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These are the medieval defenses of Korykos (mod. Kizkalesi) located on the south-eastern coast of historic Cilicia in modern Turkey. In the background, you can see the ‘sea castle’ that guarded the entrance to the city’s harbour while on the first plan there is the so called ‘sea gate’ of the much larger ‘land castle’ which allowed smaller vessels to enter directly to the fortified palace. Parts of the preserved fortifications, particularly the tall, rectangular towers of the sea castle, are Byzantine and date from after 1099 when Korykos was recaptured from the Turks by the army of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos who ordered one of his officers, a eunuch named Eustathius, to fortify it so that it can be used to counter the crusader forces and expand the imperial authority in the region. At first, a strong Byzantine garrison was stationed in the castle under the command of strategos Strabo. However, as Byzantine authority weakened, Korykos was seized by the Armenians and for more than two centuries it became one of the major strongholds of the medieval kingdom of Cilicia.

The Armenian rulers of Korykos, for example Vahram, Oshin or Grigoris, were one of the wealthiest and most powerful lords of the kingdom and played important roles in the regional diplomacy, arranging commercial deals with Venice or Genoa and strengthening alliances between Cilicia, Cyprus and the Hospitaller knights of St. John who were given the nearby castle of Silifke. Under Armenian patronage, Korykos grew to become one of the best fortified harbours in the region; Armenians modified the castle’s defenses, added new walls and semi-circular towers and embellished them with inscriptions in Armenian and carvings of crosses (some of which are still preserved). With its mixed, Frankish, Italian, Greek and Armenian population, Korykos was a bustling harbour that resisted Muslim attacks for longer than any other Christian outpost in the mainland Levant. When the power of the Armenian kingdom waned under Egyptian pressure, in 1360 the inhabitants of Korykos turned to King Peter of Cyprus who sent his knights and mercenaries to defend them. Cypriot forces were successful for a time and Korykos remained an isolated Christian outpost until the end of the middle ages when, in 1448, it was finally captured by the Turks. Today, its impressive walls and ruins of churches and chapels with traces of colorful frescoes are a vivid testimony to the power of the Armenian Kingdom and its strong contacts with Western Europe. To me, they serve as a powerful reminder that crusader states were not the only Christian realms in medieval Levant and that crusader warfare in the region, was also part of the Armenian struggle for survival.

Description

These are the medieval defenses of Korykos (mod. Kizkalesi) located on the south-eastern coast of historic Cilicia in modern Turkey. In the background, you can see the ‘sea castle’ that guarded the entrance to the city’s harbour while on the first plan there is the so called ‘sea gate’ of the much larger ‘land castle’ which allowed smaller vessels to enter directly to the fortified palace. Parts of the preserved fortifications, particularly the tall, rectangular towers of the sea castle, are Byzantine and date from after 1099 when Korykos was recaptured from the Turks by the army of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos who ordered one of his officers, a eunuch named Eustathius, to fortify it so that it can be used to counter the crusader forces and expand the imperial authority in the region. At first, a strong Byzantine garrison was stationed in the castle under the command of strategos Strabo. However, as Byzantine authority weakened, Korykos was seized by the Armenians and for more than two centuries it became one of the major strongholds of the medieval kingdom of Cilicia.

The Armenian rulers of Korykos, for example Vahram, Oshin or Grigoris, were one of the wealthiest and most powerful lords of the kingdom and played important roles in the regional diplomacy, arranging commercial deals with Venice or Genoa and strengthening alliances between Cilicia, Cyprus and the Hospitaller knights of St. John who were given the nearby castle of Silifke. Under Armenian patronage, Korykos grew to become one of the best fortified harbours in the region; Armenians modified the castle’s defenses, added new walls and semi-circular towers and embellished them with inscriptions in Armenian and carvings of crosses (some of which are still preserved). With its mixed, Frankish, Italian, Greek and Armenian population, Korykos was a bustling harbour that resisted Muslim attacks for longer than any other Christian outpost in the mainland Levant. When the power of the Armenian kingdom waned under Egyptian pressure, in 1360 the inhabitants of Korykos turned to King Peter of Cyprus who sent his knights and mercenaries to defend them. Cypriot forces were successful for a time and Korykos remained an isolated Christian outpost until the end of the middle ages when, in 1448, it was finally captured by the Turks. Today, its impressive walls and ruins of churches and chapels with traces of colorful frescoes are a vivid testimony to the power of the Armenian Kingdom and its strong contacts with Western Europe. To me, they serve as a powerful reminder that crusader states were not the only Christian realms in medieval Levant and that crusader warfare in the region, was also part of the Armenian struggle for survival.