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Saône

A panorama view of Sahyun Castle

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Anas Al Rifai - Wikipedia - CC BY-SA 3.0


Names
Transliterated Name Source Name
Saône Frankish Crusaders
Sigon Byzantine Greek (?)
Ṣahyūn Arabic صهيون
Qalat Ṣahyūn Arabic قلعة صهيون
Qal'at Salah al-Din Arabic قلعة صلاح الدين
Introduction
Introduction

Built on a rocky ridge over 700 metres long between two ravines, this important citadel controlled the access routes between the Orontes plain and the coast via the Bdama pass. Phoenician, then Byzantine, it was taken by the Franks around 1119 and given to the Puylaurens family. This castle, the largest built by the Crusaders, was never entrusted to a major order. After the Battle of Hattin, which saw the massacre of the Frankish knights, Saladin seized it in 1188 after only a few days of fighting. A succession of Arab occupations followed until it was abandoned.

Maps. Aerial Views, Plans, and Illustrations
Maps, Aerial Views, Plans, and Illustrations

Maps

  • Fig. 3 Location Map
    Fig. 3

    Location map of the Sahyoun site

    Mesqui (2002)
    from Mesqui (2002)

Aerial Views

  • Fig. 1 Aerial View from
    Fig. 1

    Aerial view of the site, taken from the North-East

    Mesqui (2002)
    the NE from Mesqui (2002)
  • Fig. 2 Aerial View from
    Fig. 2

    Aerial view of the site, taken from the North-West

    Mesqui (2002)
    the NW from Mesqui (2002)
  • Saône in Google Earth
    Saône in Google Earth

    click on image to explore this site on a new tab in Google Earth

Plans

Site Plans

Topographic Map of Site

Sahyoun. General Topographic Map of the Site before digging of the great eastern trench

castellorient.fr


Topographic Map with Buildings

Sahyoun. General topographic plan with all the buildings

castellorient.fr


General Site Plan

Figure 4

General plan of the Sahyoun site

Mesqui (2002)


Site Plan in the Byzantine Period

Figure 8

Site plan in the Byzantine period

Mesqui (2002)


Illustrations

Normal Size

  • 3D reconstruction of Saône
    Saône (Sahyun, Qal'at Salah ad-Dîn) in all its states

    castellorient.fr
    from castellorient.fr

Magnified

  • 3D reconstruction of Saône
    Saône (Sahyun, Qal'at Salah ad-Dîn) in all its states

    castellorient.fr
    from castellorient.fr

Notes and Further Reading
References

Articles and Books

Kennedy, H. (1994) Crusader Castles, Cambridge University Press – can be borrowed with a free account from archive.org

Mesqui, J. (2002) La forteresse de Saône en Syrie (Sahyoun, Qalʿat Salah ad-Dîn): Nouvelles observations sur l’évolution du site de l’époque byzantine à l’époque ottomane

Mesqui, J. (2008) Die Burg Saone (Sahyun, Qal’at Salah ad-Din), in M. Piana (ed.), Burgen und Städte der Kreuzzugszeit, Petersberg, pp. 356–366

Michaudel, B. (1998) Recherches sur les châteaux forts islamiques au Proche-Orient: La Qalʿat Salah al-Din, DEA thesis, Université Paris IV

Michaudel, B. (2001) Le château de Saône/Qalʿat Salah al-Din, Archéologie Islamique 11: 201–206

Michaudel, B. (2002) Étude historique de Qalʿat Salāh al-Dīn (Sahyūn – Château de Saône)

Michaudel, B. (2011) Le château de Saône/Sahyûn en Syrie, creuset de l’architecture médiévale en Orient, Chronos 23: 1–39

Excavation Reports

Dangles, P. et al. (2002) Saône / Sahyoun / Qalʿat Salah ad-Din: Rapport préliminaire de la mission effectuée du 15 au 20 mai 2002 – open access

Websites

Saône at Fortresses d’Orient

Saône at castellorient.fr

Wikipedia pages

Sahyun Castle