Kafartab, a Medieval Town near Khan Shaykhun

Kafartab was a medieval town 4 kilometres north-west of Khan Shaykhun, on the south-eastern slope of Jabal al-Zawiya. It appears often in sources from the 9th to the 14th century: the base of the Banu Munqidh family before they moved to the castle of Shayzar, and a frontier town the Crusaders called Capharda. There is no recent record of what still stands; Boulanger’s guide describes it as an abandoned ancient site. This page tells the history of a place more than it describes a monument.

Where it is

The town lies on the line between Maarat al-Numan and Khan Shaykhun, in the Khan Shaykhun subdistrict. A nearby track still carries the name “Kafartab road”. The only published coordinate is not confirmed by a second source, so we give no map pin; ask in Khan Shaykhun for the location of the remains.

A town on a waterless plain

In the 9th century the geographer al-Yaqubi described Kafartab as a town on a waterless plain, where people lived on stored rainwater. In 985 al-Muqaddasi wrote that it belonged to the jund of Hims, the military district of Homs. In 1012 Kafartab held out against a siege by the Banu Kilab. The Persian traveller Nasir Khusraw passed through in 1047.

The Banu Munqidh and the Crusaders

In 1026 Salih ibn Mirdas, emir of Aleppo, granted Kafartab to the Banu Munqidh as an iqta, a land grant. It stayed the family’s main base until 1080, when they moved to Shayzar.

The Crusaders called the town Capharda. Raymond of Saint-Gilles took it in 1100, Tancred captured it again in 1106, and in 1115 it changed hands several times. Zengi conquered it in 1135.

The earthquake and after

The earthquake of 1157 nearly destroyed the town. The same earthquake killed most of the Banu Munqidh, including their head, Taj al-Dawla. In 1241 the Khwarazmians plundered Kafartab. In the treaty between Baybars and the Knights Hospitaller, the town was counted as Mamluk territory. In the 14th century Abu al-Fida described Kafartab as “a small town, the size of a village”.

Don’t miss

The al-Maarri connection. The poet Abu al-Ala al-Maarri of Maarat al-Numan mentions Kafartab in his work the Luzumiyyat. Anyone travelling this line after visiting his tomb in Maarat passes through a place that found its way into his verse.