Tilhalit, also spelled Tell Khalid () and officially recognized as Asmacık, is a neighbourhood in the municipality and district of

Oğuzeli Oğuzeli is a municipality and district of Gaziantep Province, Turkey. Its area is 689 km2, and its population is 33,397 (2022). The town is inhabited by Turkmens of the Barak tribe and Abdals of the Maya Sekenler tribe. Composition There are ...

Gaziantep Province Gaziantep Province () is a Provinces of Turkey, province and Metropolitan municipalities in Turkey, metropolitan municipality in south-central Turkey. It is located in the westernmost part of Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Region and partially in ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. Its population is 195 (2022). It was a fortress during the 12th century, contested at times by the

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding ...

Zengids The Zengid or Zangid dynasty, also referred to as the Atabegate of Mosul, Aleppo and Damascus (Arabic: أتابكة الموصل وحلب ودمشق), or the Zengid State (Old Anatolian Turkish: , Modern Turkish: ; ) was initially an ''Atabegate ...

and

Ayyubids The Ayyubid dynasty (), also known as 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 ori ...

. The village is inhabited by

Abdals Abdāl () ''lit'': substitutes, but which can also mean "generous" 'karīm''and "noble" 'sharīf'' is a term used in Islamic metaphysics and Islamic mysticism, both Sunni and Shiite,La-Shay', Hussein and Negahban, Farzin, "Abdāl", in: ''Encyc ...

of the Kurular tribe.

History

On 29 November 1114, an earthquake devastated Tell Khalid, along with numerous other places across the region of Aleppo.Ambraseys 2004, p. 741. It was also damaged in the

1138 Aleppo earthquake The 1138 Aleppo earthquake was among the deadliest earthquakes in history. Its name was taken from the city of Aleppo, in northern Syria, where the most casualties were sustained. The earthquake also caused damage and chaos to many other places ...

. In the autumn or winter of 1150, the village was captured by the

Zengid The Zengid or Zangid dynasty, also referred to as the Atabegate of Mosul, Aleppo and Damascus (Arabic: أتابكة الموصل وحلب ودمشق), or the Zengid State (Old Anatolian Turkish: , Modern Turkish: ; ) was initially an '' Atabegat ...

ruler Nur ad-Din from the

County of Edessa The County of Edessa (Latin: ''Comitatus Edessanus'') was a 12th-century Crusader state in Upper Mesopotamia. Its seat was the city of Edessa (modern Şanlıurfa, Turkey). In the late Byzantine period, Edessa became the centre of intellec ...

, a

Crusader Crusader or Crusaders may refer to: Military * Crusader, a participant in one of the Crusades * Convair NB-36H Crusader, an experimental nuclear-powered bomber * Crusader tank, a British cruiser tank of World War II * Crusaders (guerrilla), a C ...

state, which was entirely conquered by the Zengids and other Muslim powers by July 1151. On 17 May 1183,

Saladin Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known as Saladin, was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from a Kurdish family, he was the first sultan of both Egypt and Syria. An important figure of the Third Crusade, h ...

, a former emir of Nur ad-Din, turned

Ayyubid The Ayyubid dynasty (), also known as the Ayyubid Sultanate, was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultan of Egypt, Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate, Fatimid Caliphate of Egyp ...

sultan, captured Tell Bashir as part of his general movement to capture Aleppo, which he besieged four days later, from the Zengids.Lyons 1982, p. 195. Saladin's brother, Buri, had already been besieging Tell Khalid, but its town and fortress surrendered without fighting upon Saladin's arrival there. It was thereafter bestowed to

Badr ad-Din Dildirim al-Yaruqi Badr (Arabic: بدر) as a given name below is an Arabic masculine and feminine name given to the " full moon on its fourteenth night" or the ecclesiastical full moon. Badr may refer to: Places * Badr, Egypt, a city * Badr, Libya, a town in Libya ...

, the Turkmen lord of nearby

Tell Bashir Tell may refer to: *Tell (archaeology), a type of archaeological site *Tell (name), a name used as a given name and a surname *Tell (poker), a subconscious behavior that can betray information to an observant opponent Arts, entertainment, and m ...

and ally of Saladin. He continued to hold Tell Bashir well after the death of Saladin, and into the 12th century during the latter's son

az-Zahir Ghazi Al-Malik az-Zahir Ghiyath ud-din Ghazi ibn Yusuf ibn Ayyub (commonly known as az-Zahir Ghazi; 1172 – 8 October 1216) was the Kurdish Ayyubid emir of Aleppo between 1186 and 1216. He was the third son of Saladin and his lands included northern ...

's rule over the Emirate of Aleppo, which included Tell Bashir. By 1218, it was firmly in the possession of az-Zahir Ghazi's son and successor,

al-Aziz Muhammad Al-Aziz Muhammad ibn Ghazi ( – 26 November 1236) was the Kurdish Ayyubid Emir of Aleppo and the son of az-Zahir Ghazi and grandson of Saladin. His mother was Dayfa Khatun, the daughter of Saladin's brother al-Adil. Al-Aziz was aged just t ...

.Khoury 1996, p. 56. There is scant information about Tell Khalid in the historical record after the Ayyubid era.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tilhalit Archaeological sites in Southeastern Anatolia Emirate of Aleppo Tells (archaeology) History of Gaziantep Province Neighbourhoods in Oğuzeli District