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247-524: In addition to the initial Ayyubid -era construction begun by Saladin in 1176, the Citadel underwent major development during the Mamluk Sultanate that followed, culminating with the construction projects of Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad in the 14th century. In the first half of the 19th century Muhammad Ali Pasha demolished many of the older buildings and built new palaces and monuments all across

494-543: A sharif (tribal head related to the Islamic prophet Muhammad ), Qatada ibn Idris , seized power in Mecca and was recognized as the emir of the city by al-Adil. Al-Afdal attempted unsuccessfully to take Damascus his final time. Al-Adil entered the city in triumph in 1201. Thereafter, al-Adil's line, rather than Saladin's line, dominated the next 50 years of Ayyubid rule. However, az-Zahir still held Aleppo and al-Afdal

741-531: A Roman province . Rome's presence afforded relative stability in northern Syria for over three centuries. Although the province was administered by a legate from Rome, Rome did not impose its administrative organization on the Greek-speaking ruling class or Aramaic speaking populace. The Roman era saw an increase in the population of northern Syria that accelerated under the Byzantines well into

988-422: A cistern . It has an inscription that memorializes the victory of Sultan Qaytbay's army over Ottoman forces at Adana in a battle in 1486 . Today it is cut off from the Citadel and stands stranded between two highways (Salah Salem road and Kobri al-Ebageah) which pass right next to the Citadel on its eastern side. There are four main mosques in the Citadel today, some of which are open to visitors: The mosque

1235-517: A folk etymology related by the twelfth century CE Rabbi Pethahiah of Regensburg and the traveler Ibn Battuta , the name derives from Hebrew : חלב , lit.   'milk' or Arabic : ḥaleb , lit.   'milk' because Abraham milked his sheep there to feed the poor. From the 11th century, it was common Rabbinic usage to apply the term " Aram-Zobah " to the area of Aleppo, and many Syrian Jews continue to do so. Aleppo has scarcely been touched by archaeologists, since

1482-509: A new aqueduct system . This system consisted of a number of water wheels on the Nile which raised water to the top of an hexagonal tower (built by his predecessor al-Ashraf Khalil), from which the water was then transported along a series of raised aqueducts to the base of the Citadel. From the foot of the Citadel, the water was then carried up to the palaces via another system of waterwheels. However, since this water supply could not be guaranteed in

1729-645: A 567-day voyage before returning unsuccessfully to port. Reference is also made to the city in Shakespeare's Othello when Othello speaks his final words (ACT V, ii, 349f.): "Set you down this/And say besides that in Aleppo once,/Where a malignant and a turbanned Turk/Beat a Venetian and traduced the state,/I took by th' throat the circumcised dog/And smote him—thus!" (Arden Shakespeare Edition, 2004). The English naval chaplain Henry Teonge describes in his diary

1976-590: A Syrian invasion of Egypt, but Frederick refused. Al-Kamil's position was strengthened when al-Mu'azzam died in 1227 and was succeeded by his son an-Nasir Dawud . Al-Kamil continued negotiations with Frederick in Acre in 1228, leading to a truce signed in February 1229. The agreement gave the Crusaders control over an unfortified Jerusalem for over ten years, but also guaranteed Muslim control over Islamic holy places in

2223-642: A bid to cause dissension within the Ayyubid family and thus undermining its position in Egypt. Nur al-Din satisfied Saladin's request that he be joined by his father Ayyub. However, Ayyub was sent primarily to ensure that Abbasid suzerainty was proclaimed in Egypt, which Saladin was reluctant to undertake due to his position as the vizier of the Fatimids. Although Nur al-Din failed to provoke the Ayyubids into rivalry,

2470-655: A branch of the large Hadhabani tribe. Ayyub's ancestors settled in the town of Dvin , in northern Armenia . The Rawadiya were the dominant Kurdish group in the Dvin district, forming part of the political-military elite of the town. Circumstances became unfavorable in Dvin when Turkish generals seized the town from its Kurdish prince . Shadhi left with his two sons Ayyub and Asad ad-Din Shirkuh . His friend Mujahid ad-Din Bihruz—the military governor of northern Mesopotamia under

2717-648: A campaign to capture Aleppo during the reign of Sabiq ibn Mahmud of the Mirdasid dynasty , which lasted until 1080, when his reinforcements were ambushed and routed by a coalition of Arab tribesmen led by Kilabi chief Abu Za'ida at Wadi Butnan . After the death of Sharaf al-Dawla of the Uqaylid dynasty in June 1085, the headman in Aleppo Sharif Hassan ibn Hibat Allah Al-Hutayti promised to surrender

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2964-464: A collection of unique Royal Carriages attributed to different historical periods, from the reign of Khedive Ismail until the reign of King Farouk , in addition to other collection of unique antiques related to the carriages. The museum (also sometimes referred to as the Prison Museum) is just north of the gate known as Bab al-'Alam, on a terrace commanding sweeping views of the city below. It

3211-567: A common cause against Mamluk-dominated Egypt. By 1250, he took Damascus with relative ease and except for Hama and Transjordan, an-Nasir Yusuf's direct authority stood unbroken from the Khabur River in northern Mesopotamia to the Sinai Peninsula . In December 1250, he attacked Egypt after hearing of al-Mu'azzam Turan-Shah's death and the ascension of Shajar al-Durr. An-Nasir Yusuf's army was much larger and better-equipped than that of

3458-511: A critical position. He managed to cross the Nile to launch a surprise attack against Mansurah. Meanwhile, as-Salih Ayyub died, but Shajar al-Durr and as-Salih Ayyub's Bahri Mamluk generals, including Rukn al-Din Baybars and Aybak , countered the assault and inflicted heavy losses on the Crusaders. Simultaneously, Egyptian forces cut off the Crusader's line of supply from Damietta, preventing

3705-583: A desire to make it appear even more prominent and monumental, as well as to perhaps accommodate larger ceremonies. In any case, he demolished it (either entirely or in part) and rebuilt it yet again in 1333, and it is this incarnation of the Great Iwan which survived up until the 19th century (when it was destroyed during Muhammad Ali's constructions). It was frequently cited by chroniclers as the most impressive structure in Cairo, more monumental than almost any of

3952-670: A hill near al-Shajara . On 4 July the Crusaders advanced toward the Horns of Hattin and charged against the Muslim forces, but were overwhelmed and defeated decisively . Four days after the battle, Saladin invited al-Adil to join him in the reconquest of Palestine , Galilee and Lebanese coast. On 8 July the Crusader stronghold of Acre was captured by Saladin, while his forces seized Nazareth and Saffuriya ; other brigades took Haifa , Caesarea , Sebastia and Nablus, while al-Adil conquered Mirabel and Jaffa . On 26 July, Saladin returned to

4199-469: A large part of the Citadel to the public and initiated refurbishment programs to convert some of its old buildings into museums, though the military retains a presence. It is now a major tourist site for both Egyptians and foreigners alike. To supply water to the Citadel, Saladin built an 85-metre-deep (280 ft) well known as the Well of Joseph (or Bir Yusuf), so-called because Saladin's birth name, Yūsif,

4446-526: A meeting of all the war generals and thus became commander-in-chief of the Egyptian forces. She ordered the fortification of Mansurah and then stored large quantities of provisions and concentrated her forces there. She also organized a fleet of war galleys and scattered them at various strategic points along the Nile River. Crusader attempts to capture Mansurah were thwarted and King Louis found himself in

4693-477: A quick peace before the Zengids suffered territorial losses at the hands of the Ayyubids. Al-Adil's son al-Mu'azzam took possession of Karak and Transjordan. Soon, however, Saladin's sons squabbled over the division of the empire. Saladin had appointed al-Afdal to the governorship of Damascus with the intention that his son should continue to see the city as his principal place of residence in order to emphasize

4940-499: A second siege. An agreement was laid out, however, whereby Gumushtigin , the governor of Aleppo, and his allies at Hisn Kayfa and Mardin , would recognize Saladin as the sovereign of the Ayyubids' possessions in Syria, while Saladin allowed for Gumushtigin and as-Salih al-Malik to continue their rule over Aleppo. While Saladin was in Syria, his brother al-Adil governed Egypt, and in 1174–75, Kanz al-Dawla of Aswan revolted against

5187-457: A serious illness which caused Saladin to withdraw to Harran . Upon Abbasid encouragement, Saladin and Mas'ud negotiated a treaty in March 1186 that left the Zengids in control of Mosul, but had to cede the eastern region beyond lesser Zab to Shahrizor to direct Ayyubid control, and under the obligation to supply the Ayyubids with military support when requested. Saladin besieged Tiberias in

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5434-481: A set of massive stone corbels at the foot of the walls northwest of the Mosque of Muhammad Ali would have once supported the upper levels of the palace. More recently, Nasser Rabbat argued that a much more likely site is the partly ruined terrace just below the mosque's southwestern corner (inaccessible but partly visible to visitors today), which shelters a vast space of vaulted halls. These halls would likely have been

5681-543: A single power. However, when Turan-Shah was transferred from his governorship in Yemen in 1176, uprisings broke out in the territory and were not quelled until 1182 when Saladin assigned his other brother Tughtekin Sayf al-Islam as governor of Yemen. The Ayyubid na'ib (deputy governor) of Yemen, Uthman al-Zandjili, conquered the greater part of Hadramaut in 1180, upon Turan-Shah's return to Yemen. From Yemen, as from Egypt,

5928-509: A structure known as the Dar al-Niyaba which served as the palace of the sultan's vice-regent. He also demolished Baybars' Qubba al-Zahiriyya and replaced it with his own domed structure, the Qubba al-Mansuriyya . More significantly in the long run, Qalawun was the first to create elite regiments of mamluks (soldiers of slave origin) who resided in the various towers of the Citadel, which earned them

6175-628: A true siege, though it was implicated on various occasions in the political conflicts within Cairo or Egypt. In general, the fortress complex is divided into two parts: the Northern Enclosure (where the National Military Museum is located today), and the Southern Enclosure (where the Mosque of Muhammad Ali is located today). The Northern Enclosure was historically reserved for military garrisons, while

6422-580: A visit he paid to the city in 1675, when there was a colony of Western European merchants living there. The city remained Ottoman until the empire's collapse, but was occasionally riven with internal feuds as well as attacks of cholera from 1823. Around 20–25 percent of the population died of plague in 1827. In 1850, a Muslim mob attacked Christian neighbourhoods, tens of Christians were killed and several churches looted. Though this event has been portrayed as driven by pure sectarian principles, Bruce Masters argues that such analysis of this period of violence

6669-550: A woman in Tikrit. The Abbasid court issued arrest warrants for both Ayyub and Shirkuh, but before the brothers could be arrested, they departed Tikrit for Mosul in 1138. When they arrived in Mosul, Zangi provided them with all the facilities they needed and he recruited the two brothers into his service. Ayyub was made commander of Ba'albek and Shirkuh entered the service of Zangi's son, Nur ad-Din . According to historian Abdul Ali, it

6916-579: Is a city in Syria , which serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate , the most populous governorate of Syria . With an estimated population of 2,098,000 residents as of 2021, it was Syria's largest city until its population was surpassed by Damascus , the capital of Syria, the largest in Syria's northern governorates and also one of the largest cities in the Levant region. Aleppo

7163-454: Is housed in the Citadel's former prison and contains exhibits on topics such as famous political assassinations and displays of the murder weapon used. 30°01′46″N 31°15′41″E  /  30.02944°N 31.26139°E  / 30.02944; 31.26139 Ayyubid The Ayyubid dynasty ( Arabic : الأيوبيون , romanized :  al-Ayyūbīyūn ; Kurdish : ئەیووبییەکان , romanized :  Eyûbiyan ), also known as

7410-467: Is likely to have extended around this well and around the current site of al-Nasir Muhammad's mosque (making the original enclosure slightly bigger than the existing Northern Enclosure today). The carved image of a double-headed eagle, found near the top of one of the towers of the western walls (near the Police Museum), is a curious feature which is popularly attributed to Salah ad-Din's reign. It

7657-510: Is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world ; it may have been inhabited since the sixth millennium BC. Excavations at Tell as-Sawda and Tell al-Ansari, just south of the old city of Aleppo , show that the area was occupied by Amorites by the latter part of the third millennium BC. That is also the time at which Aleppo is first mentioned in cuneiform tablets unearthed in Ebla and Mesopotamia , which speak of it as part of

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7904-605: Is one of the most prominent monuments on Cairo's skyline to this day. Another obvious change that Muhammad Ali enacted pertained to the uses of the Citadel's northern and southern enclosures: during the Mamluk period the Southern Enclosure was the royal residential area and the Northern Enclosure was mostly military, but Muhammad Ali built his Harem Palace (which now houses the National Military Museum ) in

8151-414: Is sometimes referred to as the "Citadel of Muhammad Ali" ( Arabic : قلعة محمد علي Qalaʿat Muḥammad ʿAlī ). It contains the Mosque of Muhammad Ali , which he built between 1828 and 1848, perched on the summit of the citadel. This Ottoman-style mosque was built in memory of Tusun Pasha , Muhammad Ali's second son who died in 1816. However, it also represents Muhammad Ali's efforts to erase symbols of

8398-514: Is that Ḥalab means 'white', as this is the word for 'white' in Aramaic. This may explain how Ḥalab became the Hebrew word for 'milk' or vice versa, as well as offering a possible explanation for the modern-day Arabic nickname of the city, al-Shahbāʾ ( Arabic : الشهباء ), which means "the white-colored mixed with black" and allegedly derives from the white marble found at Aleppo. According to

8645-487: Is the Arabic equivalent of Joseph. His chief eunuch and confidant, Qaraqush, who oversaw construction of the Citadel, was also responsible for digging the well. The well is considered a masterpiece of medieval engineering and still exists today. Its shaft was divided into two sections, almost all of which is cut out of the rock itself. The upper part has a wider shaft which is surrounded by a long spiral staircase, separated from

8892-444: Is today's Northern Enclosure, although not all elements of the Northern Enclosure's current walls are original. The southeast and northeast sections of these walls are likely the closest to their original forms. Also from Saladin's time is the so-called Yusuf's Well, a deep underground well accessed through a spiral staircase which provided water for the fortress. The original southwestern section of Saladin's enclosure has disappeared but

9139-537: Is too shallow and neglects the tensions that existed among the population due to the commercial favor afforded to certain Christian minorities by the Tanzimat Reforms during this time which played a large role in creating antagonism between previously cooperative groups of Muslim and Christians in the eastern quarters of the city. By 1901, the city's population was around 110,000. In October 1918, Aleppo

9386-554: The Aleppo Eyalet ; the rest of what later became Syria was part of either the eyalets of Damascus, Tripoli, Sidon or Raqqa. Following the Ottoman provincial reform of 1864 Aleppo became the centre of the newly constituted Vilayet of Aleppo in 1866. Aleppo's agriculture was well-developed in the Ottoman period. Archaeological excavations revealed water mills in its river basin. Contemporary Chinese source also suggests Aleppo in

9633-631: The Almohads by 1185–1186. By this point, Qaraqush had also entered into alliance with the Banu Ghaniya , led by Ali ibn Ghaniya, another enemy of the Almohads. The Almohad caliph Yaqub al-Mansur reconquered Ifriqiya from 1187 to 1188, defeating both of them. The Ayyubids made no further attempts to intervene in the Maghreb after this. In 1173, Saladin sent Turan-Shah to conquer Yemen and

9880-524: The Armenian ruler Hethum I . The city was poorly defended by Turanshah, and as a result the walls fell after six days of siege, and the citadel fell four weeks later. The Muslim population was massacred and many Jews were also killed. The Christian population was spared. Turanshah was shown unusual respect by the Mongols, and was allowed to live because of his age and bravery. The city was then given to

10127-735: The Ayyubid Sultanate , was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt . A Sunni Muslim of Kurdish origin, Saladin had originally served the Zengid ruler Nur ad-Din , leading Nur ad-Din's army in battle against the Crusaders in Fatimid Egypt , where he was made Vizier . Following Nur ad-Din's death, Saladin

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10374-698: The Ayyubid dynasty . When the Ayyubids were toppled in Egypt by the Mamluks , the Ayyubid emir of Aleppo An-Nasir Yusuf became sultan of the remaining part of the Ayyubid Empire. He ruled Syria from his seat in Aleppo until, on 24 January 1260, the city was taken by the Mongols under Hulagu in alliance with their vassals the Frankish knights of the ruler of Antioch Bohemond VI and his father-in-law

10621-641: The Battle of Jacob's Ford . In the campaign of 1182, he sparred with Baldwin again in the inconclusive Battle of Belvoir Castle in Kawkab al-Hawa . In May 1182, Saladin captured Aleppo after a brief siege; the new governor of the city, Imad al-Din Zangi II , had been unpopular with his subjects and surrendered Aleppo after Saladin agreed to restore Zangi II's previous control over Sinjar , Raqqa , and Nusaybin , which would thereafter serve as vassal territories of

10868-569: The Caliphate by having sovereignty over the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina . The conquests and economic advancements undertaken by Saladin effectively established Egypt's hegemony in the region. Although still nominally a vassal of Nur al-Din, Saladin adopted an increasingly independent foreign policy. This independence became more publicly pronounced after Nur al-Din's death in 1174. Thereafter, Saladin set out to conquer Syria from

11115-648: The Citadel's Nile aqueduct . He also restored or reconfigured the Mamluk hippodrome at the southwestern foot of the Citadel, where he installed a vast pool which received water from the restored aqueduct. Egypt was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1517 and remained under Ottoman rule for centuries. Sultan Selim I stripped the monumental Mamluk buildings of their precious materials, especially their marble panels and decoration, and shipped them to Istanbul for use in his own building projects. During this period

11362-735: The Crusades , and again during the Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon of 1923–1946, the name Alep was used. Aleppo represents the Italianised version of this. The original ancient name, Ḥalab , has survived as the current Arabic name of the city. It is of obscure origin. Some have proposed that Ḥalab means "iron" or "copper" in the Amorite language since the area served as a major source of these metals in antiquity. Another possibility

11609-534: The Hejaz . Muslim writers Ibn al-Athir and later al-Maqrizi wrote that the reasoning behind the conquest of Yemen was an Ayyubid fear that should Egypt fall to Nur al-Din, they could seek refuge in a faraway territory. In May 1174, Turan-Shah conquered Zabid and later that year captured Aden . Aden became the principal maritime port of the dynasty in the Indian Ocean and the principal city of Yemen, although

11856-687: The Lake Van region to the Ayyubids of Damascus . A Crusader military campaign was launched on 3 November 1217, beginning with an offensive towards Transjordan. Al-Mu'azzam urged al-Adil to launch a counter-attack, but he rejected his son's proposal. In 1218, the fortress of Damietta in the Nile Delta was besieged by the Crusaders. After two failed attempts, the fortress eventually capitulated on 25 August. Six days later al-Adil died of apparent shock at Damietta's loss. Al-Kamil proclaimed himself sultan in Cairo, while his brother al-Mu'azzam claimed

12103-635: The Middle Assyrian Empire , whose king renovated the temple of Hadad which was discovered in 2003. In 2003, a statue of a king named Taita bearing inscriptions in Luwian was discovered during excavations conducted by German archeologist Kay Kohlmeyer in the Citadel of Aleppo . The new readings of Anatolian hieroglyphic signs proposed by the Hittitologists Elisabeth Rieken and Ilya Yakubovich were conducive to

12350-568: The Ottoman Empire in 1516 as part of the vast expansion of the Ottoman borders during the reign of Selim I . The city then had around 50,000 inhabitants, or 11,224 households according to an Ottoman census. In 1517, Selim I obtained a fatwa from Sunnite religious leaders and unleashed violence on the Alawites , killing 9,400 men, which is known as the Massacre of the Telal . It was the centre of

12597-445: The Qa'a al-Baysariyya , which was completed in 1360. It was over 50 metres tall and, in addition to a main hall covered by a dome, it also had a tower with an apartment for the sultan which was decorated with ivory and ebony. Other private apartments also had domes, while paintings and portraits decorated the walls. Both Isma'il and Hasan were sons of al-Nasir Muhammad. Sultan Hasan also built his massive madrasa-mosque just northwest of

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12844-448: The Roman Emperor Constantius II . After the Council of Seleucia of 359, called by Constantius, Meletius of Antioch was transferred from Sebastea to Beroea but in the following year was promoted to Antioch. His successor in Beroea, Anatolius, was at a council in Antioch in 363. Under the persecuting Emperor Valens , the bishop of Beroea was Theodotus, a friend of Basil the Great . He was succeeded by Acacius of Beroea , who governed

13091-436: The Seljuks —welcomed him and appointed him governor of Tikrit . After Shadhi's death, Ayyub succeeded him in governance of the city with the assistance of his brother Shirkuh. Together they managed the affairs of the city well, gaining them popularity from the local inhabitants. In the meantime, Imad ad-Din Zangi , the ruler of Mosul , was defeated by the Abbasids under Caliph al-Mustarshid and Bihruz. In his bid to escape

13338-410: The Silk Road , which passed through Central Asia and Mesopotamia . When the Suez Canal was inaugurated in 1869, much trade was diverted to sea and Aleppo began its slow decline. At the fall of the Ottoman Empire after World War I , Aleppo lost its northern hinterland to modern Turkey , as well as the important Baghdad Railway connecting it to Mosul . In the 1940s, it lost its main access to

13585-419: The Syrian Revolt erupted in southern Syria in 1925, the French held in Aleppo State new elections that were supposed to lead to the breaking of the union with Damascus and restore the independence of Aleppo State. The French were driven to believe by pro-French Aleppine politicians that the people in Aleppo were supportive of such a scheme. After the new council was elected, however, it surprisingly voted to keep

13832-443: The Turcoman troops who were defending Aleppo. The Mamluk garrisons fled to Hama , until Baibars came north again with his main army, and the Mongols retreated. On 20 October 1280, the Mongols took the city again, pillaging the markets and burning the mosques. The Muslim inhabitants fled for Damascus, where the Mamluk leader Qalawun assembled his forces. When his army advanced following the Second Battle of Homs in October 1281,

14079-404: The Umayyad Caliphate . In 944, it became the seat of an independent Emirate under the Hamdanid prince Sayf al-Dawla , and enjoyed a period of great prosperity, being home to the great poet al-Mutanabbi and the philosopher and polymath al-Farabi . In 962, the city was sacked by the Byzantine general Nikephoros Phokas . Subsequently, the city and its emirate became a temporary vassal of

14326-404: The Ummayyad Mosque and Mausoleum of Baybars in Damascus . (During excavations the mosaics were removed for study and restoration.) The hall also had a central octagonal fountain of marble and the floor was paved with marble mosaics arranged in geometric patterns. It was one of the few structures in this area which al-Nasir Muhammad did not destroy but instead re-used for various purposes, and in

14573-402: The Zengids ; and on November 23 he was welcomed in Damascus by the governor of the city. By 1175, he had taken control of Hama and Homs but failed to take Aleppo after besieging it. Control of Homs was handed to the descendants of Shirkuh in 1179 and Hama was given to Saladin's nephew, al-Muzaffar Umar. Saladin's successes alarmed Emir Saif al-Din of Mosul , the head of the Zengids at

14820-411: The al-Gawhara Palace today) for the palaces, private courtyard, and garden devoted to his harem (wives and concubines ), probably as Baybars had done, called al-Qusur al-Jawwaniyya . He also commissioned new palaces outside the Citadel but nearby for his favourite amirs , and his projects encouraged the development of areas near the Citadel, such as al-Darb al-Ahmar . In 1312 al-Nasir also ordered

15067-428: The episcopal see of Beroea, which was in the Roman province of Syria Prima , are recorded in extant documents. The first whose name survives is that of Saint Eustathius of Antioch , who, after being bishop of Beroea, was transferred to the important metropolitan see of Antioch shortly before the 325 First Council of Nicaea . His successor in Beroea Cyrus was for his fidelity to the Nicene faith sent into exile by

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15314-411: The eunuch Badr al-Din Sawabi to act as his governor in Karak. In 1248, a Crusader fleet of 1,800 boats and ships arrived in Cyprus with the intent of launching a Seventh Crusade against the Muslims by conquering Egypt. Their commander, Louis IX , attempted to enlist the Mongols to launch a coordinated attack on Egypt, but when this failed to materialize, the Crusader force sailed to Damietta and

15561-410: The 'State of the Kurds' or 'Kurdish regime' 'Kurdish Kings/Kingdom', or 'Ayyubid Kurdish State' by Taqi al-Din al-Subki ( Arabic : ملوک الأکراد ,دولة الأکراد,الدولة الأيوبية الکردية , romanized :  Dawlat al-Akrād, Al-Dawlat Al-Ayyūbīya Al-Kurdīya, Mūlūk Al-Akrād ). The progenitor of the Ayyubid dynasty, Najm ad-Din Ayyub ibn Shadhi , belonged to the Kurdish Rawadiya tribe, itself

15808-427: The 'land of Ḥalab,' was one of the most powerful in the Near East during the reign of Yarim-Lim I , who formed an alliance with Hammurabi of Babylonia against Shamshi-Adad I of Assyria . Yamḥad was devastated by the Hittites under Mursili I in the 16th century BC. However, it soon resumed its leading role in the Levant when the Hittite power in the region waned due to internal strife. Taking advantage of

16055-470: The 5th century. In Late Antiquity , Beroea was the second largest Syrian city after Antioch , the capital of Roman Syria and the third largest city in the Roman world. Archaeological evidence indicates a high population density for settlements between Antioch and Beroea right up to the 6th century. This agrarian landscape still holds the remains of large estate houses and churches such as the Church of Saint Simeon Stylites . The names of several bishops of

16302-456: The Almohads, who had one of the largest navies in the Mediterranean. In 1189–1190, he sent letters to Yaqub al-Mansur requesting naval support in Palestine, which the Almohad caliph declined. Various explanations for this refusal have been suggest by historians, including the Almohads' focus on al-Andalus , ideological differences between the two Muslim states, and the distrust caused by Qaraqush's invasion of Ifriqiya . The Crusaders, now under

16549-444: The Amorite state of Yamhad , and note its commercial and military importance. Such a long history is attributed to its strategic location as a trading center between the Mediterranean Sea and Mesopotamia. For centuries, Aleppo was the largest city in the Syrian region , and the Ottoman Empire 's third-largest after Constantinople (now Istanbul ) and Cairo . The city's significance in history has been its location at one end of

16796-422: The Asadiyya and Salahiyya, both of which Shirkuh and Saladin had purchased. The Salahiyya backed al-Adil in his struggles against al-Afdal. With their support, al-Adil conquered Cairo in 1200, and forced al-Afdal to accept internal banishment. He proclaimed himself Sultan of Egypt and Syria afterward and entrusted the governance of Damascus to al-Mu'azzam and al-Jazira to his other son al-Kamil . Also around 1200,

17043-405: The Ayyubid empire in jeopardy. Thus, in 1194, Uthman openly demanded the sultanate. Uthman's claim to the throne was settled in a series of assaults on Damascus in 1196, forcing al-Afdal to leave for a lesser post at Salkhad . Al-Adil established himself in Damascus as a lieutenant of Uthman, but wielded great influence within the empire. When Uthman died in a hunting accident near Cairo, al-Afdal

17290-430: The Ayyubid-Crusader truce. Al-Kamil's forces reached Damascus to enforce the proposed agreement in May 1229. The ensuing siege levied significant pressure on the inhabitants, but they rallied to an-Nasir Dawud, having been supportive of his father's stable rule and angered at the treaty with Frederick. After one month, an-Nasir Dawud sued for peace and was granted a new principality, centered around Karak, while al-Ashraf,

17537-404: The Ayyubids aimed to dominate the Red Sea trade routes which Egypt depended on and so sought to tighten their grip over the Hejaz, where an important trade stop, Yanbu , was located. To favor trade in the direction of the Red Sea, the Ayyubids built facilities along the Red Sea- Indian Ocean trade routes to accompany merchants. The Ayyubids also aspired to back their claims of legitimacy within

17784-625: The Ayyubids into conflict with the Almohads who ruled the Maghreb . In 1177, Saladin led a force of some 26,000 soldiers, according to Crusader chronicler William of Tyre , into southern Palestine after hearing that most of the Kingdom of Jerusalem 's soldiers were besieging Harem, Syria west of Aleppo. Suddenly attacked by the Templars under Baldwin IV of Jerusalem near Ramla , the Ayyubid army

18031-447: The Ayyubids marched south to Ascalon. Facing stubborn resistance from the Crusader garrison, an Egyptian flotilla was sent by as-Salih Ayyub to support the siege and on 24 October, Fakhr ad-Din's troops stormed through a breach in the walls and killed or captured the entire garrison. The city was razed and left deserted. As-Salih Ayyub returned to Damascus to keep an eye on developments in northern Syria. Al-Ashraf Musa of Homs had ceded

18278-458: The Ayyubids raided Samaria , burning down Nablus . Saladin returned to Damascus in September 1184 and a relative peace between the Crusader states and the Ayyubid empire subsequently ensued in 1184–1185. Saladin launched his last offensive against Mosul in late 1185, hoping for an easy victory over a presumably demoralized Mas'ud, but failed due to the city's unexpectedly stiff resistance and

18525-680: The Ayyubids with the intention of restoring Fatimid rule. His main backers were the local Bedouin tribes and the Nubians, but he also enjoyed the support of a multitude of other groups, including the Armenians . Coincidental or possibly in coordination, was an uprising by Abbas ibn Shadi who overran Qus along the Nile River in central Egypt. Both rebellions were crushed by al-Adil. For the rest of that year and throughout early 1176, Qaraqush continued his raids in western North Africa , bringing

18772-610: The Ayyubids, like their Fatimid predecessors, were discouraged from further southward expansion into Nubia due to the poverty of the region, but required Nubia to guarantee the protection of Aswan and Upper Egypt . The Ayyubid garrison in Ibrim withdrew to Egypt in 1175. Throughout the 1170s, the Ayyubids continued to push west as well. Sharaf al-Din Qaraqush , a commander under al-Muzaffar Taqi al-Din Umar, led most of these expeditions on

19019-472: The Ayyubids, whose control of it had been weakened due to their troubled situation in Yemen proper. Following Mas'ud ibn Kamil's death in 1229, Nur ad-Din Umar declared his independence and discontinued the annual tribute payment to the Ayyubids in Egypt. Under Frederick II , a Sixth Crusade was launched, capitalizing on the ongoing strife between al-Kamil of Egypt and al-Mu'azzam of Syria. Subsequently, al-Kamil offered Jerusalem to Frederick to help prevent

19266-486: The Ayyubids. Aleppo formally entered Ayyubid hands on 12 June. The day after, Saladin marched to Harim, near the Crusader-held Antioch and captured the city when its garrison forced out their leader, Surhak , who was then briefly detained and released by al-Muzaffar Umar. The surrender of Aleppo and Saladin's allegiance with Zangi II had left Izz al-Din al-Mas'ud of Mosul the only major Muslim rival of

19513-573: The Ayyubids. Mosul had been subjected to a short siege in the autumn of 1182, but after mediation by the Abbasid caliph an-Nasir , Saladin withdrew his forces. Mas'ud attempted to align himself with the Artuqids of Mardin , but they became allies of Saladin instead. In 1183, Irbil too switched allegiance to the Ayyubids. Mas'ud then sought the support of Pahlawan ibn Muhammad , the governor of Azerbaijan , and although he did not usually intervene in

19760-610: The Bahri Mamluks revolted against the sultan and killed him in April 1250. Aybak married Shajar al-Durr and subsequently took over the government in Egypt in the name of al-Ashraf II who became sultan, but only nominally. Intent on restoring the supremacy of Saladin's direct descendants within the Ayyubid family, an-Nasir Yusuf was eventually able to enlist the backing of all of the Syria-based Ayyubid emirs in

20007-552: The Burji Mamluk period it seems to have replaced the Dar al-Niyaba as the palace of the vice-regent. Al-Ashraf also, once again, demolished the qubba or domed throne hall of his father Qalawun and replaced it with his own structure, the Iwan al-Ashrafiyya (the word " iwan " seems to have been used from then on for this particular type of building). This new throne hall differed from previous incarnations in one notable respect: it

20254-514: The Byzantine Empire. For the next few decades, the city was disputed by the Fatimid Caliphate and Byzantine Empire , with the nominally independent Hamdanids in between, eventually falling to the Fatimids in 1017. In 1024, Salih ibn Mirdas launched an attack on Fatimid Aleppo, and after a few months was invited into the city by its population. The Mirdasid dynasty then ruled the city until 1080, interrupted only in 1038–1042, when it

20501-651: The Citadel of Aleppo. The two mosques inside the Citadel are known to have been converted by the Mirdasids during the 11th century from churches originally built by the Byzantines. The Sasanian Persians led by King Khosrow I pillaged and burned Aleppo in 540, then they invaded and controlled Syria briefly in the early 7th century. Soon after Aleppo was taken by the Muslims under Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah in 637. It later became part of Jund Qinnasrin under

20748-510: The Citadel was a long open field frequently referred to as the "hippodrome" by historians or as the Maydan ("plaza" or "square"). For centuries this was maintained as a training ground (especially for horsemanship) and as a military parade ground. Its outline is still visible in the layout of the roads (mainly Salah ad-Din Street) on this side of the Citadel. At the northern end of this hippodrome

20995-532: The Citadel was neglected and many Mamluk structures fell into ruin, although some of the Citadel walls were rebuilt or extended in the 16th–17th centuries. Due to rivalries between different military corps in the Ottoman forces , the Citadel was divided into three areas to house three different elements of the Ottoman garrison: the Northern Enclosure housed the barracks of the Janissaries , the Southern Enclosure

21242-422: The Citadel which was used for equestrian training and military parades. This was on the same site that Ahmad Ibn Tulun established a similar hippodrome in the 9th century. This work established the overall plan of the Citadel area for centuries to come: the northern part of the citadel was devoted to military functions, the southern part to the sultan's private residence and the state administration, and outside, at

21489-471: The Citadel's current form: 12th-century Ayyubid (starting with Saladin ), 14th-century Mamluk (under al-Nasir Muhammad ), and in the 19th century under Muhammad Ali . The Citadel stopped being the seat of government when Egypt 's ruler, Khedive Ismail , moved to his newly built Abdin Palace in the new downtown Cairo in 1874. Despite its elaborate defenses, the Citadel never ended up being subjected to

21736-413: The Citadel, off Rumayla Square, in the 1350s and early 1360s (and still standing today). It was so large and tall that in later years it was reportedly used by rebels as a platform from which to bombard the Citadel on more than one occasion. The Burji Mamluk period saw little construction in the Citadel by comparison with the earlier Mamluk period. The private harem courtyard in the southeastern corner of

21983-542: The Citadel. Among the most important constructions was the Ablaq Palace ( Qasr al-Ablaq ; sometimes translated as the "Striped Palace"), built in 1313–1314. Its name derived from the red-and-black ablaq masonry that marked its exterior. It may have been partly inspired by the palace of the same name that Sultan Baybars had built in Damascus in 1264 and in which al-Nasir resided when he visited that city. The palace

22230-619: The Crusader army could not be defeated in a direct fight. Prolonged campaigns also involved the difficulties of maintaining a coherent Muslim coalition. The trend under al-Adil was the steady growth of the empire, mainly through the expansion of Ayyubid authority in al-Jazira and incorporation of Shah-Armen domains (in eastern Anatolia ). The Abbasids eventually recognized al-Adil's role as sultan in 1207. By 1208 Kingdom of Georgia challenged Ayyubid rule in eastern Anatolia and besieged Khilat (possessions of al-Awhad). In response al-Adil assembled and personally led large Muslim army that included

22477-476: The Egyptian army, consisting of the forces of Aleppo, Homs, Hama, and those of Saladin's only surviving sons, Nusrat ad-Din and Turan-Shah ibn Salah ad-Din. Nonetheless, it suffered a major defeat at the hands of Aybak's forces. An-Nasir Yusuf subsequently returned to Syria, which was slowly slipping out of his control. Aleppo Aleppo ( / ə ˈ l ɛ p oʊ / ə- LEP -oh ; Arabic : ﺣَﻠَﺐ , ALA-LC : Ḥalab , IPA: [ˈħalab] )

22724-462: The Flag), across the terrace from the current Police Museum. The remains indicate that the walls of the hall were decorated with multi-coloured marble paneling along the lower walls (a dado ), above which was a small frieze of marble mosaics with mother-of-pearl and other marble reliefs, and above all this were panels of glass mosaics with scenes of trees and palaces which are reminiscent of the mosaics of

22971-675: The Great took over the city in 333 BC. Seleucus Nicator established a Hellenic settlement in the site between 301 and 286 BC. He called it Beroea (Βέροια), after Beroea in Macedon ; it is sometimes spelled as Beroia. Beroea is mentioned in 1 Macc. 9:4. Northern Syria was the center of gravity of the Hellenistic colonizing activity, and therefore of Hellenistic culture in the Seleucid Empire . As did other Hellenized cities of

23218-752: The Khwarizmids at Hirbiya , near Gaza. A large battle ensued , resulting in a major victory for as-Salih Ayyub and the virtual collapse of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. In 1244–1245, as-Salih Ayyub had seized the area approximate to the modern-day West Bank from an-Nasir Dawud; he gained possession of Jerusalem, then marched on to take Damascus, which fell with relative ease in October 1245. Shortly afterward, Sayf al-Din Ali surrendered his exposed principality of Ajlun and its fortress to as-Salih Ayyub. The rupture of

23465-482: The Mamluk legacy that he sought to replace. Many of the former Mamluk structures, including the Great Iwan and the Ablaq Palace of al-Nasir Muhammad, were demolished in 1825 to make way for his new mosque and its renovated surroundings. Muhammad Ali himself was eventually buried in the mosque. His mosque also replaced the nearby Mosque of al-Nasir Muhammad as the Citadel's official main mosque. Muhammad Ali's mosque, with its large dome and tall pencil-like Ottoman minarets,

23712-469: The Mamluk mosques. It served as the sultan's public and ceremonial throne room and continued to be used (albeit less consistently) by Mamluk sultans after him. Lastly, al-Nasir's other most notable contribution, and the only major structure of his reign still preserved at the Citadel, was the Mosque of al-Nasir , also situated in the Southern Enclosure. This was built in 1318 on the site of an earlier Ayyubid main mosque which he demolished in order to serve as

23959-589: The Mongols again retreated, back across the Euphrates . In October 1299, Ghazan captured the city, joined by his vassal Armenian King Hethum II , whose forces included some Templars and Hospitallers . In 1400, the Mongol-Turkic leader Tamerlane captured the city again from the Mamluks. He massacred many of the inhabitants, ordering the building of a tower of 20,000 skulls outside the city. After

24206-597: The Mongols at the Battle of Ain Jalut on 3 September 1260. The Mamluks won a decisive victory, killing the Mongols' Nestorian Christian general Kitbuqa , and five days later they had retaken Damascus. Aleppo was recovered by the Muslims within a month, and a Mamluk governor placed to govern the city. Hulagu sent troops to try to recover Aleppo in December. They were able to massacre a large number of Muslims in retaliation for

24453-400: The Mongols, maintained the Ayyubid principality of Hama until deposing its last ruler in 1341. Despite their relatively short tenure, the Ayyubid dynasty had a transformative effect on the region, particularly Egypt. Under the Ayyubids, Egypt, which had previously been a formally Shi'a caliphate , became the dominant Sunni political and military force, and the economic and cultural centre of

24700-547: The Northern Enclosure, erasing the old functional division between the two sections of the Citadel. He also built or rebuilt some of the walls. Notably, he rebuilt the Bab al-Qulla gate and the surrounding wall which separated the Northern and Southern enclosures from each other, giving it its current look. The gate's form today once again emulates the appearance of Bab al-Futuh but introduces some Turkish elements. In 1825 he also built

24947-541: The Ottoman Empire, never attempted to settle a factor, or agent, in Damascus, despite having had permission to do so. Aleppo served as the company's headquarters until the late 18th century. As a result of the economic development, many European states had opened consulates in Aleppo during the 16th and the 17th centuries, such as the consulate of the Republic of Venice in 1548, the consulate of France in 1562,

25194-635: The Ottoman period had well-developed animal husbandry. During his travels to the Levant in the 17th century, French traveler Jacques Goujon recounted how the Maronite community in Aleppo, facing financial difficulties and considering conversion to Islam due to their inability to pay the jizya tax , was aided by the Franciscans who bought their church, enabling them to meet their tax obligations. Moreover, thanks to its strategic geographic location on

25441-513: The Ottoman period. The mosque was built by the Mamluk amir Ahmad Katkhuda in 1697, but it has been argued that it incorporates, or was a renovation of, an earlier Mamluk mosque or religious structure. Although not publicly accessible, it can be spotted by its pointed Ottoman-style minaret. The Citadel also contains several museums: The official museum of the Egyptian Army . The museum

25688-624: The Philistines, as do archaeologists Benjamin Sass and Kay Kohlmeyer. Gershon Galil suggests that King David halted the Arameans' expansion into the Land of Israel on account of his alliance with the southern Philistine kings, as well as with Toi, king of Ḥamath, who is identified with Tai(ta) II, king of Palistin (the northern Sea Peoples). During the early years of the 1st millennium BC, Aleppo

25935-464: The Popular Party presented a constitution draft that called Damascus a "temporary capital." The first coup d'état in modern Syrian history was carried out in March 1949 by an army officer from Aleppo, Hussni Zaim . However, lured by the absolute power he enjoyed as a dictator, Zaim soon developed a pro-Egyptian, pro-Western orientation and abandoned the cause of union with Iraq. This incited

26182-533: The Seleucid kingdom, Beroea probably enjoyed a measure of local autonomy, with a local civic assembly or boulē composed of free Hellenes. Beroea remained under Seleucid rule until 88 BC when Syria was conquered by the Armenian king Tigranes the Great and Beroea became part of the Kingdom of Armenia . After the Roman victory over Tigranes, Syria was handed over to Pompey in 64 BC, at which time they became

26429-481: The Southern Enclosure became reserved for the harem , the private and domestic area of the sultan and his family, while another part became the site of more monumental structures whose functions were more public, ceremonial, or administrative. Among the structures he built here was one called the Dar al-Dhahab ("the Hall of Gold"), which he seems to have used as his private reception hall and which may have been located in

26676-416: The Southern Enclosure was developed as the residence of the sultan. There is also a lower, western enclosure which was historically the site of the royal stables of the Mamluks. However, these functional distinctions were largely erased in the 19th century under Muhammad Ali Pasha, who overhauled the entire site and constructed buildings of various functions throughout the Citadel. To the west and southwest of

26923-434: The Southern Enclosure, known as the hosh , became increasingly used to build new reception halls and other structures with slightly more public functions. The late Burji sultans Qaytbay and al-Ghuri built palaces in this part of the Citadel, on the site of what is now the 19th-century al-Gawhara Palace . Al-Ghuri also restored many other structures in and around the Citadel, including a major restoration/reconstruction of

27170-605: The Tower of the Lions ( Burj al Siba' ), a round tower which featured a stone-carved frieze of lions (Baybars' emblem) along its upper parts. The tower was obscured by later construction but its remains, including the lion carvings, were rediscovered in the late 20th century and are now visible on the northwestern side of the Police Museum. Sultan al-Mansur Qalawun ( r.   1279–1290) either built or significantly renovated

27417-567: The advance of Malik-Shah or because the Fatimids were besieging Damascus. In 1087, Aq Sunqur al-Hajib became the Seljuk governor of Aleppo under Sultan Malik Shah I. During his bid for the Seljuk throne, Tutush had Aq Sunqur executed and after Tutush died in battle, the town was ruled by his son Ridwan . The city was besieged by Crusaders led by the King of Jerusalem Baldwin II in 1124–1125, but

27664-559: The alliance between the Khwarizmids and as-Salih Ayyub ended with the virtual destruction of the former by al-Mansur Ibrahim , the Ayyubid emir of Homs, in October 1246. With the Khwarizimid defeat, as-Salih Ayyub was able to complete the conquest of southern Syria. His general Fakhr ad-Din went on to subdue an-Nasir Dawud's territories. He sacked the lower town of Karak, then besieged its fortress. A stalemate followed with neither an-Nasir Dawud or Fakhr ad-Din strong enough to dislodge

27911-445: The alms-tax ( zakat ). The latter was to be collected from their livestock. In late 1172, Aswan was besieged by former Fatimid soldiers from Nubia and the governor of the city, Kanz al-Dawla —a former Fatimid loyalist—requested reinforcements from Saladin who complied. The reinforcements had come after the Nubians had already departed Aswan, but Ayyubid forces led by Turan-Shah advanced and conquered northern Nubia after capturing

28158-488: The area of the present Police Museum. Another important structure he built in the area is referred to as the Qubba al-Zahiriyya ("the Dome of al-Zahir"), a monumental and richly decorated hall with a central dome which acted as an audience hall or throne hall. It may have been a new structure or an addition to an existing Ayyubid structure, and it was probably the predecessor of al-Nasir Muhammad's "Great Iwan". Baybars also built

28405-568: The arrangement and al-Aziz Uthman held Cairo, while his eldest son, al-Afdal retained Damascus, which also included Palestine and much of Mount Lebanon . Al-Adil then acquired al-Jazira (Upper Mesopotamia), where he held the Zengids of Mosul at bay. In 1193, Mas'ud of Mosul joined forces with Zangi II of Sinjar and together the Zengid coalition moved to conquer al-Jazira. However, before any major results could be achieved, Mas'ud fell ill and returned to Mosul, and al-Adil then compelled Zangi to make

28652-485: The arrival of reinforcements. As-Salih Ayyub's son and the newly proclaimed Ayyubid sultan al-Mu'azzam Turan-Shah reached Mansurah at this point and intensified the battle against the Crusaders. The latter ultimately surrendered at the Battle of Fariskur , and King Louis and his companions were arrested. Al-Mu'azzam Turan-Shah alienated the Mamluks soon after their victory at Mansurah and constantly threatened them and Shajar al-Durr. Fearing for their positions of power,

28899-466: The audience hall (throne hall), the main mosque, the palaces, or other structures. Unlike the earlier Ayyubid buildings, the Mamluk buildings were increasingly designed to be visible from afar and to dominate the city's skyline. Many of these structures have not survived, with few exceptions. Baybars ( r.   1260–1277) was the first one to split the Citadel into two areas by building the Bab al-Qulla ,

29146-490: The bank of the Nile to the bank of the Nile." The Citadel would be the centerpiece of the wall. While the Citadel was initially completed in 1183–1184, the wall Saladin had envisioned was still under construction in 1238, long after his death. It does not appear to have ever been fully completed after this, though long segments were built. Saladin charged his chief eunuch and close confidant, Baha al-Din Qaraqush , with overseeing

29393-540: The barracks of the Bahri Mamluks who took power after him). Only under the Mamluks , who ruled from 1250 to 1517, did the Citadel finally become the permanent residence of the sultans. Under the early Bahri Mamluks , the Citadel was continuously developed and the Southern Enclosure in particular was expanded and became the site of important monumental structures. Al-Zahir Baybars , al-Mansur Qalawun , al-Ashraf Khalil and al-Nasir Muhammad each built or rebuilt

29640-507: The battlefield to Mosul via Tikrit, Zangi took shelter with Ayyub and sought his assistance in this task. Ayyub complied and provided Zangi and his companions boats to cross the Tigris River and safely reach Mosul. As a consequence for assisting Zangi, the Abbasid authorities sought punitive measures against Ayyub. Simultaneously, in a separate incident, Shirkuh killed a close confidant of Bihruz on charges that he had sexually assaulted

29887-644: The bishop of Beroea Antoninus for rejecting the Council of Chalcedon. The last known bishop of the see is Megas, who was at a synod called by Patriarch Menas of Constantinople in 536. After the Arab conquest, Beroea ceased to be a residential bishopric, and is today listed by the Roman Catholic Church as a titular see . Very few physical remains have been found from the Roman and Byzantine periods in

30134-420: The capital of a large and wealthier state with which it would have been hard for Damascus to compete. The State of Aleppo as drawn by France contained most of the fertile area of Syria: the fertile countryside of Aleppo in addition to the entire fertile basin of river Euphrates . The state also had access to sea via the autonomous Sanjak of Alexandretta . On the other hand, Damascus, which is basically an oasis on

30381-417: The capital of an independent kingdom closely related to Ebla , known as Armi , although this identification is contested. The main temple of the storm god Hadad was located on the citadel hill in the center of the city, when the city was known as the city of Hadad . Naram-Sin of Akkad mentioned his destruction of Ebla and Armanum , in the 23rd century BC. However, the identification of Armani in

30628-422: The city but found it too strongly defended, hence John II moved the army southward to take nearby fortresses. On 11 October 1138, a deadly earthquake ravaged the city and the surrounding area. Although estimates from this time are very unreliable, it is believed that 230,000 people died, making it the seventh deadliest earthquake in recorded history. In 1183, Aleppo came under the control of Saladin and then

30875-623: The city as a vassal to Mitanni and was attacked by Tudhaliya I of the Hittites as a retaliation for his alliance to Mitanni. Later the Hittite king Suppiluliumas I permanently defeated Mitanni, and conquered Aleppo in the 14th century BC. Suppiluliumas installed his son Telepinus as king and a dynasty of Suppiluliumas descendants ruled Aleppo until the Late Bronze Age collapse . However, Talmi-Šarruma, grandson of Suppiluliumas I, who

31122-548: The city during the Syrian Civil War , and many parts of the city had suffered massive destruction. Affected parts of the city are currently undergoing reconstruction. An estimated 31,000 people were killed in Aleppo during the conflict. Modern-day English-speakers commonly refer to the city as Aleppo . It was known in antiquity as Khalpe , Khalibon , and to the Greeks and Romans as Beroea ( Βέροια ). During

31369-588: The city to Sultan Malik-Shah I . When the latter delayed his arrival, Hassan contacted the Sultan's brother Tutush. However, after Tutush defeated Suleiman ibn Qutulmish , who had intended to take Aleppo for himself, in the battle of Ain Salm , Hassan went back on his commitment. In response, Tutush attacked the city and managed to get hold of parts of the walls and towers in July 1086, but he left in September, either due to

31616-580: The city, and his brother Khwaja Sanos Chelebi , who monopolized Aleppine silk trade and were important patrons of the Armenians. However, the prosperity Aleppo experienced in the 16th and 17th century started to fade as silk production in Iran went into decline with the fall of the Safavid dynasty in 1722. By mid-century, caravans were no longer bringing silk from Iran to Aleppo, and local Syrian production

31863-587: The city, which fell in December 1246. By May 1247, as-Salih Ayyub was master of Syria south of Lake Homs , having gained control over Banyas and Salkhad. With his fellow Ayyubid opponents subdued, except for Aleppo under an-Nasir Yusuf , as-Salih Ayyub undertook a limited offensive against the Crusaders, sending Fakhr ad-Din to move against their territories in the Galilee. Tiberias fell on 16 June, followed by Mount Tabor and Kawkab al-Hawa soon thereafter. Safad with its Templar fortress seemed out of reach, so

32110-583: The city. Although the treaty held little military significance, an-Nasir Dawud used it as a pretext to provoke the sentiments of Syria's inhabitants. A Friday sermon by a popular preacher at the Umayyad Mosque "reduced the crowd to violent sobbing and tears". The settlement with the Crusaders was accompanied by a proposed redistribution of the Ayyubid principalities whereby Damascus and its territories would by governed by al-Ashraf, who recognized al-Kamil's sovereignty. An-Nasir Dawud resisted, incensed by

32357-489: The coast and received the surrender of Sarepta , Sidon , Beirut , and Jableh . In August, the Ayyubids conquered Ramla , Darum , Gaza , Bayt Jibrin , and Latrun . Ascalon was taken on 4 September. In September–October 1187, the Ayyubids besieged Jerusalem , taking possession of it on 2 October, after negotiations with Balian of Ibelin . Karak and Mont Real in Transjordan soon fell, followed by Safad in

32604-552: The conclusion that the country ruled by Taita was called Palistin . This country extended in the 11th-10th centuries BC from the Amouq Valley in the west to Aleppo in the east down to Maharda and Shaizar in the south. Due to the similarity between Palistin and Philistines, Hittitologist John David Hawkins (who translated the Aleppo inscriptions) hypothesizes a connection between the Syro-Hittite states Palistin and

32851-638: The construction of a college for the Maliki school of jurisprudence of Sunni Islam in the city, and another for the Shafi'i school, to which he belonged, in al-Fustat . In 1171, al-Adid died and Saladin took advantage of this power vacuum, effectively taking control of the country. Upon seizing power, he switched Egypt's allegiance to the Baghdad -based Abbasid Caliphate which adhered to Sunni Islam. Saladin went to Alexandria in 1171–72 and found himself facing

33098-531: The construction of the new fortifications. Most of the structure was built with limestone quarried from the surrounding Muqattam Hills; however, Qaraqush also quarried a number of minor pyramids at Giza and even as far away as Abusir in order to obtain further materials. He also made use of labour provided by Christian prisoners of war captured in Saladin's victories against the Crusaders. The initial fortress built in Saladin's time consisted essentially of what

33345-460: The consulate of England in 1583 and the consulate of the Netherlands in 1613. The Armenian community of Aleppo also rose to prominence in this period as they moved into the city to take up trade and developed the new quarter of Judayda. The most outstanding among Aleppine Armenian merchants during the late 16th and early 17th centuries were Khwaja Petik Chelebi , the richest merchant in

33592-510: The country. He consolidated power through a famous and violent coup in 1811 which eliminated the remaining Mamluk class that still formed the country's elites. One of the most pivotal events of this coup took place in the Citadel. Muhammad Ali invited the Mamluk leaders to a celebration banquet in the Citadel, and as they were leaving and passing along the road leading from the upper Citadel to Bab al-Azab, regiments of his Albanian gunmen opened fire from above and massacred all of them. The Citadel

33839-403: The court to the new 'Abdin Palace , located in the newly created districts of downtown Cairo , in 1874. For many years up to the late 20th century, the Citadel was closed to the public and used as a military garrison and base; at first by the British Army during the British occupation and afterward up to 1946, and since then by the Egyptian military . In 1983, the Egyptian government opened

34086-408: The death of Kitbuqa, but after a fortnight could make no other progress and had to retreat. The Mamluk governor of the city became insubordinate to the central Mamluk authority in Cairo, and in Autumn 1261 the Mamluk leader Baibars sent an army to reclaim the city. In October 1271, the Mongols led by general Samagar took the city again, attacking with 10,000 horsemen from Anatolia , and defeating

34333-482: The dilemma of having many supporters in the city, but little money. A family council was held there by the Ayyubid emirs of Egypt where it was decided that al-Muzaffar Taqi al-Din Umar , Saladin's nephew, would launch an expedition against the coastal region of Barqa ( Cyrenaica ) west of Egypt with a force of 500 cavalry. In order to justify the raid, a letter was sent to the Bedouin tribes of Barqa, rebuking them for their robberies of travelers and ordering them to pay

34580-401: The earlier Mosque of Sidi Sariyya built by Abu-Mansur Qasta, an amir in the Fatimid era (predating the Citadel). Qasta's tomb, dated to 1140 CE, still exists in the mosque today. This lesser-known mosque is situated right behind the main western gate, Bab al-'Azab. Both are named after the Ottoman military regiments known as 'Azaban (or Azaps) who were housed in this part of the Citadel during

34827-414: The early Bahri Mamluk period, as the royal mosque of the Citadel where the sultans of Cairo performed their Friday prayers, today this hypostyle mosque is still similar to how it looked in the 1300s though many repairs have been made and only some of its original decoration has been restored. The parts of the building relying on plastered walls have been reinforced. There have also been attempts to restore

35074-407: The early 1240s, as-Salih Ayyub carried out reprisals against those who supported al-Adil II, and he then quarreled with an-Nasir Dawud who had reconciled with as-Salih Ismail of Damascus. The rival sultans as-Salih Ayyub and Ismail attempted to ally with the Crusaders against the other. In 1244, the breakaway Ayyubids of Syria allied with the Crusaders and confronted the coalition of as-Salih Ayyub and

35321-455: The eastern Galilee on 3 July 1187 and the Crusader army attempted to attack the Ayyubids by way of Kafr Kanna . After hearing of the Crusaders' march, Saladin led his guard back to their main camp at Kafr Sabt , leaving a small detachment at Tiberias. With a clear view of the Crusader army, Saladin ordered al-Muzaffar Umar to block the Crusaders' entry from Hattin by taking a position near Lubya , while Gökböri and his troops were stationed at

35568-401: The emirs of Homs, Hama and Baalbek as well as contingents from other Ayyubid principalities to support al-Awhad. During the siege, Georgian general Ivane Mkhargrdzeli accidentally fell into the hands of the al-Awhad on the outskirts of Khilat and was released in 1210, only after the Georgians agreed to sign a Thirty Years' Truce . The truce ended the Georgian menace to Ayyubid Armenia, leaving

35815-415: The event of a siege, Saladin's well was still an essential water source. This small domed building just outside the Citadel to the east was built in 1495–96 by an amir called Ya'qub Shah al-Mihmandar, a man originally from Erzincan ( Turkey ) who joined the Mamluk ranks under Sultan Qaytbay . Because of its dome, the building has the look of a mausoleum but it is actually a structure covering access to

36062-460: The extended Ayyubid family, particularly a number of local governors in Syria, did not entirely back Saladin. Saladin consolidated his control in Egypt after ordering Turan-Shah to put down a revolt in Cairo staged by the Fatimid army 's 50,000-strong Nubian regiments. After this success, Saladin began granting his family members high-ranking positions in the country and increased Sunni Muslim influence in Shia Muslim-dominated Cairo by ordering

36309-424: The federation was Subhi Barakat , an Antioch -born politician from Aleppo. The federation ended in December 1924, when France merged Aleppo and Damascus into a single Syrian State and separated the Alawite State again. This action came after the federation decided to merge the three federated states into one and to take steps encouraging Syria's financial independence, steps which France viewed as too much. When

36556-409: The first ruler to actually move there in 1206. In addition to the palaces, a number of other structures were built, including a mosque, a royal library, and a "hall of justice". In 1213 al-Kamil also established a horse market on what became Rumayla Square (the square between the Citadel and Sultan Hasan's mosque today), as well as a maydan , a long open square or "hippodrome", to the west and south of

36803-458: The former Emir of Homs , al-Ashraf , and a Mongol garrison was established in the city. Some of the spoils were also given to Hethum I for his assistance in the attack. The Mongol Army then continued on to Damascus , which surrendered, and the Mongols entered the city on 1 March 1260. In September 1260, the Egyptian Mamluks negotiated for a treaty with the Franks of Acre which allowed them to pass through Crusader territory unmolested, and engaged

37050-438: The fringes of the Syrian Desert , had neither enough fertile land nor access to sea. Basically, Gouraud wanted to satisfy Aleppo by giving it control over most of the agricultural and mineral wealth of Syria so that it would never want to unite with Damascus again. The limited economic resources of the Syrian states made the option of completely independent states undesirable for France, because it threatened an opposite result:

37297-464: The frontier. He captured Siwa in 1172 and conquered Cyrenaica before 1174. He subsequently conquered Tripoli with an army of Turks and Kurds, joined by Arab troops from some of the region's Bedouin tribes. The exact date of Tripoli's capture is uncertain, but happened sometime in the 1170s or early 1180s. While some Ayyubid forces fought the Crusaders in the Levant, Qaraqush's forces went on to capture most of Ifriqiya (present-day Tunisia ) from

37544-431: The gate and wall which today separates the Southern and Northern Enclosures of the Citadel. It was named after a keep tower which he built nearby and which was later torn down by Qalawun. The gate itself was rebuilt again by al-Nasir Muhammad in 1320. The gate was intended to control access to the newly delimited Southern Enclosure which Baybars then developed into a more elaborate and more exclusive royal complex. A part of

37791-443: The gate known as Bab al-Jadid (the "New Gate") at the point where a new carriage road entered the Citadel from the north. Around the same time he built the Bab al-Wastani (or Bab al-Wustani ) ("Middle Gate") where the same road continues into the Southern Enclosure (just north of the Bab al-Qulla). The Citadel eventually ceased to act as the residence of Egypt's ruler after Khedive Isma'il (Muhammad Ali's son and successor) moved

38038-417: The governor of Diyar Bakr, assumed the governorship of Damascus. Meanwhile, the Seljuks were advancing towards al-Jazira. The descendants of Qatada ibn Idris challenged Ayyubid rule in Mecca. The Rasulids took advantage of this to end Ayyubid suzerainty in the Hejaz and bring the region under their control, which they accomplished in 1238 when Nur al-Din Umar captured Mecca. Al-Ashraf's rule in Damascus

38285-408: The idea of a united Syria after the Battle of Maysaloun . By separating Aleppo from Damascus, Gouraud wanted to capitalize on a traditional state of competition between the two cities and turn it into political division. The people in Aleppo were unhappy with the fact that Damascus was chosen as capital for the new nation of Syria. Gouraud sensed this sentiment and tried to address it by making Aleppo

38532-409: The immigration of numerous "Levantine" (European-origin) families who dominated international trade. Aleppo's mixed commercial tribunal ( ticaret mahkamesi ), one of the first in the Ottoman Empire, was set up around 1855. Reference is made to the city in 1606 in William Shakespeare's Macbeth . The witches torment the captain of the ship the Tiger , which was headed to Aleppo from England and endured

38779-441: The important stronghold of Salamiyah to as-Salih Ayyub the previous winter, perhaps to underline their patron-client relationship. This troubled the Ayyubids of Aleppo who feared it would be used as a base for a military take-over of their city. An-Nasir Yusuf found this intolerable and decided to annex Homs in the winter of 1248. The city surrendered in August and an-Nasir Yusuf's terms forced al-Ashraf Musa to hand over Homs, but he

39026-420: The inscription of Naram-Sim as Armi in the Eblaite tablets is heavily debated, as there was no Akkadian annexation of Ebla or northern Syria. In the Old Babylonian and Old Assyrian Empire period, Aleppo's name appears in its original form as Ḥalab (Ḥalba) for the first time. Aleppo was the capital of the important Amorite dynasty of Yamḥad . The kingdom of Yamḥad (c. 1800–1525 BC), alternatively known as

39273-538: The inside of the gate's dome-vault is covered in plaster with painted inscriptions belonging to Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad and dated to 1310. It was also on this gate that a foundation inscription was discovered which dates the completion of the Citadel to 1183–1184. Nonetheless, construction of one kind or another almost certainly continued under Saladin's Ayyubid successors. Construction of the Ayyubid Citadel appears to have continued under Sultan al-'Adil ( r.   1200–1218), Saladin's brother and later successor, and

39520-402: The large rectangular towers date to al-Adil's reign. The two large round towers in the far northeastern corner of the enclosure, known as Burj al-Ramla ("Tower of Sand") and Burj al-Hadid ("Tower of Iron") are towers from Saladin's time which al-Kamil subsequently reinforced in 1207. More significantly, al-Kamil built or completed the palaces in the southern section of the Citadel, and became

39767-659: The later years of the century, creating a long-running famine which by 1798 killed half of its inhabitants." The economy of Aleppo was badly hit by the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. This, in addition to political instability that followed the implementation of significant reforms in 1841 by the central government, contributed to Aleppo's decline and the rise of Damascus as a serious economic and political competitor with Aleppo. The city nevertheless continued to play an important economic role and shifted its commercial focus from long-distance caravan trade to more regional trade in wool and agricultural products. This period also saw

40014-410: The light-blue color of the ceiling. It is located in the Southern Enclosure and is open to the public. Built in 1528, it was first of the Citadel's Ottoman-style mosques and is one of the few structures in Cairo closely resembling the "classical" Ottoman style of the 16th century. It is located in the Northern Enclosure, just northeast of the Harim Palace (Military Museum). It was built on the ruins of

40261-431: The local population there fled as soon as they landed. When as-Salih Ayyub, who was in Syria at the time, heard of this, he rushed back to Egypt, avoiding Damietta, instead reaching Mansurah. There, he organized an army and raised a commando force which harassed the Crusaders. As-Salih Ayyub was ill and his health deteriorated further due to the mounting pressure from the Crusader offensive. His wife Shajar al-Durr called

40508-444: The location of the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina, he was the first ruler to be hailed as the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques , a title that would be held by all subsequent sultans of Egypt until the Ottoman conquest of 1517. Saladin's military campaigns in the first decade of his rule, aimed at uniting the various Arab and Muslim states in the region against the Crusaders , set the general borders and sphere of influence of

40755-439: The lower levels of the palace, acting as a substructure supporting the main palace above. If this is correct, then a part of the Mosque of Muhammad Ali today would likely overlap with the former location of the palace. Al-Nasir demolished, yet again, the Iwan al-Ashrafiyya (throne hall) of his brother al-Ashraf in 1311, and replaced it with his own structure known as the Great Iwan ( al-Iwan al-Kabir ). This may have been out of

41002-417: The main shaft only by a thin wall of rock. For this reason, the well is also known as the Spiral Well ( Bir al-Halazon ). The stairs could be covered with earth to make it into a ramp for oxen to travel down to its bottom. The lower part of the well was another shaft descending to the level of underground water seeping in from the Nile. At the bottom of the upper section, two oxen turned a waterwheel that brought

41249-431: The modern city occupies its ancient site. The earliest occupation of the site was around 8,000 BC, as shown by excavations in Tallet Alsauda. Aleppo appears in historical records as an important city much earlier than Damascus . The first record of Aleppo comes from the third millennium BC, in the Ebla tablets when Aleppo was referred to as Ha-lam (𒄩𒇴). Some historians, such as Wayne Horowitz , identify Aleppo with

41496-421: The name "Burji" Mamluks (Mamluks of the Tower). It was these cohorts of mamluks who would eventually dominate the sultanate during the Burji Mamluk period. Sultan al-Ashraf Khalil built a qa'a (reception hall) in 1291–1292, referred to as the Qa'a al-Ashrafiyya. Its remains were excavated in the late 20th century and are still visible today, just west of the present-day gate called Bab al-'Alam (Gate of

41743-435: The new grand mosque of the Citadel. Al-Nasir renovated his mosque again in 1335. Some of its huge columns were also re-used from Pharaonic-era buildings, much like the columns of the Great Iwan. While its structure is well preserved, most of its rich marble paneling decoration was stripped away and shipped to Istanbul by the Ottoman sultan Selim I after his conquest of Egypt . Subsequent sultans continued to build or add to

41990-407: The new palaces and structures he built. He is responsible for several major works in the Citadel, though unfortunately most of them fell into ruin during the Ottoman period and were finally demolished by Muhammad Ali in the 19th century. In addition to his official palaces and his semi-public monuments in the Southern Enclosure, al-Nasir reserved the southeastern corner of the enclosure (the location of

42237-423: The newer Bab al-Jadid gate. It was originally the main gate of the Citadel, but today it is obscured by later constructions from Muhammad Ali 's time, including the Bab al-Jadid ("New Gate"). Its name was derived from the carved stone steps ( darraj ) which led up to it from the path that connected the Citadel to the city below. Like other gateways in Ayyubid military architecture, it had a bent entrance . Today,

42484-455: The next year, in 1193. Rather than establishing a centralized empire, Saladin had established hereditary ownership throughout his lands, dividing his empire among his kinsmen, with family members presiding over semi-autonomous fiefs and principalities. Although these princes ( emirs ) owed allegiance to the Ayyubid sultan, they maintained relative independence in their own territories. Upon Saladin's death, az-Zahir took Aleppo from al-Adil per

42731-449: The northeastern Galilee. By the end of 1187 the Ayyubids were in control of virtually the entire Crusader kingdom in the Levant with the exception of Tyre , which held out under Conrad of Montferrat . In December 1187, an Ayyubid army consisting of the garrisons of Saladin and his brothers from Aleppo, Hama, and Egypt besieged Tyre. Half of the Muslim naval fleet was seized by Conrad's forces on 29 December, followed by an Ayyubid defeat on

42978-399: The official capital of Ayyubid Yemen was Ta'iz . The advent of the Ayyubids marked the beginning of a period of renewed prosperity in the city which saw the improvement of its commercial infrastructure, the establishment of new institutions, and the minting of its own coins. Following this prosperity, the Ayyubids implemented a new tax which was collected by galleys . Turan-Shah drove out

43225-402: The other's forces. A settlement was eventually reached whereby an-Nasir Dawud would retain the fortress, but cede the remainder of his principality to as-Salih Ayyub. Having settled the situation in Palestine and Transjordan, Fakhr ad-Din moved north and marched to Bosra , the last place still held by Ismail. During the siege, Fakhr ad-Din fell ill, but his commanders continued the assault against

43472-455: The palace complex. From here one could access three "inner palaces" with the same layout but located on different levels, with the last two reached by stairs. These palace sections were lined up in a row and all faced in the same direction, apparently so that every qa'a had a similar view of the city from its northwestern iwan. From these inner palaces the Sultan could also access the buildings of his harem (where his wives and concubines lived) in

43719-403: The palace consisted of a large qa'a (reception hall) courtyard with two unequal iwans (vaulted chambers open on one side) facing each other and a central dome in the middle. The larger iwan, on the northwestern side, gave access to the outside loggia with views of the city, while the southeastern one gave access to the private passage to the Great Iwan. This also served as the throne room of

43966-429: The palace, acted as the effective outer wall of the Citadel at its western corner. Because of this, al-Nasir was able to build a loggia on the side of the palace from which he could freely observe the activities in the stables and in the maydan (hippodrome) at the foot of the Citadel below, as well as a private door and staircase which gave him direct access between the palace and the hippodrome. The interior layout of

44213-408: The palaces and administrative buildings inside the Citadel, though rarely with the same ambition as al-Nasir Muhammad. Sultan al-Salih Isma'il (a son of al-Nasir who reigned from 1342 to 1345) built a richly decorated palace or hall known as al-Duhaysha (the "little wonder") which was inaugurated in February 1344. Likewise, Sultan Hasan (another son of al-Nasir) built a lavish domed palace known as

44460-410: The power vacuum in the region, Baratarna , king of the Hurrian kingdom of Mitanni instigated a rebellion that ended the life of Yamhad's last king Ilim-Ilimma I in c. 1525 BC, Subsequently, Parshatatar conquered Aleppo and the city found itself on the frontline in the struggle between the Mitanni, the Hittites and Egypt . Niqmepa of Alalakh who descends from the old Yamhadite kings controlled

44707-414: The primacy of the jihad (struggle) against the Crusader states. Al-Afdal, however, found that his attachment to Damascus contributed to his undoing. Several of his father's subordinate emirs left the city for Cairo to lobby Uthman to oust him on claims he was inexperienced and intended to oust the Ayyubid old guard. Al-Adil further encouraged Uthman to act in order prevent al-Afdal's incompetence putting

44954-474: The proclamation of younger brother al-Adil II as sultan in Cairo. As-Salih Ayyub eventually occupied Damascus in December 1238, but his uncle Ismail retrieved the city in September 1239. Ismail's cousin an-Nasir Dawud had Ismail detained in Karak in a move to prevent the latter's arrest by al-Adil II. Ismail entered into an alliance with Dawud who released him the following year, allowing him to proclaim himself sultan in place of al-Adil II in May 1240. Throughout

45201-428: The province (as well as the Kurds) supported the Turks in this war against the French, including the leader of the Hananu Revolt , Ibrahim Hananu , who directly coordinated with Atatürk and received weaponry from him. The outcome, however, was disastrous for Aleppo, because as per the Treaty of Lausanne , most of the Province of Aleppo was made part of Turkey with the exception of Aleppo and Alexandretta ; thus, Aleppo

45448-406: The region by constructing numerous madrasas (Islamic schools of law) in their major cities. Even after being toppled by the Mamluks, the sultanate built by Saladin and the Ayyubids would continue in Egypt, the Levant and the Hijaz for another 267 years. Medieval Arab historians such as ibn ilyas , al-Khazrajî , al-Maqrizi , Ibn Taghribirdi and ibn khaldun referred to the Ayyubid dynasty as

45695-403: The region, a status that it would retain until it was conquered by the Ottomans in 1517. Throughout the sultanate, Ayyubid rule ushered in an era of economic prosperity, and the facilities and patronage provided by the Ayyubids led to a resurgence in intellectual activity in the Islamic world . This period was also marked by an Ayyubid process of vigorously strengthening Sunni Muslim dominance in

45942-490: The region, the possibility of Pahlawan's intervention made Saladin cautious about launching further attacks against Mosul. An arrangement was negotiated whereby al-Adil was to administer Aleppo in the name of Saladin's son al-Afdal , while Egypt would be governed by al-Muzaffar Umar in the name of Saladin's other son Uthman . When the two sons were to come of age they would assume power in the two territories, but if any died, one of Saladin's brothers would take their place. In

46189-422: The reinforcements from Europe. From 1189 to 1191, Acre was besieged by the Crusaders, and despite initial Muslim successes, it fell to Crusader forces. A massacre of 2,700 Muslim prisoners of war ensued, and the Crusaders then made plans to take Ascalon in the south. As the Ayyubids faced a Crusader naval blockade in Acre and a steady flow of Crusader reinforcements arriving by sea, Saladin sought assistance from

46436-431: The remaining Hamdanid rulers of Sana'a , conquering the mountainous city in 1175. With the conquest of Yemen, the Ayyubids developed a coastal fleet, al-asakir al-bahriyya , which they used to guard the sea coasts under their control and protect them from pirate raids. The conquest held great significance for Yemen because the Ayyubids managed to unite the previous three independent states (Zabid, Aden, and Sana'a) under

46683-406: The renovation of the water aqueduct which brought water from the Nile to the Citadel. His predecessor, al-Ashraf, is responsible for building an octagonal water intake tower on the shores of the Nile, from which water was raised and transferred along the aqueduct, but al-Nasir completed the project. This improvement of the infrastructure allowed him in turn to embark on more ambitious projects within

46930-411: The restoration of Palestine to the Kingdom of Jerusalem, with the exception of the forts of Mont Real and Karak. This was refused by the leader of the Fifth Crusade , Pelagius of Albano , and in 1221, the Crusaders were driven out of the Nile Delta after the Ayyubid victory at Mansura . In the east, the Khwarezemids under Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu captured the town of Khilat from al-Ashraf, while

47177-454: The result was respected. This was the last time that independence was proposed for Aleppo. Bad economic situation of the city after the separation of the northern countryside was exacerbated further in 1939 when Alexandretta was annexed to Turkey as Hatay State , thus depriving Aleppo of its main port of Iskenderun and leaving it in total isolation within Syria. The increasing disagreements between Aleppo and Damascus led eventually to

47424-432: The sea, by Antakya and İskenderun , also to Turkey. The growth in importance of Damascus in the past few decades further exacerbated the situation. This decline may have helped to preserve the old city of Aleppo, its medieval architecture and traditional heritage. It won the title of the Islamic Capital of Culture 2006 and has had a wave of successful restorations of its historic landmarks. The battle of Aleppo occurred in

47671-407: The seat of power and which Saladin was familiar with. Saladin also set out to build a wall, around 20 kilometres long, that would surround both Cairo and Fustat (the nearby former capital), and is recorded as saying: "With a wall I will make the two [cities of Cairo and Fustat] into a unique whole, so that one army may defend them both; and I believe it is good to encircle them with a single wall from

47918-426: The see for over 50 years and was at the First Council of Constantinople in 381 and the Council of Ephesus in 431. In 438, he was succeeded by Theoctistus, who participated in the Council of Chalcedon in 451 and was a signatory of the joint letter that the bishops of the province of Syria Prima sent in 458 to Emperor Leo I the Thracian about the murder of Proterius of Alexandria . In 518, Emperor Justin I exiled

48165-453: The shoreline of the city. On 1 January 1188, Saladin held a war council where a withdrawal from Tripoli was agreed. Pope Gregory VIII called for a Third Crusade against the Muslims in early 1189. Frederick Barbarossa of the Holy Roman Empire , Philip Augustus of France, and Richard the Lionheart of England formed an alliance to reconquer Jerusalem. Meanwhile, the Crusaders and the Ayyubids fought near Acre that year and were joined by

48412-423: The site, giving it much of its present form. In the 20th century it was used as a military garrison by the British occupation and then by the Egyptian Army until being opened to the public in 1983. In 1976, it was proclaimed by UNESCO as a part of the World Heritage Site Historic Cairo ( Islamic Cairo ) which was "the new centre of the Islamic world, reaching its golden age in the 14th century." The Citadel

48659-501: The small western gate called Bab al-Jabal ("Gate of the Mountain") which was built by the Ottoman governor Yakan Pasha in 1785 when he rearranged the area to build a new palace. Yakan also rebuilt a small stretch of the adjoining wall south of here. Muhammad Ali was a pasha of Albanian origin who was appointed by the Ottoman sultan in 1805 to restore order after the French occupation of Egypt (1798–1801). However, he subsequently established himself as de facto independent ruler of

48906-466: The southeastern part of the Citadel. According to historical chronicles, the palace complex was richly decorated with marble floors, marble and gold paneling ( dadoes ), windows of coloured glass from Cyprus , Arabic inscriptions, colorful mosaics with mother-of-pearl that featured floral patterns, and gilded ceilings painted in lapis lazuli blue. The location where the palace once stood has not been identified beyond doubt. Creswell suggested that

49153-455: The southwestern foot of the Citadel, was the parade ground which remained for centuries. Al-Kamil was likely also responsible for building or completing the first water aqueduct which ran along the top of Saladin's city walls to the southwest and brought water from the Nile to the Citadel. Sultan al-Salih (r. 1240–1249) subsequently moved away from the Citadel again and built himself a new fortified enclosure on Roda Island (which also became

49400-434: The split of the National Block into two factions: the National Party , established in Damascus in 1946, and the People's Party , established in Aleppo in 1948 by Rushdi al-Kikhya , Nazim Qudsi and Mustafa Bey Barmada . An underlying cause of the disagreement, in addition to the union with Iraq, was Aleppo's intention to relocate the capital from Damascus. The issue of the capital became an open debate matter in 1950 when

49647-433: The states collapsing and being forced back into unity. This was why France proposed the idea of a Syrian federation that was realized in 1923. Initially, Gouraud envisioned the federation as encompassing all the states, even Lebanon. In the end however, only three states participated: Aleppo, Damascus , and the Alawite State . The capital of the federation was Aleppo at first, but it was relocated to Damascus. The president of

49894-456: The sultan in 1200. All of the later Ayyubid sultans of Egypt were his descendants. In the 1230s, the emirs of Syria attempted to assert their independence from Egypt and the Ayyubid realm remained divided until Sultan as-Salih Ayyub restored its unity by subduing most of Syria, except Aleppo , by 1247. By then, local Muslim dynasties had driven out the Ayyubids from Yemen, the Hijaz, and parts of Mesopotamia. After his death in 1249, as-Salih Ayyub

50141-424: The sultanate of Egypt for the almost three and a half centuries of its existence. Most of the Crusader states , including the Kingdom of Jerusalem , fell to Saladin after his victory at the Battle of Hattin in 1187. However, the Crusaders reconquered the coast of Palestine in the 1190s. After Saladin's death in 1193, his sons contested control of the sultanate, but Saladin's brother al-Adil ultimately became

50388-582: The summer of 1183, after ravaging eastern Galilee , Saladin's raids there culminated in the Battle of al-Fule in the Jezreel Valley between him and the Crusaders under Guy of Lusignan . The mostly hand-to-hand fighting ended indecisively. The two armies withdrew to a mile from each other and while the Crusaders discussed internal matters, Saladin captured the Golan Plateau , cutting the Crusaders off from their main supplies source. In October 1183 and then on 13 August 1184, Saladin and al-Adil besieged Crusader-held Karak , but were unable to capture it. Afterward,

50635-402: The throne in Damascus. Al-Kamil attempted to retake Damietta, but was forced back by John of Brienne . After learning of a conspiracy against him, he fled, leaving the Egyptian army leaderless. Panic ensued, but with the help of al-Mu'azzam, al-Kamil regrouped his forces. By then, however, the Crusaders had seized his camp. The Ayyubids offered to negotiate for a withdrawal from Damietta, offering

50882-581: The time, who regarded Syria as his family's estate and was angered that it was being usurped by a former servant of Nur al-Din. He mustered an army to confront Saladin near Hama. Although heavily outnumbered, Saladin and his veteran soldiers decisively defeated the Zengids. After his victory, Saladin proclaimed himself king and suppressed the name of as-Salih Ismail al-Malik (Nur al-Din's adolescent son) in Friday prayers and Islamic coinage, replacing it with his own name. The Abbasid caliph, al-Mustadi , graciously welcomed Saladin's assumption of power and gave him

51129-458: The title of "Sultan of Egypt and Syria". In the spring of 1176, another major confrontation occurred between the Zengids and the Ayyubids, this time at the Sultan's Mound , 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) from Aleppo. Saladin again emerged victorious, but Saif al-Din managed to narrowly escape. The Ayyubids proceeded to conquer other Syrian cities in the north, namely Ma'arat al-Numan , A'zaz , Buza'a, and Manbij , but failed to capture Aleppo during

51376-426: The town of Ibrim . Turan-Shah and his Kurdish soldiers temporarily lodged there. From Ibrim, they raided the surrounding region, halting their operations after being presented with an armistice proposal from the Makurian king . Although Turan-Shah's initial response was hawkish , he later sent an envoy to Dongola, who upon returning, described the poverty of the city and of Nubia in general to Turan-Shah. Consequently,

51623-458: The trade route between Anatolia and the east, Aleppo rose to high prominence in the Ottoman era, at one point being second only to Constantinople in the empire. By the middle of the 16th century, Aleppo had displaced Damascus as the principal market for goods coming to the Mediterranean region from the east. This is reflected by the fact that the Levant Company of London , a joint-trading company founded in 1581 to monopolize England's trade with

51870-449: The traditionally loyalist Rasulids began to encroach on Ayyubid holdings in Arabia . In 1222 the Ayyubids appointed the Rasulid leader Ali ibn Rasul as governor of Mecca. Ayyubid rule in Yemen and the Hejaz was declining and the Ayyubid governor of Yemen, Mas'ud ibn Kamil, was forced to leave for Egypt in 1223. He appointed Nur ad-Din Umar as his deputy governor while he was absent. In 1224 a local dynasty gained control of Hadramaut from

52117-405: The unified command of Richard, defeated Saladin at the Battle of Arsuf , allowing for the Crusader conquest of Jaffa and much of coastal Palestine, but they were unable to recover the interior regions. Instead, Richard signed a treaty with Saladin in 1192, restoring the Kingdom of Jerusalem to a coastal strip between Jaffa and Beirut. It was the last major war effort of Saladin's career, as he died

52364-419: The union with Damascus. Syrian nationalists had waged a massive anti-secession public campaign that vigorously mobilized the people against the secession plan, thus leaving the pro-French politicians no choice but to support the union. The result was a big embarrassment for France, which wanted the secession of Aleppo to be a punitive measure against Damascus, which had participated in the Syrian Revolt, however,

52611-491: The water up from the bottom of the well, while another waterwheel at the top of the well, also powered by oxen, brought the water up the rest of the way. During the reign of al-Nasir Muhammad , Saladin's well was insufficient to produce enough water for the Citadel's growing population and for al-Nasir's envisioned construction projects. To increase the volume of water, al-Nasir renovated an Ayyubid aqueduct system (probably originally completed by al-Kamil ) and extended it with

52858-446: The withdrawal of the Mongols, all the Muslim population returned to Aleppo. On the other hand, Christians who left the city during the Mongol invasion, were unable to resettle back in their own quarter in the old town, a fact that led them to establish a new neighbourhood in 1420, built at the northern suburbs of Aleppo outside the city walls, to become known as al-Jdeydeh quarter ("new district" Arabic: جديدة ). Aleppo became part of

53105-494: Was captured by Prince Feisal 's Sherifial Forces and the 5th Cavalry Division of the Allied forces from the Ottoman Empire during the World War I . At the end of war, the Treaty of Sèvres made most of the Province of Aleppo part of the newly established nation of Syria , while Cilicia was promised by France to become an Armenian state. However, Kemal Atatürk annexed most of the Province of Aleppo as well as Cilicia to Turkey in his War of Independence . The Arab residents in

53352-435: Was Nur al-Din's will that he remain. Over the course of several years, Shirkuh and Saladin defeated the combined forces of the Crusaders and Shawar's troops, first at Bilbais , then at a site near Giza , and in Alexandria , where Saladin would stay to protect while Shirkuh pursued Crusader forces in Lower Egypt . Shawar died in 1169 and Shirkuh became vizier, but he too died later that year. After Shirkuh's death, Saladin

53599-458: Was accessed from the west through the monumental gate called Bab al-'Azab , which was built by Radwan Katkhuda al-Julfi in 1754, probably on the site of an earlier Mamluk gate known as Bab al-Istabl (Gate of the Stables). The gate was modeled on the old Fatimid gate of Bab al-Futuh in the north of Cairo, but its interior facade was later remodeled into a neo-Gothic style during the Khedival period . The present-dat visitor entrance goes through

53846-513: Was again made sultan (although Uthman's son al-Mansur was the nominal ruler of Egypt), al-Adil having been absent in a campaign in the northeast. Al-Adil returned and managed to occupy the Citadel of Damascus , but then faced a strong assault from the combined forces of al-Afdal and his brother az-Zahir of Aleppo. These forces disintegrated under al-Afdal's leadership and in 1200, al-Adil resumed his offensive. Upon Uthman's death, two clans of mamluks (slave soldiers) entered into conflict. They were

54093-542: Was allowed to retain nearby Palmyra and Tell Bashir in the Syrian Desert . As-Salih Ayyub sent Fakhr ad-Din to recapture Homs, but Aleppo countered by sending an army to Kafr Tab , south of the city. An-Nasir Dawud left Karak for Aleppo to support an-Nasir Yusuf, but in his absence, his brothers al-Amjad Hasan and az-Zahir Shadhi detained his heir al-Mu'azzam Isa and then personally went to as-Salih Ayyub's camp at al-Mansourah in Egypt to offer him control of Karak in return for holdings in Egypt. As-Salih Ayyub agreed and sent

54340-450: Was another square or plaza known as Rumayla Square ( Maydan/Midan Rumayla ), today known as Salah al-Din Square ( Midan Salah ad-Din ) or Citadel Square ( Midan al-Qal'a ). This was used as a horse market (due to its adjacency to the royal stables), but also as an official square for royal and religious ceremonies. It is occupied today by a large roundabout next to which are the massive mosques of Sultan Hassan and al-Rifa'i . The Citadel

54587-454: Was appointed vizier by the Fatimid caliph al-Adid because there was "no one weaker or younger" than Saladin, and "not one of the emirs obeyed him or served him", according to medieval Muslim chronicler Ibn al-Athir . Saladin soon found himself more independent than ever before in his career, much to the dismay of Nur al-Din who attempted to influence events in Egypt. He permitted Saladin's elder brother, Turan-Shah , to supervise Saladin in

54834-409: Was begun by the Kurdish Ayyubid ruler Salah al-Din ( Saladin ) between 1176 and 1183 CE in order to protect Cairo from potential Crusader attacks and to provide a secure center of government for his new regime (only a few years after he had dismantled the Fatimid Caliphate ). This also emulated a feature of many Syrian cities, such as Damascus and Aleppo , which had walled citadels that acted as

55081-460: Was built between 1830 and 1848, although not completed until the reign of Said Pasha in 1857. It is located in the Southern Enclosure and is open to the public today. The architect was Yusuf Bushnak from Istanbul and its model was the Sultan Ahmed Mosque in that city. Muhammad Ali Pasha was buried in a tomb carved from Carrara marble , in the courtyard of the mosque. His body was transferred here from Hawsh al-Basha in 1857. Built in 1318, during

55328-410: Was built by Ibrahim Pasha (the later Grand Vizier under Suleiman the Magnificent ) in 1525 and is known as the Burj al-Muqattam ("Tower of the Muqattam Hills"). The round tower at the other corner of the two enclosures (between Bab al-Qulla and Bab al-Wastani), known now as Burj al-Wastani ("Middle Tower"), may also date from this time. The first mosque built in the Citadel after the Mamluk period

55575-558: Was built on a promontory beneath the Muqattam Hills , a setting that made it difficult to attack. The efficacy of the Citadel's location is further demonstrated by the fact that it remained the heart of Egyptian government until the 19th century. During this long period, the layout and structure of the Citadel was repeatedly altered and adapted to suit the designs of new rulers and new regimes, which makes it difficult to reconstitute its original plan or even its plan in subsequent periods. There have been three major construction periods leading to

55822-487: Was cut from its northern satellites and from the Anatolian cities beyond on which Aleppo depended heavily in commerce. Moreover, the Sykes-Picot division of the Near East separated Aleppo from most of Mesopotamia , which also harmed the economy of Aleppo. The State of Aleppo was declared by French General Henri Gouraud in September 1920 as part of a French plan to make Syria easier to administer by dividing it into several smaller states. France became more concerned about

56069-438: Was defeated at the Battle of Montgisard , with the majority of its troops killed. Saladin encamped at Homs the following year and a number of skirmishes between his forces, commanded by Farrukh Shah , and the Crusaders occurred. Undeterred, Saladin invaded the Crusader states from the west and defeated Baldwin at the Battle of Marj Ayyun in 1179. The following year, he destroyed the newly built Crusader castle of Chastellet at

56316-432: Was designed and constructed by artisans contracted from a variety of countries, including Greeks , Turks , Bulgarians and Albanians . Muhammad Ali's official divan or audience hall, where the pasha received guests, contains a 1,000 kg chandelier sent to him by Louis Philippe I of France. The palace also contains the throne of Muhammad Ali Pasha that was a gift from the King of Italy. Inaugurated in 1983, it houses

56563-428: Was established in 1937 at the old building of the Egyptian Ministry of War in downtown Cairo. It was later moved to a temporary location in the Garden City district of Cairo. In November 1949 the museum was moved to the Harem Palace at the Cairo citadel. It has been renovated several times since, in 1982 and 1993. Also known as Bijou Palace, is a palace and museum commissioned by Muhammad Ali Pasha in 1814. The palace

56810-452: Was given Samosata in Anatolia. Al-Adil redistributed his possessions between his sons: al-Kamil was to succeed him in Egypt, al-Ashraf received al-Jazira, and al-Awhad was given Diyar Bakr , but the latter territory shifted to al-Ashraf's domain after al-Awhad died. Al-Adil aroused open hostility from the Hanbali lobby in Damascus for largely ignoring the Crusaders, having launched only one campaign against them. Al-Adil believed that

57057-444: Was in the hands of the Fatimid commander-in-chief in Syria, Anushtakin al-Dizbari , and in 1057–1060, when it was ruled by a Fatimid governor, Ibn Mulhim . Mirdasid rule was marked by internal squabbles between different Mirdasid chieftains that sapped the emirate's power and made it susceptible to external intervention by the Byzantines, Fatimids, Uqaylids , and Turkoman warrior bands. In late 1077, Seljuk emir Tutush I launched

57304-509: Was incorporated into the Aramean realm of Bit Agusi , which held its capital at Arpad . Bit Agusi along with Aleppo and the entirety of the Levant was conquered by the Assyrians in the 8th century BC and became part of the Neo-Assyrian Empire during the reign of Tiglath-Pileser III until the late 7th century BC, before passing through the hands of the Neo-Babylonians and the Achaemenid Persians . The region remained known as Aramea and Eber Nari throughout these periods. Alexander

57551-410: Was insufficient for Europe's demand. European merchants left Aleppo and the city went into an economic decline that was not reversed until the mid-19th century when locally produced cotton and tobacco became the principal commodities of interest to the Europeans. According to Halil İnalcık , "Aleppo ... underwent its worst catastrophe with the wholesale destruction of its villages by Bedouin raiding in

57798-406: Was never rebuilt. The Ablaq Palace was used more productively as a manufacturing center for weaving the Kiswah , the rich cloth covering the Kaaba in Mecca , which continued to come from Cairo until the 20th century. Some notable structures were still created during this period. The huge round tower near the visitor entrance today, standing at the corner of the Southern and Northern Enclosures,

58045-456: Was not conquered after receiving protection by forces of Aqsunqur al Bursuqi arriving from Mosul in January 1125. In 1128, Aleppo became capital of the expanding Zengid dynasty , which ultimately conquered Damascus in 1154. In 1138, Byzantine emperor John II Komnenos led a campaign, which main objective was to capture the city of Aleppo. On 20 April 1138, the Christian army including Crusaders from Antioch and Edessa launched an attack on

58292-408: Was occupied by the 'Azaban soldiers, and contains the Mosque of al-'Azab which was built by Ahmad Katkhuda in 1697. (It is possible that Ahmad Katkhuda merely renovated an existing early Burji Mamluk mosque and added the present-day Ottoman-style minaret to it.) The rest of the area is presently occupied by various 19th-century buildings, including storehouses and old factories. The lower enclosure

58539-442: Was painted with pictures of al-Ashraf's amirs (commanders), each with their rank inscribed above his head. The greatest builder of the Citadel during the Mamluk period was al-Nasir Muhammad , another son of Qalawun, who was sultan three times over a period of nearly fifty years between 1293 and 1341. It was most likely under his reign that the borders of the Southern Enclosure expanded to their current outline, in order to accommodate

58786-421: Was probably finished under the reign of al-Kamil (1218–1238). Al-'Adil had already supervised some of the construction under Saladin, while al-Kamil in turn probably worked on the Citadel during al-'Adil's reign when the latter gave him the viceroyship of Egypt in 1200 (a prelude to becoming sultan later). The rounded towers in the outer walls of the Northern Enclosure date from Saladin's initial construction while

59033-420: Was probably located elsewhere originally and then moved here at some point when the walls were rebuilt in Muhammad Ali's time. The eagle's heads are missing today, but their original appearance was noted by chroniclers. Only one original gate, Bab al-Mudarraj , has survived to the present day. It is located along the walls of the Northern Enclosure, nowadays between the Harem Palace (National Military Museum) and

59280-427: Was proclaimed as the first Sultan of Egypt by the Abbasid Caliphate , and rapidly expanded the new sultanate beyond the frontiers of Egypt to encompass most of the Levant (including the former territories of Nur ad-Din), in addition to Hijaz , Yemen , northern Nubia , Tarabulus , Cyrenaica , southern Anatolia , and northern Iraq , the homeland of his Kurdish family. By virtue of his sultanate including Hijaz,

59527-536: Was stable, but he and the other emirs of Syria sought to assert their independence from Cairo. Amid these tensions, al-Ashraf died in August 1237 after a four-month illness and was succeeded by his brother as-Salih Ismail . Two months later, al-Kamil's Egyptian army arrived and besieged Damascus, but as-Salih Ismail had destroyed the suburbs of the city to deny al-Kamil's forces shelter. In 1232, al-Kamil installed his eldest son as-Salih Ayyub to govern Hisn Kayfa, but upon al-Kamil's death in 1238, as-Salih Ayyub disputed

59774-450: Was succeeded in Egypt by his son al-Mu'azzam Turanshah . However, the latter was soon overthrown by his Mamluk generals who had repelled a Crusader invasion of the Nile Delta . This effectively ended Ayyubid power in Egypt. Attempts by the emirs of Syria, led by an-Nasir Yusuf of Aleppo, to wrest back Egypt failed. In 1260, the Mongols sacked Aleppo and conquered the Ayyubids' remaining territories soon after. The Mamluks, who expelled

60021-528: Was the Mosque of Sulayman Pasha in the Northern Enclosure, built by the Ottoman governor in 1528 for use by the Janissaries. It is one of the few mosques in Cairo that represents something close to the classical Ottoman architectural style . The lower, western enclosure which can be seen today below the Mosque of Muhammad Ali was historically the area which housed the stables of the Citadel. It's not clear when walls were first built around it, though they were likely already enclosed in Mamluk times. This enclosure

60268-436: Was the king of Aleppo, had fought on the Hittite side, along with king Muwatalli II during the Battle of Kadesh against the Egyptian army led by Ramesses II . Aleppo had cultic importance to the Hittites as the center of worship of the Storm-God . This religious importance continued after the collapse of the Hittite empire at the hands of the Assyrians and Phrygians in the 12th century BC, when Aleppo became part of

60515-549: Was under the care and patronage of Zangi that the Ayyubid family rose to prominence. In 1164, Nur al-Din dispatched Shirkuh to lead an expeditionary force to prevent the Crusaders from establishing a strong presence in an increasingly anarchic Egypt . Shirkuh enlisted Ayyub's son, Saladin , as an officer under his command. They successfully drove out Dirgham, the vizier of Egypt , and reinstated his predecessor Shawar . After being reinstated, Shawar ordered Shirkuh to withdraw his forces from Egypt, but Shirkuh refused, claiming it

60762-427: Was used by the Ottoman pasha (governor) and his own troops, and another lower western enclosure, which contained the stables, housed the 'Azaban (or Azap) corps. Each section had its own mosque and facilities. In between them was a virtual no-man's-land where some of the former grand Mamluk buildings stood abandoned or under-used. This included the Great Iwan of al-Nasir Muhammad, whose large dome collapsed in 1521 and

61009-414: Was used for regular receptions and private ceremonies. It was connected to the Great Iwan (see below) by a private passage or corridor which led to the sultan's entrance in the back wall of the Iwan. The walls of the palace itself formed a part of the new outer boundary of the Citadel's enclosure: it was located on an escarpment overlooking the city below, and the escarpment, along with the foundation walls of

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