Qalat (fortress)

Qalat (kalata) قلعه in Persian[2] or qal'at قلعة in Arabic[3] is a term of Arabic origin meaning 'fortified place'.[4][5] It frequently occurs in place names. Qalats can range from castles like Rumkale to the mud-brick compound common throughout southwest Asia. The term is used throughout the Muslim world to indicate a defensive fortress.[6] It is even preserved in place names in places such as Sicily, which was occupied by the Aghlabid dynasty and then the Fatimids from the ninth to the twelfth centuries.[7]

Kilitbahir Kalesi, on the European coast of Dardanells
Kale-i Sultaniye, on the Asian coast of Dardanells
These two qalas were built to protect Dardanells with the order of Mehmed the Conqueror in 1452.[1]

Design

A typical qala in Central Asia consisted of a tripartite city model: kuhendiz, şehristan and rabat (or rabaz). This city model is not valid only for Central Asian city typology. It is also used to describe similar city types elsewhere in Islamic geography.[8]:145–148 Ottoman towns which were protected by qalas in Balkans and Anatolia also had a similar city model: inner fortress (iç kale), varoş and outer city.[9]

Kuhendiz

In the pre-Islamic Iran and Turkestan towns consisted of a fortress called diz (also means "fortress" in Persian), and the actual town which was called şehristan. Middle Eastern Islamic geographers use the word kuhendiz for the oldest part of the settlements in the town centers. It was later started to be used in the context of citadel of the towns. The word kuhendiz originates from Persian (كهندز) and means literally "old fortress". But the word kuhendiz can't be applied to solitary fortresses which were independent of towns as it would cause conceptual confusion. Although in Arabic the word hısn or husûn (حصون. ج - حص) was used to indicate fortresses which were located off towns, since Arabic terms did not have proper meaning to describe those structures, they borrowed the word kuhendiz during the Islamic conquest of Iran. Kuhendizes were usually built on high grounds and were the last line of defence in the town. Administritive units were mostly located here. The terms in Turkish iç kale and in English citadel are synounymous.[8]:148–150

Şehristan

Şehristan is a combination of two words, "şehir" (city) and "istân" (region), thus it means "city of region". Before the Islamic conquest of Central Asia castle style settlements were common rather than large political and economic centers. Muslim-Araps called these fortified towns, which were protected with walls, as qalas. As feodal system was transcended, this tripartite city model appeared with castle like structures which are called kuhendiz forming the core of the city. With the development in itself of the settlement in the old walls, cities without kuhendizes also appeared. Most of the town people dwelled in the şehristan. This might be the reason the name "şehristan" was used. Most of the buildings for recreation and worship were also located here.[8]:150151

Common features

A typical qala had features such as a gatehouse, a tower similar to keep which was called bâlâhisar, erk or baş kule, curtain walls, a postern, a moat, battlements and embrasure.[10]

Qala compounds

A qalat in southeastern Afghanistan

In many areas of Iran and Afghanistan, particularly in tribal areas with pre-modern building practices, the qalat compound is the standard housing unit for multi-generational families. Qalats can be quickly constructed over the course of a single season, and they can be extremely large, sometimes covering several acres. Towers may be placed at the corners or points along the walls to create a more defensible position, but most qala compounds consist only of the walls.

While the foundation of a qala compound may be stone or fired brick, the walls are typically dried mud. Walls are created by laying down a row of adobe bricks with mud mortar along the entire length of the wall. By the time that the mason returns to the point of origin, the mortar is dry and the next row can be added on top of the old. Using this technique walls dozens of feet high can be built very rapidly.

Turkey

Scope of the term kale can vary. Today many fortified buildings are called kale in Turkish which causes confusion. Originally the word kale (or kal'a قلعە in Ottoman Turkish) refers to fortresses which were built on roads where enemy was expected to pass by, on narrow passes and bottlenecks or in cities which had strategic value in order to defend them.[5][10] Building materials of kales could differ in accordingly to geographical conditions.[11] For example, Ottoman palankas were mostly built of wooden palisades. There are also other similar terms such as hisar or kermen.

According to Encyclopedia of İslâm definition of the term hisar is similar to that of castle. Nevertheless, there are several forts which don't fit into this definition, such as Rumelihisarı or Anadoluhisarı.[10] Another word used for forts kermen originates from Cuman language. It is known in Tatar language as kirmen, and karman in Chuvash language. The word kremlin also originates from kermen.[12]

When toponymically examined, it can be seen that hisar is used for the place names in the west of Turkey, kale for the place names in the east of Turkey and the kermen for the place names about the Crimean peninsula.[13]

Notes

  1. Nicolle 2010, p. 11.
  2. For the derivation of the Arabic term from the Persian, see Leslau, Wolf (1987) Comparative dictionary of Geʻez (Classical Ethiopic): Geʻez-English, English-Geʻez, with an index of the Semitic roots Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden, Germany, page 426, ISBN 978-3-447-02592-8, citing Fraenkel, Siegmund (1886) Die Aramäischen Fremdwörter im Arabischen (The Aramaic Loanwords in Arabic) E.J. Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands, page 237, OCLC 750560476, in German, reproduced from original in 1962 by Georg Olms, Hildesheim, Germany, OCLC 476894716, and again in 1982, ISBN 978-3-487-00319-1 and Belardi, Walter (1959) "Arabo قلعة qal‘a" Annali dell'Istituto Universitario Orientale di Napoli - Sezione Linguistica 1: pp. 147150
  3. Steingass, Francis Joseph (1993) Arabic-English Dictionary Asian Educational Services, New Delhi, page 853, ISBN 978-81-206-0855-9
  4. in Arabic, the singular is "qala", but English may use "one qalat/many qalats"
  5. "kale". Nişanyan Sözlük. Retrieved 2021-01-25.
  6. Belardi, Walter (1959) "Arabo قلعة qal‘a" Annali dell'Istituto Universitario Orientale di Napoli - Sezione Linguistica 1: pp. 147150
  7. Influsso arabo: L’elemento arabo è ben attestato, soprattutto in Sicilia, a testimonianza di un dominio, quello saraceno, che durò dall’inizio del IX fino alle soglie del XII secolo. Con il toponimo generico qal‘a (‘cittadella’, ‘fortezza’) abbiamo per esempio Calatafimi, Calatamauro (ovvero ‘la rocca del Moro’), Calatrasi (‘la rocca del tessitore’), Caltabellotta (‘la rocca delle querce’). (Arab influence: The Arab element is well attested, especially in Sicily, evidence of the Saracen rule beginning in the ninth and lasting until the beginning of the twelfth century. From the generic name Qal'a ('citadel', 'fortress') we have, for example: Calatafimi, Calatamauro (i.e. 'the stronghold of the Moor'), Calatrasi ('the fortress of the weaver'), Caltabellotta ('the fortress of the oak trees').) Bentsik, R. "Tracce" ("Traces") "Intercultural Dialogue European Radio Campaign" Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine page 61, www.tatapume.org; see also Pellegrini, Giovan Battista (1974) "Attraverso la toponomastica urbana medievale in Italia" ("Through the medieval urban toponymy in Italy") pp. 401499 In Centro italiano di studi sull'alto Medioevo (1974) Topografia urbana e vita cittadina nell'alto Medioevo in Occidente, 26 aprile-1 maggio 1973 (Conference publication) Presso la sede del Centro, Spoleto, Italy, volume 2, page 415, OCLC 1857092
  8. IV. Türkiye Lisansüstü Çalışmalar Kongresi: Bildiriler Kitabı - III (PDF). Kütahya. 2015.
  9. Özgüven 2003, p. 157.
  10. "KALE - TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi". TDV İslam Ansiklopedisi (in Turkish). Retrieved 2021-01-25.
  11. Ersenal 2019, p. 36.
  12. Eren 2006, p. 180.
  13. Şahin 2013, p. 51.

Bibliography

Further reading

  • Kennedy, Hugh N. (2006) Muslim Military Architecture in Greater Syria Brill, Leiden, ISBN 90-04-14713-6
  • Facey, William (1997) Back to Earth: Adobe Building in Saudi Arabia Al-Turath in association with the London Centre of Arab Studies, London, ISBN 1-900404-13-3
  • Bing, Judith et al. (1996) Architectural Elements of Traditional Settlements International Association for the Study of Traditional Environments, Berkeley, California, OCLC 37475487
  • Szabo, Albert and Barfield, Thomas J. (1991) Afghanistan: An Atlas of Indigenous Domestic Architecture University of Texas Press, Austin, Texas, ISBN 0-292-70419-4
  • Hallet, Stanley Ira and Samizay, Rafi (1980) Traditional Architecture of Afghanistan Garland STPM Press, New York, ISBN 0-8240-7059-3
  • Mumtaz, Kamil Khan (1983) Traditional Forms of Rural Habitat in Pakistan UNESCO, Paris, OCLC 10606333
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