Bohemond IV of Antioch Bohemond IV of Antioch, also known as Bohemond the One-Eyed (french: Bohémond le Borgne; 1175–1233), was Count of Tripoli from 1187 to 1233, and Prince of Antioch from 1201 to 1216 and from 1219 to 1233. He was the younger son of Bohemond III ...

. After various disputes with the Armenian barons Philip died by poison in 1226. Zapēl and her mother took refuge in Silifke. When the Armenian army arrived, the Franks surrendered the castle. A fragmentary Armenian inscription in the castle may record its repair or enlargement in 1236. In 1248 the castle may have briefly had a Frankish commander, named Guiscard.

Details

The castle has an oval-shaped plan. The length from west to east is about 250 meters (820 ft) and the width is about 75 meters (246 ft). It is surrounded by a dry moat. According to the 17th-century Turkish traveler,

Evliya Çelebi Derviş Mehmed Zillî (25 March 1611 – 1682), known as Evliya Çelebi ( ota, اوليا چلبى), was an Ottoman explorer who travelled through the territory of the Ottoman Empire and neighboring lands over a period of forty years, recording ...

, there were 23 towers, 60 houses and a mosque in the castle. Presently, 10 towers survive, many of which have surviving vaulted ceilings. An equal number of finely crafted under-crofts are preserved, some with pointed vaults. Most of the exterior facing stones consist of well-drafted

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. A formal survey of the castle was conducted in 1979.Carefully documented photographs and plan of Silifke Castle
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References

{{Mersin Province Silifke District Byzantine fortifications in Turkey Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Turkey Castles in Mersin Province Castles and fortifications of the Knights Hospitaller Archaeological sites in Mersin Province, Turkey