The Citadel of Aleppo (Julia Gonnella)

Publication Data:

Gonnella, Julia, 'The Citadel of Aleppo', EJOS , IV (2001) (= M. Kiel, N. Landman & H. Theunissen (eds.), Proceedings of the 11th International Congress of Turkish Art, Utrecht - The Netherlands, Nether lands, August 23-28, 1999), 1999), No. 22, 1-24.

ISSN 0928-6802

© Copyright 2001 Julia Gonnella.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication publication may may be be reproduced, reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.

The Citadel of Aleppo

Julia Gonnella

*

The citadel of Aleppo is - as everyone knows - one of the most spectacular examples of medieval military architecture. It was built on the summit of a 40 m high natural outcrop that lies east of the river Quwaiq (Figure 1). Both the river and the outcrop have provided Aleppo with the major prerequisites for a town t own to survive from early times onwards: supply of water and opportunity for defense. 1 According to cuneiform texts the antiquity of the citadel hill hil l goes back 2 to the 3rd millennium B.C. The Arab Medieval historians start its history with Seleucos. It was certainly occupied by the Romans and Byzantines. The Sasanian Chosroes II. (590-628 AD) is said to have spared the citadel when he burnt Aleppo during his raid of Northern Syria. Syria. When the Arabs occupied the place they apparently found walls, which they t hey repaired and maintained. The Hamdanid prince, Sa‘d ad-Daula, is reported to be the first ruler to move his residence on the hill. hil l. Previously, the location of his father's palace was near the Quwaiq but this seemed precarious after Nikephorus Phokas had the town destroyed in 962 AD. After the Hamdanids the citadel was under under the control of the Fatimids, the Mirdasides, Mi rdasides, the Uqailids, the Seldjuks and the Zangids. The Mirdasids converted the two churches on the citadel into mosques. The Zangids built palaces and a hippodrome and they also restored the lower mosque. As for the present fortress, it is i s mainly the work of Saladin's son, the Ayyubid prince al-Malik aÛ-ÚÁhir ÇÁzÐ who turned the citadel into one of the most powerful strongholds of Northern Syria with a deep moat and a stone *

Dr. Julia Gonnella, Freie Universität, Berlin.

The research on the Citadel of Aleppo has been subsidized by the German Archaeological Institute (DAI, Berlin) for two years (July 1997 - June 1998) and by the Gerda Henkel Stiftung (Düsseldorf) (Düsseldor f) since July 1999. The Th e author would like to express her gratitude to both institutions as well as to the t he Max van Berchem foundation, which generously provided financial support for the journey to the 11th International Congress of Turkish Art in Utrecht. 1 For the history of Aleppo the work by Sauvaget 1941, Herzfeld 1954-55 and Gaube - Wirth 1984 remains essential. On Ayyubid Aleppo see the more recent monographs by Allen 1999, Eddé 2000 and Tabbaa 1997. A number of new articles on the history of Aleppo have just appeared in the exhibition catalogue ed. by Fansa et al. 2000. 2 Klengel 1997.

JULIA GONNELLA

glacis. He demolished the older entrance and elevated its portal to the present location to be reached only via the tall bridge-cum-viaduct which until today serves as the only official entrance (Figure 2). The upper entry block with its massive stones, magnificent apotropaic decoration and strong iron doors is considered to be one of the finest pieces of Ayyubid military architecture. Through it a paved ramp leads up taking several turns ending into what was formerly the royal district containing luxurious palaces, gardens and ÎammÁms . One of the palaces famous for its surviving muqarnas portal has been excavated by the Syrian Antiquity Service. It is now generally identified with the " DÁr al-‘Izz" which so unfortunately burnt in the wedding-night of the ruler. The citadel was conquered by the Mongols in 1260 and according to Arab historians heavily destroyed. The Mamluks restored it and used it as official seat for their governor. It was conquered again by the troops of Timur in 1400/01 and renovated by the Mamluks for the second time. The most important Mamluk contribution to the citadel is the so-called audience chamber above the Ayyubid entrance gate, begun by the Éakam min ‘IwÁd in 809/1406, who declared himself sultan in 1407 but died shortly afterwards. The audience chamber was finished under Sultan Mu’ayyad (r. 1412-21) in 1417 and later altered under Sultan al-Ašraf QaitbÁy (r. 1468-96) and Sultan QÁnÒÙh al-ÇÙrÐ (r. 1501-16). Sultan al-ÇÙrÐ, the last Mamluk sultan put much effort into the refortification of the citadel: he quite rightly feared the Ottoman troops who finally took over power in 1516 after the battle of MarÊ DÁbiq, in which the sultan was himself to die. During the Ottoman period, the citadel lost its importance. Aleppo was incorporated in the realm of the Ottoman Empire and did not have to face any serious enemies. A garrison was nevertheless stationed in the fortress until 1822, when a severe earthquake forced most inhabitants to leave. The citadel was reused as a garrison in the late Ottoman and in the French Mandate period. After Syrian Independence it was made open to the public and is now Aleppo's major tourist attraction. In 1996, a Syrian-German mission started excavations on top of the citadel under the direction of Wahid Khayyata, director of the Museum of Aleppo and Kay Kohlmeyer, from Berlin (Figure 3)3. Their main aim is to search for the remains of the Bronze Age: In three seasons, parts of what is probably one of the largest Syrian temples were uncovered. It can be identified with the temple of the ancient weather-god Hadad and dates to around 1700 BC. A restoration took place around 1000 BC. An eleven meter long wall with quite spectacular reliefs depicting gods and mythical creatures, belongs to this restoration phase. The excavations provided a good opportunity to examine the citadel at the same time. A thorough documentation of the entire complex was 3

For the excavations see Khayyata - Kohlmeyer 1998, Gonnella - Khayyata - Kohlmeyer 2000, Kohlmeyer 2000, Kohlmeyer 1999/2000. 2

THE CITADEL OF ALEPPO

considered to be of foremost importance. Over the past years heavy restoration work has been going on: some of the buildings on the citadel were completely rebuilt such as the Upper Mosque or parts of the Ayyubid Palace. Only little of the restorations has been systematically recorded and much of the historical information has been lost. First of all the documentation entails the drawing up of a new plan of the citadel using a tachymeter with which we hope to reach a greater degree of precision than the previous plans. Up to now, we have taken measures of most of the fortification: the ring wall, the two Mamluk barbicans north and south of the citadel as well as some structures inside such as the upper mosque, the Ottoman barracks and the modern theatre. The missing parts shall be included in further seasons. Another part of our documentation is the recording of the inscriptions. We first checked the important corpus of inscriptions assembled by Sobernheim (1926) and Herzfeld (1954-55) 4 - still the main basis for any study on the citadel - and looked whether the inscriptions still existed and in what condition. We were also lucky to add new inscriptions 5. Particularly interesting are two inscriptions by the last Ayyubid sultan an-NÁÒir YÙsuf, grandson of aÛÚÁhir ÇÁzÐ. They are the first proofs of building activities of this last Ayyubid sultan on the fortress 6. Both inscriptions belong to the period when an-NÁÒir YÙsuf tried to consolidate his power in Northern Syria. The older one is only a fragment. It mentions the name of the ruler and the date 642 (1244-45). The fragment was found in the debris of two medieval cellar rooms. The other inscription was found in situ on a door lintel of a major buried building in the northeastern part of the citadel (Figure 4). It mentions an unspecified building activity of the ruler in the month DÙ l-ÍiÊÊa 643 (19 April – 17 May 1246). In the course of a sondage in summer 2000 we found two missing fragments of the inscription mentioning the name of the person who was probably responsible for the building: AyÁz al-MalikÐ an-NÁÒirÐ alAtÁbakÐ, a member of the military elite who is also known as the founder of the mosque ŠarÐfzÁde in the quarter al-FarÁfra in Aleppo, dated 615 (1218) 7. In addition, we discovered 12 very important Hebrew tombstones in the Ayyubid entrance gate reused in the roofs of the bretèches. The inscriptions are presently studied by Prof. Brocke from the Samuel-Steinheim Institute in Duisburg/Germany. According to a first reading the oldest inscription dates into the year 1186/87 AD, the youngest into the year 1237/38 AD. This is, of course, quite significant for the date of the machicolation boxes inasmuch they 4

A number of inscriptions were later added by Gaube 1978. A new catalogue of the inscriptions by the author will appear in the first volume of the excavation series “Íalab”, ed. by W. Khayyata and K. Kohlmeyer, to be published soon. 6 The inscriptions of an-NÁÒir YÙsuf as well as his building activities in general have been treated in a separate article by Gonnella-Korn (in press). 7 Herzfeld 1955, 282 f., Nr. 151, Taf. 122 d. The mosque is mentioned by Gaube-Wirth (1984, 377, Nr. 285) as “Moschee Šaih AlÐ al-HindÐ” opposite the fountain an-NÁÒirÐ (ibid. Nr. 284), which probably is Ayyubid, too. 5

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can not have been built under aÛ-ÚÁhir ÇÁzÐ who already died in 1216. Instead, we have to presume that the machicolation boxes were constructed under the Mamluks, quite like the other medieval machicolation boxes in Syria, as has been argued by Hans-Peter Hanisch (1996) already. Ottoman inscriptions are included in our project as well 8. The reading of the three inscriptions on the so-called "barracks of Ibrahim Pasha (18321840)" for instance allowed us to reassign the building into the reign of Sultan Abdülmecid (Figure 5). They are dated 1267 (1850-51) 9. The most important part of our work, however, is the photographic documentation, which went along with an examination of the architecture. To start with, we have concentrated on the ring wall of the fortification, which until now has hardly been investigated at all. One of the main objectives was to record the various restorations that have been carried out. For this, we were very lucky to discover a large corpus of old pictures taken by the French in the course of their restoration measures during the 30's which give us a good insight into how thorough their work has been: great parts of the citadel wall have been secured and even rebuilt under their supervision (Figure 6). The examination of the wall produced a number of interesting results: It became clear that there were no traces of pre-Ayyubid masonry in the actual citadel wall. It is very likely that the wall remnants on the east side of the slope further down the hill belong to an earlier period: according to Arab sources the Zangid entrance is said to have been at a lower level than the Ayyubid one 10. This would also correspond with the location of the few Zangid inscriptions that have been reused above in the present wall 11. It has also become clear how little of the original Ayyubid wall has survived. It, therefore, seems that the Arab historians were right when they described the thorough Mongol destructions 12. Traces of Ayyubid stonework can be located in some of the lower levels of the Mamluk wall. On the eastern side for example one can observe how the Mamluks covered the Ayyubid blocks with a sort of sloping roof on which they would found their own towers which were smaller than the Ayyubid ones (Figure 7). Ayyubid masonry can be well studied in the main entrance gate or in the southern city gate BÁb QinnasrÐn. It makes use of considerably larger stone blocks than Mamluk masonry and is thus easily recognisable.

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The Ottoman inscriptions are studied by H. Karateke. Sha’ath (1996, 168 f.) reads the year as 1261 H. He presumes that the inscription had been added later to the building but the local historian ÓabbÁÌ (III, 424) who wrote his history of Aleppo in the twenties, writes that the so-called garrison had been built “around 70 years ago”. This would correlate with the building inscription. 10 For example in Ibn aš-ŠiÎna, 42 11 Herzfeld I.1. 1955, Nr. 32 a, b; 33, 34 und 35. 12 Ibn aš-ŠiÎna, 46. 9

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Further traces of the former Ayyubid curtain wall and towers can be found in the south just in front of the present wall (Figure 8). When the Mamluks had it rebuilt they erected it further behind, probably being aware of the precarious state of the slope, which was always in danger of sliding away due to constant raining. The walls built in steps right next to the entrance gate on the eastern side can be probably identified as Ayyubid, too (Figure 9). The walls of the Ayyubid fortress of Qal‘at NaÊm on the Euphrates are built in a similar technique (Figure 10). Like the citadel of Aleppo Qal‘at NaÊm has been extensively rebuilt under al-Malik aÛ-ÚÁhir ÇÁzÐ 13. Thus, there are no traces of the Ayyubid military architecture apart from the monumental entrance gate, the bridge, parts of the glacis and the remains mentioned above. Other than commonly believed, there are also no remains of the Ayyubid gateway in front of the bridge that is mentioned in the sources14. Indeed, the present late Mamluk gateway 15 does not sit on a predecessor but on an Ayyubid bridge pier, which later has been surrounded by a second coat of stones, probably by the early Mamlu ks. The alignment of the pier and the later coating can be seen quite distinctly (Figure 11). As for the original location of the Ayyubid gateway, there is room to speculate. It can be either reconstructed on the location of the present late Mamluk gate but much smaller in scale or much more probably, it was situated on the land side right in front of the bridge. The few Ayyubid remains make it obvious how comprehensive Mongol destruction and consequently Mamluk restoration must have been. In fact, the monumental inscription which wraps around the Ayyubid entrance gate quite pompously declares the efforts of Sultan al-Ašraf ËalÐl (r. 1290-93) in having completely rebuilt the citadel around 30 years after the Tartar invasion 16. Ernst Herzfeld who was only concerned with the entrance gate had always considered the inscription to mainly refer to the restoration of buildings inside the citadel17. Since inside hardly any structures from the early Mamluk period have remained, Yasser Tabbaa only recently concluded that the inscription did not refer to any actual building activity at all but was nothing but a Mamluk "prise de possession" 18. The examination of the wall and the towers, however, shows that on the contrary, the rebuilding program must have really been quite extensive. The citadel wall basically displays two major types of Mamluk masonry. The early one is constructed of plain stones with smooth surface, 13

Qal‘at NaÊm still awaits a detailed study. For further references see D. Sourdel, “¬al‘at Nadjm” in: The Encyclopaedia of Islam (New Edition), IV, 482 and Korn 1998/II., 305 f. 14 For example in aš-ŠiÎna, 42. 15 Herzfeld 1955, Nr. 51a, b. 16 Ibn al-‘AÊamÐ, 166; Herzfeld 1955, Nr. 40. 17 Herzfeld ibid. 18 Tabbaa 1997, 75. 5

JULIA GONNELLA

which are much smaller than the Ayyubid stones (Figure 11). Much use has been made of spolia, in particularly column shafts. Very distinct is the later Mamluk masonry with a kind of very low bossed stone with smooth margins (Figure 12). This masonry has been obviously used on the citadel since the time of Sultan al-Ašraf QaitbÁy as can be seen at the large bastion tower in the north built under his reign. It is certainly very distinct of the military architecture of the last Mamluk sultan, alÇÙrÐ, who rebuilt the two barbicans north and south of the citadel, the bridge tower at the entrance gate as well as large parts of the citadel wall. Most of the towers now became slender and high (Figure 13). They are comparable to the towers of the Gaziantep citadel, which date into the reign of Sultan QaitbÁy (Figure 14)19. Under the Ottomans, Aleppo lacked of proper enemies and the citadel lost in significance. The main task of the troops now stationed on the fortress was mainly to keep peace in town. Apparently they were headed by an Agha who was directly responsible to the High Porte in Istanbul and not to the Pasha of the town, which means they had to check him, too. According to an inscription, restorations were carried out on the citadel under Sultan Süleyman in 1521 20.The works, however, can not have been too extensive: the tower on which the inscription appears is certainly Mamluk. The citadel still must have been in a good shape in the early Ottoman days, at least it is described as such by the traveler Leonhart Rauwolff who visited Aleppo in 157421. Not much later, the accounts differ considerably: The Portuguese Texeira, for example, who stayed for two months in Aleppo in 1605 mentions that the walls were rather weak: "the position [of the castle] is naturally strong, and appears, by remains yet visible, to have been improved by art; yet it is not as defensible as might be. It commands the city, indeed, and has some artillery, and all around the mount is a deep wet ditch, with a bridge. But the walls are not very strong; their plan is very simple. And it contains no water, but in one well rather salt than brackish. 22" Certainly by the 18th century the state of the citadel must have been deplorable. The French Volney who stayed in Aleppo in the 1780's writes: "At present it would not be able to resist the feeblest assault. Its flight wall is in ruins, its little old towers are in no better condition and it has not four cannons fit for service" 23. Drummond's famous 18th century print24 of the citadel, however, indicates that the fortress must have remained very impressive to look at. 19

Also the citadel in Gaziantep still needs a detailed study. For the moment see Meinecke 1992/2, 7 (Nr. 4/7), 281 (Nr. 25B/9), 423 (Nr. 42/33). 20 Herzfeld 1955, Nr. 6. 21 Rauwolff 1971, 69 on the citadel: “Darfür habens in mitte der Statt/ auff einem hohen beschütten berg ein vestes Schloß/ das groß/ mit mauren unnd gräben zimlich verwaret/ und mit einer starcken Guardien bestzet.” 22 Texeira 1967, 114 f. 23 Volney, II, 149. 24 Reproduced for example in Sauvaget 1941, pl. XLVIII. 6


In any case, the examination of the citadel wall shows that a number of restoration measures have been carried out. Some of the older arrow-slits for example were enlarged for a better use of firearms. And also in the interior some of the former Mamluk structures were altered, too. The two mosques remained in use, too as is conveyed by a restoration inscription in the lower mosque (988 AH/1580-1 AD) 25 and one in the upper mosque (1102 AH/ 16901 AD)26. What is completely new is that the Ottoman soldiers now brought their families to live with them on the citadel and that they also earned extra-money in trade, obviously much to the bewilderment of the European travelers who such as Volney wrote that there were "three hundred and fifty Janissaries who should form the garrison, but they are busy in their shops 27." Remains of Ottoman dwellings can be found all over the citadel. In the north houses have been integrated into the actual fortification. In the west a number of houses have been uncovered during the French restoration works during the 30's28. An Ottoman living quarter is presently excavated by the Syrian-German mission: courtyard houses which were arranged in terraces with built-in cupboards (Figure 15). They are very similar to the Ottoman houses in the old quarter of Aleppo. Amongst the small finds are numerous Kütahya coffee bowls as well as plenty of pipes, which give us a good idea on how the soldiers must have spent their time. The inhabitants were obviously buried on the citadel as a number of tombstone fragments now kept in the citadel museum suggest. The Jewish Portuguese traveler Pedro Texeira (1605) mentions that both silver and gold coins were minted on the citadel 29. Ottoman life on the citadel practically came to an end after the earthquake in 1822 when nearly all inhabitants left 30. The Egyptian governor Ibrahim Pasha (1832-1840) used stones from the ruins when he built his garrison in the north of the city 31. The last Ottoman building to be erected on the citadel was the garrison of Sultan Abdülmecid 32. An inscription (1290 AH./1873 AD.), today lost, confirms that the upper mosque had been restored in his reign, too33. The recording of the hitherto much neglected Ottoman remains is part of the present examination of the citadel. In particular, we hope to reach a systematic documentation of the Ottoman houses, both as they appear in the present excavations and during the Syrian restoration works. 25

Herzfeld 1955, Nr. 67 a. Van Berchem 1909, Nr. 50. 27 Volney, II, 149. 28 Sauvaget 1941, 212 fn. 800. 29 Texeira 1967, 115. 30 ÓabbÁÌ, III, 426. 31 Ibid. 32 See fn. 10. 33 Van Berchem 1909, Nr. 50 26

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Bibliography

Allen, Terry (1999): Ayyubid Architectur e. 6th. ed. (Solipsist Press, Occidental, California: Electronic Publication). van Berchem, Max (1909): "Arabische Inschriften" in: Inschriften aus Syrien, Mesomoptamien und Kleinasien gesammelt im Jahre 1899 , ed. by M. Frhr. v. Oppenheim, Leipzig (Beiträge zur Assyriologie und semitischen Sprachwissenschaft 7,1). Eddé, Anne-Marie (2000): La principauté ayyoubide d'Alep (579/1183 658/1260), Stuttgart (Freiburger Islamstudien, XXI). Fansa, Mamoun - Heinz Gaube - Jens Windelberg (2000): Damaskus - Aleppo. 5000 Jahre Stadtentwicklung in Syrien , Mainz, 2000 (Beiheft der Archäologischen Mitteilungen aus Nordwestdeutschland Nr. 28). Gaube, Heinz (1978): Arabische Inschriften aus Syrien, Beirut. Gaube, Heinz - Eugen Wirth (1984): Aleppo. Historische und geographische Beiträge zur baulichen Gestaltung, zur sozialen Organisation und zur wirtschaftlichen Dynamik einer vorderasiatischen Fernhandelsmetropole, Wiesbaden (Beiträge zum Tübinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients Nr.58). Gonnella, Julia - Wahid Khayyata - Kay Kohlmeyer (2000): "Die Zitadelle von Aleppo" in: Damaskus-Aleppo. 5000 Jahre Stadtentwicklung in Syrien, ed. by M. Fansa et al., Mainz, 250-58. Gonnella, Julia - Lorenz Korn (in press): "Eine neue Inschrift des an-NÁÒir YÙsuf II. auf der Zitadelle von Aleppo" in: Al-Andalus und Europa: zwischen Orient und Okzident. Festschrift Christian Ewert . Ed. by M. Müller-Wiener et al. Hanisch, Hans-Peter (1996): "Die Maschikulis der Zitadelle von Damaskus" in: Damaszener Mitteilungen, 9, 227-62. Herzfeld, Ernst (1954/55): Matériaux pour un corpus inscriptionum arabicarum. Deuxième partie: Syrie du Nord. Inscriptions et monuments d'Alep, Kairo (MIFAO 36-38). Ibn al-‘AÊamÐ: Les trésors d'or (Matériaux pour servir à l'histoire de la ville d'Alep, II .) transl. by Jean Sauvaget, Beirut 1950 (Institut Français de Damas). Ibn aš-ŠiÎna: Les perles choisies (Matériaux pour servir à l'histoire de la ville d'Alep, I .) transl. by Jean Sauvaget, Beirut 1933 (Mémoires de l'Institut Français de Damas). Khayyata, Wahid und Kay Kohlmeyer (1998): "Die Zitadelle von Aleppo Vorläufiger Bericht über die Untersuchungen 1996 und 1997" in: Damaszener Mitteilungen, 10, 69-96. Klengel, Horst (1997): "Die historische Rolle der Stadt Aleppo im vorantiken Syrien" in: Die orientalische Stadt. Kontinuität, Wandel, Bruch, Ed. by G. Wilhelm, Saarbrücken, 359-374.

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Kohlmeyer, Kay (1999/2000): "Halab. Neues zu Aleppo im 2. und 1. Jahrtausend v. Chr." in: Nürnberger Blätter zur Archäologie , 16, 111130. Kohlmeyer, Kay (2000): Der Tempel des Wettergottes, Münster. Korn, Lorenz (1998): Ayyubidische Architektur in Ägypten & Syrien. Bautätigkeit im Kontext von Politik & Gesellschaft, 564-658/11691260, Diss. Tübingen (unpublished manuscript). Meinecke, Michael (1992): Die mamlukische Architektur in Ägypten und Syrien (648/1250 bis 923/1517) , Glückstadt. Rauwolff, Leonhart (1971): Aigentliche Beschreibung der Raiss in die Morgenländer , ed. by Dietmar Henze, Graz (Frühe Reisen und Seefahrten in Orginalberichten, 9). Sauvaget, Jean (1941): Alep. Essai sur le développement d'une grande ville syrienne des origines au milieu du XIXe siècle, 2 vols., Paris 1941 (Bibliothèque Archéologique et Historique Nr. 34). Sha'ath, Shawqi (1996): Qal‘at Íalab, Aleppo. Sobernheim, Moritz (1926), "Die arabischen Inschriften von Aleppo" in: Der Islam, 15, 161-210. Tabbaa, Yasser (1997): Constructions of Power and Piety in Medieval Aleppo, Pennsylvania. aÔ-ÓabbÁÌ, MuÎammad (1408-9/1988-9): I‘lÁm an-nubalÁ’ bi tÁ’rÐÌ Íalab ašŠaÎbÁ’ , 7 vols., 2nd. ed (1st ed. 1341/1923), Aleppo. Texeira, Pedro (1967): The Travels of Pedro Texeira, translated and annotated by W. F. Sinclair , Reprint Nendeln/Lichtenstein. Volney, M. C-F., Travels through Syria and Egypt in the years 1783, 1784, and 1785, Translated from the French, London 1787 (2 vols.).

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Figure 1: The citadel of Aleppo 34.

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All photographs are by the author


Figure 2: The entrance gate of the citadel.

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Figure 3: A view of the excavation site from the minaret of the Upper Mosque.

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Figure 4: The inscription of the last Ayyubid sultan an-NÁÒir YÙsuf, dated ÅÙ l-ÍiÊÊa 643 (19. April - 17. May 1246).

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Figure 5: The inscription on the south side of the late Ottoman garrison, dated 1267 (1850-51).

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Figure 6: An example from the French restoration documents.

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Figure 7: Remains of Ayyubid masonry beneath a later Mamluk tower on the eastern side of the ring wall.

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Figure 8: Traces of the former Ayyubid ring wall in front of the Mamluk wall on the south.

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Figure 9: Traces of the Ayyubid stepped wall to the east of the entrance gate.

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Figure 10: A wall from the fortress of Qal‘at NaÊm on the Euphrates.

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Figure 11: The lower part of the bridge tower showing the probably early Mamluk coating of the original Ayyubid bridge pier.

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Figure 12: An example of late Mamluk masonry.

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Figure 13: The slender towers of the citadel on the southeast.

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Figure 14: Late Mamluk walls and towers of the Gaziantep citadel.

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Figure 15: Ottoman houses discovered in the recent excavations.

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The Citadel of Aleppo (Julia Gonnella)

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