Abu Qubays أبو قبيس Qal'at Abu Qobeis | |
|---|---|
Village | |
 Skyline of Abu Qubays fortress, 2004 | |
  Abu Qubays Location in Syria | |
| Coordinates:35°14′10″N36°18′52″E / 35.23611°N 36.31444°E /35.23611; 36.31444 | |
| Country |  Syria |
| Governorate | Hama |
| District | Al-Suqaylabiyah |
| Subdistrict | Tell Salhab |
| Population (2004) | |
• Total | 758 |
Abu Qubays (Arabic:أبو قبيس also spelledAbu Qobeis,Abu Qubais orBu Kubais; also known asQartal) is a former medieval castle and currently an inhabited village in northwesternSyria, administratively part of theHama Governorate, located northwest ofHama. It is situated in theal-Ghab plain, west of theOrontes River. Nearby localities includeDaliyah 21 kilometers to the west,[1]al-Laqbah to the south,Deir Shamil to the southeast,Tell Salhab to the northeast andNahr al-Bared further northeast. According to theSyria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Abu Qubays had a population of 758 in the 2004 census.[2] Its inhabitants are predominantlyAlawites.[3][4]
Abu Qubays was originally built by the Arabs during theAbbasid era and was further strengthened by the Byzantines in the late 10th century. The castle was round, relatively small and overlooks theOrontes River.[5] During a second campaign against Muslim-held Syria by Byzantine emperorBasil II, Abu Qubays was burned along with a number of other fortresses in the province of Homs.[6]
Following the Crusader conquest of the coastalLevant in 1099, theFatimid commanderIftikhar ad-Daula left his post inJerusalem and moved to Abu Qubays of which he became lord,[7] along with the castles ofal-Qadmus andal-Kahf.[8] The rulers of Abu Qubays, namely Iftikhar and his family, maintained a high income and social stature similar to the lords from theBanu Munqidh family of theShaizar fortress to the south.[9] TheIsma'ilis (known as theAssassins) purchased Abu Qubays,[5] as well as al-Qadmus and al-Kahf,[5] from the Arab chieftain Sayf al-Mulk Ibn Amrun in the 1130s or 1140s.[5][10] The Crusaders referred to it asBokabeis.[11] The Isma'ilis of Abu Qubays paid a yearly tribute to theKnights Hospitallers ofMargat (Qal'at Marqab in Arabic),[1] a prominent Catholic military order, consisting of 800 gold pieces and a fixed number of bushels of barley and wheat.[1][12]
Nasih al-Din Khumartekin, a member of the Banu al-Daya nobility and lord of Abu Qubays—which was no longer under Isma'ili control—alertedAyyubid sultanSaladin of an assassination attempt against him by the Isma'ilis during the unsuccessful siege againstZengid-heldAleppo on 11 May 1175. Khumartekin, who was in Saladin's camp, was killed by the group of Assassins after questioning them as they approached the camp. Saladin managed to avoid being harmed when they rushed towards him afterward and the attackers were slain by Saladin's guards.[13][14] In 1176 Sabiq al-Din was allotted Abu Qubays and Shaizar by Saladin after the latter freed him from Zengid imprisonment in Aleppo for opposing the ascension ofal-Salih Isma'il al-Malik as ruler of that city.[15] By 1182, Mankarus, a son of Khumartekin, was lord of Abu Qubays and served as the commander of Saladin's troops inHama.[16]
In 1222 the Shia Yemeni lord ofSinjar,al-Makzun al-Sinjari, led a force of roughly 50,000 fighters to support theAlawites of the coastal region against their Kurdish rivals after the latter had killed several Alawites celebratingNowruz in theSahyun Fortress. One of the fortresses he captured during the ensuing conquest was Abu Qubays.[17] In 1233al-Aziz Muhammad, the Ayyubid ruler of Aleppo and successor ofaz-Zahir Ghazi, ended the semi-autonomous rule of the Banu al-Daya who had since repossessed the fortress, forcing their lord Shihab al-Din ibn al-Daya to relinquish both Abu Qubays and Shaizar after the latter slighted al-Aziz by not adequately abiding a request for supplies. He was allowed to keep his properties Aleppo in return for not putting up resistance to the Ayyubid army.[18] Damascus-born Arab geographeral-Dimashqi noted in 1300, duringMamluk rule, that Abu Qubays was one of several fortresses held by the Ismailis and that it was part of the Province ofTripoli.[19]
The Levant was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1516 after SultanSelim I's forces decisively defeated theMamluk Sultanate atMarj Dabiq. After entering Aleppo, Sultan Selim waged a military campaign against theAlawites, summoning and executing 9,400 Alawite leaders and driving out the Alawite population from the coastal cities ofLatakia andJableh. Unable to subdue the Alawites in thean-Nusayriyah Mountains, their heartland, he dispatched thousands ofTurkic tribes fromAnatolia andKhurasan to the settle the region, establishing some of them in several of the mountainous area's most strategic fortresses, including in Abu Qubays, which was referred to asQartal.[3]
Selim's strategy ultimately failed in the long-term as many of these tribes, particularly the Shia Muslim Turks of Khurasan, assimilated with the Alawite population. The Turks who originally resided in Abu Qubays, and who are Alawites in the present day, later became known as "Qaratila," deriving their name from "Qartal."[3] In 1785 Abu Qubays's inhabitants were unable to pay their land tax and as a result, sold one-third of their farmland to aChristian moneylender based in Hama, meeting the amount owed to the state treasury.[4]
The castle at Abu Qubays is currently in a ruinous state, but most of its remains strongly indicate the architectural features typical ofIsma'ili fortresses, namely small-sized and irregular masonry. It is circular in shape and consists of an exterior defensive wall with five towers, a smallkeep for provisions and residence and numerous subterranean storage chambers. The interior storage area is made up of a number rooms, a vaulted chamber and the ruins of a tower. The castle itself, situated on an eastern slope of the an-Nusayriyah Mountains, is surrounded by olive trees and overlooks theal-Ghab plain below.[1]
Abu Qubais.
|  | |
Also See:Castles in Syria | ||
|  | |
