Silifke Castle

Did You Know?

• The castle sits at just 160 m above sea level but dominates the Silifke plains and the southern section of the Göksu valley.
• A 1987 survey concluded that most of the present castle is a Crusader construction.
• The 17th-century traveler Evliya Çelebi recorded 23 towers, 60 houses, and a mosque inside the castle; only 10 towers survive today.

History

Silifke, once called Seleucia, was established by Seleucus I Nicator, a general who fought under Alexander the Great. Hardly anything remains from the original city built in the 300s BC, but later ruins include a Roman theater, a cemetery, a bathhouse, a temple from the 100s AD, and a Byzantine water tank from the 400s. In the late 600s, the Byzantines turned the hilltop above the Calycadnus River into a fortress to defend against Arab attacks, making it a weapons depot and a regional administrative hub.

Around 1180, Baron Leo II of the Rubenid dynasty, who later became King Leo I of Armenian Cilicia, seized the town and its fort. In 1210, he gave the castle to the Knights Hospitaller in return for money and cavalry, charging them with guarding his kingdom’s western frontier against the Seljuk Turks. A 1987 study found that most of the current structure dates from the Crusader period. A damaged Armenian inscription might record repairs or expansions in 1236. For a short time in 1248, a Frank named Guiscard may have commanded the castle.

Details

Shaped like an oval, Silifke Castle stretches roughly 250 meters east to west and 75 meters across, all encircled by a dry moat. The 17th-century traveler Evliya Çelebi noted 23 towers, 60 houses, and a mosque inside. Today, ten towers remain, many with vaulted ceilings, alongside an equal number of well-made under-crofts, some featuring pointed vaults. Most outer stones are finely cut ashlar blocks. A formal survey of the site took place in 1979.