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Sarvandikar
Sarvandikar (), also spelled ''Sarvanda k'ar'' (). It was the Frankish castle of ''Savranda'' and is officially known today as Savranda Kalesi. The site is a medieval castle in the former Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, located in Turkey's Osmaniye Province approximately 115 kilometers east of Adana. Etymology Sarvandik'ar or Sarvandakar () in old Armenian language means "Rocky plateau". Turkish settlers called this fortress Savranda. Architecture and history Savranda was built to guard the southern end of the Amanus Pass (or Syrian Gates). The fortress has two separate baileys that are heavily fortified with towers and sturdy curtain walls along the eastern and southern flanks, and protected at the north and west by steep rocky cliffs. Although there were brief periods of Byzantine occupation, the castle is primarily an Armenian construction which was commissioned by its Frankish lords. The first detailed historical and archaeological evaluation, including a surveyed plan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tancred, Prince Of Galilee
Tancred ( 1075 – December 5 or December 12, 1112) was an Italo-Normans, Italo-Norman leader of the First Crusade who later became Prince of Galilee and regent of the Principality of Antioch. Tancred came from the Hauteville family, house of Hauteville and was the great-grandson of Norman lord Tancred of Hauteville. Biography Early life Tancred was a son of Odo the Good Marquis and Emma of Hauteville. His maternal grandparents were Robert Guiscard and Guiscard's first wife Alberada of Buonalbergo. Emma was also a sister of Bohemond I of Antioch. First Crusade In 1096, Tancred joined his maternal uncle Bohemond on the First Crusade, and the two made their way to Constantinople. There, he was pressured to swear an oath to Byzantine Emperor Alexius I Comnenus, promising to give back any conquered land to the Byzantine Empire. Although the other leaders did not intend to keep their oaths, Tancred refused to swear the oath altogether. He participated in the siege of Nicaea in 1097, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Armenian Kingdom Of Cilicia
The Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, also known as Cilician Armenia, Lesser Armenia, Little Armenia or New Armenia, and formerly known as the Armenian Principality of Cilicia, was an Armenian state formed during the High Middle Ages by Armenian refugees fleeing the Seljuk invasion of Armenia., pp. 630–631. Located outside the Armenian Highlands and distinct from the Kingdom of Armenia of antiquity, it was centered in the Cilicia region northwest of the Gulf of Alexandretta. The kingdom had its origins in the principality founded by the Rubenid dynasty, an alleged offshoot of the larger Bagratuni dynasty, which at various times had held the throne of Armenia. Their capital was originally at Tarsus, and later moved to Sis. Cilicia was a strong ally of the European Crusaders, and saw itself as a bastion of Christendom in the East. It also served as a focal point for Armenian cultural production, since Armenia proper was under foreign occupation at the time. Cilicia's si ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amanian Gate
The Amanian Gate () or Bahçe Pass (), also known as the Amanus Pass or Amanides Pylae (Ἀμανίδες or Ἀμανικαί Πύλαι 'Amanus Gates'), is a mountain pass located on the border between Osmaniye Province, Osmaniye and Gaziantep Province, Gaziantep provinces in south-central Turkey. The pass provides a way through the northern Amanus Mountains (modern Nur Mountains), connecting Cilicia to southern Anatolia and northern Syria. It is one of two passes through the Amanus, the other being the Syrian Gate to the south. The Amanian Gate was mentioned in the ancient Nabonidus Chronicle. The Amanian Gate and the Battle of Issus The pass played an important role leading to the Battle of Issus. The Persian army advanced through the Amanic Gate or another nearby pass, coming behind the Macedonian army which turned back to face and defeat the Persian army. The exact Persian strategy remains in dispute. According to Jona Lendering, after a part of Alexander the Great's army ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sultanate Of Rum
The Sultanate of Rum was a culturally Turco-Persian Sunni Muslim state, established over conquered Byzantine territories and peoples (Rum) of Anatolia by the Seljuk Turks following their entry into Anatolia after the Battle of Manzikert in 1071. The name ''Rum'' was a synonym for the medieval Eastern Roman Empire and its peoples, as it remains in modern Turkish. The name is derived from the Aramaic () and Parthian () names for ancient Rome, via the Greek () meaning the Anatolia. The Sultanate of Rum seceded from the Seljuk Empire under Suleiman ibn Qutalmish in 1077. It had its capital first at Nicaea and then at Iconium. It reached the height of its power during the late 12th and early 13th century, when it succeeded in taking key Byzantine ports on the Mediterranean and Black Sea coasts. In the east, the sultanate reached Lake Van. Trade through Anatolia from Iran and Central Asia was developed by a system of caravanserai. Especially strong trade ties with the Genoese forme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th centuryAD, it endured until the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453. The term 'Byzantine Empire' was coined only after its demise; its citizens used the term 'Roman Empire' and called themselves 'Romans'. During the early centuries of the Roman Empire, the western provinces were Romanization (cultural), Latinised, but the eastern parts kept their Hellenistic culture. Constantine the Great, Constantine I () legalised Christianity and moved the capital to Constantinople. Theodosius I, Theodosius I () made Christianity the state religion and Greek gradually replaced Latin for official use. The empire adopted a defensive strategy and, throughout its remaining history, expe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
First Crusade
The First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the Middle Ages. The objective was the recovery of the Holy Land from Muslim conquest of the Levant, Islamic rule. While Jerusalem had been under Muslim rule for hundreds of years, by the 11th century the Seljuk Empire, Seljuk takeover of the region threatened local Christian populations, pilgrimages from the West, and the Byzantine Empire itself. The earliest initiative for the First Crusade began in 1095 when List of Byzantine emperors, Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos requested military support from the Council of Piacenza in the empire's conflict with the Seljuk-led Turks. This was followed later in the year by the Council of Clermont, during which Pope Urban II supported the Byzantine request for military assistance and also urged faithful Christians to undertake an armed pilgrimage to Jerusalem. This call was met ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Raymond IV, Count Of Toulouse
Raymond of Saint-Gilles ( 1041 – 28 February 1105), also called Raymond IV of Toulouse or Raymond I of Tripoli, was the count of Toulouse, duke of Narbonne, and margrave of Provence from 1094, and one of the leaders of the First Crusade from 1096 to 1099. He spent the last five years of his life establishing the County of Tripoli in the Near East. Early years Raymond was a son of Pons of Toulouse and Almodis de La Marche. He received Saint-Gilles, Gard, Saint-Gilles with the title of "count" from his father and displaced his niece Philippa, Countess of Toulouse, Philippa, Duchess of Aquitaine, his brother William IV of Toulouse, William IV's daughter, in 1094 from inheriting Toulouse. In 1094, William Bertrand of Provence died and his margravial title to Provence passed to Raymond. A bull of Urban's dated 22 July 1096 names Raymond ''comes nimirum Tholosanorum ac Ruthenensium et marchio Provintie Raimundus'' ("Raymond, count of Toulouse and Rouergue, margrave of Provence"). Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mamluk
Mamluk or Mamaluk (; (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural); translated as "one who is owned", meaning "slave") were non-Arab, ethnically diverse (mostly Turkic, Caucasian, Eastern and Southeastern European) enslaved mercenaries, slave-soldiers, and freed slaves who were assigned high-ranking military and administrative duties, serving the ruling Arab and Ottoman dynasties in the Muslim world. The most enduring Mamluk realm was the knightly military class in medieval Egypt, which developed from the ranks of slave-soldiers. Originally the Mamluks were slaves of Turkic origins from the Eurasian Steppe, but the institution of military slavery spread to include Circassians, Abkhazians, Georgians, Armenians, Russians, and Hungarians, as well as peoples from the Balkans such as Albanians, Greeks, and South Slavs (''see'' Saqaliba). They also recruited from the Egyptians. The "Mamluk/Ghulam Phenomenon", as David Ayalon dubbed the creation of the specific warrior class, was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yılankale
Yılankale ( in Turkish) is a late 12th–13th century Armenian castle in Adana Province of Turkey. It is known in Armenian as Levonkla ( "Levon's fortress") after its possible founder—King Leo (Levon) I the Magnificent (r. 1198/9–1219) of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia. Medieval Armenian names attached to the site are Kovara and Vaner. A hill castle, Yılankale is located on a rocky hill overlooking the east bank of the Ceyhan River, and the Bronze and Iron Age site of Sirkeli Höyük, six kilometers west of the town of Ceyhan. The building is locally known as the home of Shahmaran, a mythical creature half woman and half snake. Architecture The walls, as well as the numerous horseshoe-shaped towers and vaulted chambers, are built with beautifully cut rusticated masonry and are carefully adapted to the coiling outcrop of limestone to create three baileys. The archaeological and historical assessment of this castle published in 1987 (with a scaled plan) describes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lampron
Lampron (; ; ) is a castle near the town of Çamlıyayla in Mersin Province, Turkey. While part of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia in the Middle Ages, the castle was known as Lampron and was the ancestral home of the Armenian Hethumid princes. Situated in the Taurus Mountains, the fortress guarded passes to Tarsus and the Cilician Gates. History and Architecture Like many castles in the mountainous landscape of the former Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, Lampron is situated on a pedestal of limestone which in this case projects from the southern tip of the Bulgar Dağı. The Armenians first settled this Byzantine site in the third quarter of the 11th century when Ōšin was given the fief of Lampron and the title of ''sebastos'' by the Byzantine Emperor. Within fifty years it became the near impregnable ancestral seat of the Het‘umid Dynasty. After several unsuccessful attempts (1171, 1176, and 1182) it was finally captured in the early 13th century by the Rubenid King Lev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anavarza Castle
Anvarza Castle is an ancient castle in Adana Province, Turkey. Geography The castle lies to the east of Dilekkaya village of Kozan district. Visitors follow Turkish state highway D.400 and the highway to north for and turn to east for . Although the vicinity of the castle is Çukurova plains (Cilicia of the antiquity) which is almost flat, there is a hill with steep slopes of about high with respect to plains. The castle was built on the hill. The hill is accessible via a path from the south. History The castle had been built to control the ancient city with the same name. The remains of the city (which is on the plains) lies between the village and the castle. The bird's flight distance between the remains and the castle is about . During the history the castle had switched hands and partially ruined several times (Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Abbasid Caliphate, Crusaders, Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, Mamluks of Egypt etc.). Archaeological evidence indicates that the ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
