Bani Qahtan Castle

A ruined castle in the Syrian coastal mountains, roughly 40 kilometres east of Latakia. The line of the outer wall largely stands and encloses the whole mass of the hill; inside, little is left. A village of the same name has spread into and around the castle, so this is not a fenced archaeological site with a guard at the gate.

Getting there

You come by car. From the west, the road between Baniyas and Jableh throws off a paved climb into the mountains that reaches the castle. The castle sits on a high hill and the hill can only be approached from the south, along a narrow neck of land; the other three sides fall away. The last stretch of road is narrow and full of bends.

The castle’s history

The sources call it Bikisrail. Around 1030 it was held by the Byzantine duchy of Antioch, the Crusaders took it in 1111, it passed to the Nizari Ismailis in 1131, and it was surrendered to Saladin in 1188. After that it lost its military use and was abandoned. Some scholars think it was less a castle than the residence of an emir or a commander — its size and plan do not match a frontier fortress.

What to see

The thing to look at is the wall itself. The outer circuit follows the contour of the hill, and from any angle you can read the outline of the castle. The ruins inside are dated to the 12th century. Houses have been built on and between them and part of the ground has been ploughed for farming; that is how most of the remains disappeared.

Don’t miss

Stand on the neck of land to the south and look back. Only from there does the choice of site make sense: the single line of approach is under your feet and everything else is a drop.