Location: 40 km South of Deir Ezzor Map
Constructed: 9th century
Rahbeh Castle or Qala’at Rahbeh is a medieval stronghold situated 40 km South of Deir Ezzor in Syria. Rahbeh Castle or Qala’at Rahbeh was erected in the 9th century AD. First fortifications date back to the Abbassids. Defenses were further increased under orders of Nur Al Din. This strategic hill was an important site in the defenses of the Euphrates river. However the garrison of the Rahbeh Castle was wiped out by the Mongols in the middle of the 13th century. Walls and towers were abandoned and over subsequent centuries it fell in disrepair. The site was excavated and reconstructed by the French- Syrian archaeological mission in 1978.
The ancient city of Al-Rahba is located on the right bank of the Euphrates, between Deir ez-Zor in the north and Al-Salihiyah in the south. The city of Al-Rahba is called Rahbat Al-Sham or Rahbat Malik Ibn Tawk, where Al-Rahba Castle is located. Arab narratives mention that this city was known as Fardhat Na’am or Al-Fardha. It is said to be an ancient city.
Al Rahba Fort is one of the most important and oldest
cities in the world.
Al-Rahba Castle was established by Malik bin
Tawq bin Attab Al-Taghlibi during the Caliphate of Al-Ma’mun, and so it
was named after him. When he died in 260 AD - 874 AD, he was succeeded
as ruler of Al-Rahba (the city and the castle) by his son Ahmed bin
Malik, who was expelled from it by Ibn Abi Al-Sarraj, the owner of
Al-Anbar and the Euphrates Road in the year 218 AH - 833 AD. Abu Taher
Al-Qurmati captured Al-Rahba in 212 - 827 AD.
During the reign of
Nasser al-Dawla al-Hamdani, Juman al-Taghlabi rebelled in al-Rahba, and
the two matters entered into a conflict between them, and then the
matter ended with his expulsion. After the death of Nasser al-Dawla in
358 AH - 969 AD, the dispute intensified between his sons: Hamdan, Abu
al-Barakat, and Abu Taghlib over monopolization of the city of al-Rahba.
Finally, Al-Rahba fell into the hands of Abu Taghlib, who rebuilt its
walls. Then it was lost in the year 368 - 978 AD, and moved to the
possession of Adud al-Dawla al-Buwaihi. Then Baha al-Din was chosen in
the year 381 AH - 992 AD as governor of al-Rahba, in accordance with the
wishes of its people. It soon passed into the hands of Abu Ali bin
Thamal Al-Khafaji, who killed its governor, Issa bin Khalat Al-Uqaili.
A man from the people of Medina called Ibn Mahkan was able to gain
independence under the rule of Al-Rahba, with the help of Saleh
Al-Mardassi at first, but then Ibn Mahkan betrayed him in order to
monopolize the rule of Al-Rahba. He fled to Al-Rahba between the years
447-450 AH / 1055 AD - 1058 AD Arslan Al-Basaysri to join Al-Mustansir,
the Fatimid Caliph. After him, Thimal bin Saleh, who later became the
ruler of Aleppo, took control of it. Although his cousin Mahmoud
expelled him from Aleppo in 458 - 1065 AD, he remained the one who had
the upper hand in Al-Rahba, and it was followed at that time by:
Al-Khanuqa, Qarqisya, Douira.
In the year 479 - 1087 AD, the king
of Shah Al-Rahba and the lands he transferred to Muhammad bin Sharaf
al-Dawla. In the year 489 AH - 1069 AD, Karbo Qa Al-Hilli seized the
city and plundered it. After his death in 497 AH - 1103 AD, it passed
into the hands of Kaymaz, one of Alp Arslan’s commanders, then into the
hands of Turk Hasan, then the Sultan of Damascus snatched it from him,
and its rule was implemented by Muhammad bin Al-Sabbak Al-Shaybani.
Then this city was treacherously seized by the commander of Imad
ad-Din Zengi, in 501 AH - 1107 AD. After him, Izz al-Din bin al-Barsuqi
took control of it in the year 521 AD - 1127 AD. Shortly before his
death, his successors fought over the rule of al-Rahba, so the city was
transferred to the younger brother, Izz al-Din, and Jawali ruled on his
behalf. Qutb al-Din Ould Zengi occupied the city of al-Rahba in 544 AD -
1150 AD.
On the second, August 12, 1157, earthquakes destroyed
the cities of Al-Rahba, Hama, and other cities. The Khafajah tribe
returned to Rahbat al-Sham, followed by government soldiers. There, some
nomadic tribes strengthened their support and were able to disperse the
enemy. Nur al-Din granted al-Rahba on the Euphrates and Homs on the
Orontes to Asad al-Din Shirkuh ibn Ahmad ibn Shadi al-Duwayni, the uncle
of Saladin al-Ayyubi, in the year 559 AH - 1164 AD. Saladin entrusted
the rule of Al-Rahba to a commander named Yusuf bin Al-Mallah. Shirkuh
built the new Rahba, three miles from the Rahbat of Tawq bin Malik.
Al-Rahba Al-Jadidah remained under the rule of the Shirkuh family for a
century, and during the reign of this family it became an important
station for caravans between the Levant and Iraq. Baybars was appointed
governor of Al-Rahba in 663 AH - 1264 AD.
The governor of
Al-Rahba, Sunqur Al-Ashqar Al-Dimashqi, who rebelled against Sultan
Qalawun in 678 AH - 1279 AD, fled and took refuge with Prince Isa, and
from there he asked for Abaqa’s protection. The Mongols, led by
Kharbanda, besieged the city of Al-Rahba and its citadel in 712 AH -
1312 AD, and their siege of it failed due to the impregnability of the
walls of Al-Rahba Citadel. He left behind the cannons with which he was
besieging the citadel and the city, so the defenders seized them and
moved them inside the citadel. It is reported that in the year 732 AH -
1331 AD, the Euphrates River flooded the country around Al-Rahba.
Attempt to enter the Mongols
The Mongol commander Kharbanda
besieged it in the year 712 AH - 1312 AD, but the siege failed, due to
its great immunity. He despaired of this and left it, abandoning the
cannons he had brought. The defenders of the castle took advantage of
these cannons. Because of the strength and grandeur of the castle, and
the precision of its construction,