Nimrod Castle
The Nimrod Fortress (Arabic: Qala'at al-Subeiba or Qala'at Namrud; Hebrew: Mivtzar Nimrod מבצר נמרוד), is an ancient fortress situated in the northern Golan Heights, on a ridge rising some 800 metres (2600 feet) above sea level. It is named after the biblical hero Nimrod (Genesis 10:8-9):
- And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord.
According to local tradition Nimrod dwelt on this ridge. It is probably because the locals, from the 16th century onward, upon seeing the great ruins of the keep, believed that only a great hunter-king such as Nimrod could have built it.
The fortress overlooks the deep, narrow valley separating Mt. Hermon from the Golan Heights, the road linking the Galilee with Damascus, and the former Crusader town of Banias.
The fortress was built around 1229 by Al-Aziz 'Uthman, younger son of Al-Adil I, to pre-empt any attempt on Damascus by the Sixth Crusade. It was further expanded to contain the whole ridge by 1230, and Baibars strengthened it and added larger towers after 1260.
The entire fortress complex is 420 metres (1350 feet) in length and 150 metres (500 feet) in width, and is built of large, carefully squared stones. Along the walls are numerous rectangular and semi-circular towers, roofed with pointed cross-arches.
Overlooking the high, eastern edge of the fortress stood a large keep, measuring 65 by 45 metres (200 by 150 feet) and protected by massive rectangular towers.
At the end of the 13th century, following the Muslim conquest of the port city of Acre and the end of Crusader rule in the Holy Land, the fortress lost strategic value and fell into disrepair.
References
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