Jordan's Ajlun Castle

Following "lockdown" orders from the city/county for COVID-19 means I've got plenty of time on my hands to finish posting the rest of our February trip to Egypt and Jordan. Today I'm sharing our excursion to Ajlun Castle, which we visited after touring Jerash that morning.

Set atop the green hills of Gilead, Ajlun Castle is one of the great examples of Islamic Ayyubid military architecture in Jordan. Famous Muslim leader Saladin ordered construction of the castle high atop a hill in the 12th century AD around the time the Crusades ended. It was later enlarged by the Mamluks in the 13th century. Archaeological digs discovered that the castle was built atop the remains of a monastery from the Byzantine* period. 

 *In 330 AD, Roman Emperor Constantine chose Byzantium as the site of a "New Rome" and named the capital city Constantinople after himself. Five years earlier, the Council of Nicaea established Christianity - initially considered an obscure Jewish sect - as Rome's official religion. The citizens of Constantinople and the rest of the eastern Roman empire identified strongly as both Romans and Christians.

The castle was partially rebuilt after Mongol attacks later in the 13th century. The 52' wide moat is empty now, but you can still see the original arrow slits built into the walls to help fend off attacks. Plus we saw a collection of old stone cannonballs inside one of the rooms in the fort.

Serving utilitarian purposes since it was a fort, there were few decorative touches. The mosaic floor below is thought to have been a little chapel area where Christians were allowed to worship.

The view from the top was quite commanding, and easy to see why they chose this strategic site for construction. On a clear day, you can see to Syria, Lebanon and Israel.

From the Ottoman period forward, the castle contained only small contingents of soldiers. Two destructive earthquakes occurred in the 18th and 19th centuries, causing the damage still seen today. However, the castle has been sufficiently restored for tourist traffic.

The most puzzling thing I saw at the castle was this carved coffin just sitting out on a section of the entrance steps. There was no placard to explain anything about it. It was as if it had just randomly dropped out of the sky. I couldn't help but wonder if it was buried there when the site was still a Christian monastery and discovered in one of the archaeological digs.