Qulay'a

This article is about the village and castle in Syria. For the village in Lebanon, see Qleiat.
Qulay'a
قليعة
Qulay'at, Qleiat
Village
The ruined hilltop fortress of Qulay'a and the modern village below, 2015
The ruined hilltop fortress of Qulay'a and the modern village below, 2015
Qulay'a is located in Syria
Qulay'a
Qulay'a
Coordinates: 34°56′50″N 36°14′57″E / 34.94722°N 36.24917°E / 34.94722; 36.24917
Country Syria
GovernorateTartus
DistrictDuraykish
SubdistrictDweir Ruslan
Population
 (2004 census)[1]
 • Total
1,360
Time zoneUTC+2 (EET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+3 (EEST)

Qulay'a (Arabic: قليعة, romanized: Qulayʾa), also transliterated Qulay'at or Qleiat) is a village and medieval citadel in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the Tartus Governorate. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, Qulay'a had a population of 1,360 in the 2004 census.[1] The fortress of Qulay'a was one of the several held by the Nizari Ismaili state in the Syrian coastal mountains and is locally known as Al-Sheikh Deeb Castle (Arabic: قلعة الشيخ ديب, romanized: Qal'at Sheikh Dib). The fortress stands at an elevation of 730 meters (2,400 ft) above sea level.[2]

History

The village of Qulay'a, 2015

The Nizari Isma'ilis took control of Qulay'a around the time they came into control of Masyaf in 1140–1141.[3] Between 1270 and 1273, Qulay'a was among several of the Nizari Isma'ili castles to have surrendered to the Mamluk sultan Baybars and annexed into the Mamluk realm.[4]

During the Ottoman period, Qulay'a was the center of a minor nahiye (subdistrict) in the hill country west of Hama.[2] It was mentioned in Ottoman tax records from 1547 and 1645.[5] Unlike many other former Crusader or Nizari Isma'ili fortresses during that period, where the inhabitants of the fortress were Sunni Muslims or Isma'ili Shia Muslims amid a largely Alawite-populated countryside, by the 17th century the inhabitants of the Qulay'a castle itself were Alawites.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b General Census of Population and Housing 2004. Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Tartus Governorate. (in Arabic)
  2. ^ a b Winter 2016, pp. 87–88.
  3. ^ Willey 2005, p. 220.
  4. ^ Daftary 1990, p. 433.
  5. ^ Winter 2016, pp. 92–93.
  6. ^ Winter 2016, p. 88.

Bibliography

  • Daftary, Farhad (1990). The Isma'ilis: Their History and Doctrines. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-37019-1.
  • Willey, Peter (2005). Eagle's Nest: Ismaili Castles in Iran and Syria. London and New York: I. B. Tauris. ISBN 1-85043-464-6.
  • Winter, Stefan (2016). A History of the 'Alawis: From Medieval Aleppo to the Turkish Republic. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691167787.