Qulay'a
Village in Tartus, Syria
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Qulay'a (Arabic: قليعة, romanized: Qulayʾa), also transliterated Qulay'at or Qleiat) is a village and medieval citadel in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the Tartus Governorate. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, Qulay'a had a population of 1,360 in the 2004 census.[1] The fortress of Qulay'a was one of the several held by the Nizari Ismaili state in the Syrian coastal mountains and is locally known as Al-Sheikh Deeb Castle (Arabic: قلعة الشيخ ديب, romanized: Qal'at Sheikh Dib). The fortress stands at an elevation of 730 meters (2,400 ft) above sea level.[2]
Qulay'a
قليعة Qulay'at, Qleiat | |
|---|---|
Village | |
The ruined hilltop fortress of Qulay'a and the modern village below, 2015 | |
  Qulay'a Location within Syria | |
| Coordinates: 34°56′50″N 36°14′57″E | |
| Country |  Syria |
| Governorate | Tartus |
| District | Duraykish |
| Subdistrict | Dweir Ruslan |
| Population (2004 census)[1] | |
• Total | 1,360 |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
History
The Nizari Isma'ilis took control of Qulay'a around the time they came into control of Masyaf in 1140–1141.[3] Between 1270 and 1273, Qulay'a was among several of the Nizari Isma'ili castles to have surrendered to the Mamluk sultan Baybars and annexed into the Mamluk realm.[4]
During the Ottoman period, Qulay'a was the center of a minor nahiye (subdistrict) in the hill country west of Hama.[2] It was mentioned in Ottoman tax records from 1547 and 1645.[5] Unlike many other former Crusader or Nizari Isma'ili fortresses during that period, where the inhabitants of the fortress were Sunni Muslims or Isma'ili Shia Muslims amid a largely Alawite-populated countryside, by the 17th century the inhabitants of the Qulay'a castle itself were Alawites.[6]