Palestine Exploration Fund - Quarterly Statement for 1894/A Lebanon Cliff Castle
A LEBANON CLIFF CASTLE.
By F. J. Bliss, M.A.
The River Auwaly flowing westwards from the Lebanon enters the sea about two miles north of Sidon. Some eight miles from its mouth, at Merj Bisry where the narrow bed widens into a small fertile plain, it is joined by the river of Jezzîn coming down from the south. The sides of the Jezzîn valley are in contrast, for on the west the hills are thickly wooded and less steep, while the eastern hills, though terraced and planted on their lower slopes, culminate in headlands of solid rock which round out from the cliffs like huge towers.
One of these projections is more rounded than the rest and is not unlike the first rude fashioning of the head of some gigantic statue. It is called the Castle of Fukhredeen Ma'an, from the Druze chief who held it against the Turks. Notices of this castle have appeared in Churchill, Thomson, &c., but I have not seen a full description. The approach is somewhat difficult but not at all dangerous, for a rough path steeply climbs up a break in the cliff where enough soil clings to support brambles and wild fig. We could easily understand, however, how different would have been the attempt to get up to the castle had it been held by an enemy. A natural ledge of rock runs around the centre of the headland, and this was probably what suggested the use of the place as a stronghold. The approach to the ledge from the continuation of the cliffs to the north was probably guarded by a drawbridge, for, on reaching the level of the ledge, we found a deep cut in it, about 15 feet across. The entrance was also once guarded by a tower of masonry, of which we saw the foundations. The ledge begins as a narrow groove in the face of the cliff, but further on has a width of 12 feet. Towards its southern end the rock of the cliff above projects over the ledge, beyond the precipice below, making a roof which slants upwards and outwards. The length of the ledge is about 500 feet; at first, after leaving the "drawbridge," it slants upwards but later runs quite horizontally. Where the ledge slants the edge is stepped down, as if to secure stones which may have formed an ancient parapet. In the cliff back of the ledge, opening from it, are two chambers hewn in the solid rock. In the floor of the ledge, as well as in the wall of the cliff, there are lines of small square holes, as if for beam-ends, tier upon tier, as I found at Ma'lula. This suggests that a second storey of wood was built against the cliff' above the ledge and explains several steps hewn in the cliff high above the ledge floor leading to a door hewn in the face of the cliff. These steps probably connected this chamber with the second storey. We need not suppose that such a second storey above the ledge was very substantial; it may have been constructed like the watch towers erected on stout poles in the Lebanon vineyards to-day, and floored with boards and brush. We counted five openings to chambers in this upper level, one of which was walled up with nicely-cut white stone. As these openings were in the face of the cliff some 15 feet or 20 feet above where we stood, we could not get up to examine the masonry or see whether the chambers were connected by galleries.
In the rock floor of the ledge two pear-shaped excavations had been made, large at the bottom and narrowing to a small mouth, 16 feet deep. These were evidently used for storing corn, as they are of the same shape as the Bedawin corn-pits. The one we examined was nicely plastered. Another square excavation served for a pool. Water was brought from a spring in the high land above the castle by a channel cut as a groove in the rock, lined with tiles. High up above the ledge is cut a niche in the cliff in the form of a pointed arch. There are holes as if for beam-ends in the rock at the base of the cliff. Over the cliff water-spouts project from the ledge.
The view from this lofty ledge is magnificent. A visit to the place would, I am sure, stir the romantic feeling latent in the most commonplace mind. A stranger ignorant of the history of the Lebanon would at once feel the necessity of inventing a tale of chieftains, and of sieges, and all sorts of adventure. History, however, furnishes us a tale ready made fully romantic enough to harmonise with the surroundings. The history of the Lebanon has no more picturesque figure than that of the Emir Fukhredeen Ma'an. The Ma'ans became prominent during the early part of the seventeenth century, but their ancestors, Arab Sheikhs who had lived near Aleppo from the fifth century, emigrated to the Southern Lebanon in 821. They became well established in the mountains and, early in the eleventh century, accepted the teachings of Darazi, the follower of Hakem, and thus gave origin to the Druzes. For more than seven centuries after these Arab tribes appeared in the Lebanon the over-lordship was held by the family of Tanuch. Local affairs thus continued in their hands under the dominion of Saracens, Franks, and Egyptians. Under them the feudal system which has broken down in Lebanon only within the last 30 years became perfected. After the Turkish conquest, however, the Tanuch family lost power. In 1516 Sultan Selim entered Damascus, and on his return to that city the next year, after the conquest of Egypt, the Emir Fukhredeen Ma'an I sought his protection and favour. His submission was rewarded and the Sultan invested him with the government of the mountains from Joppa to Tripoli.
From this time the Ma'ans became the ruling power. The Emir Fukhredeen II passed his youth under the care of a Maronite Sheikh, to whom he had been sent during a time of trouble. Later on we find him ruling in Lebanon and joining in a conspiracy against the Sultan. He even laid siege to Damascus and extorted a large ransom for its deliverance. An army of 50,000 men was sent against him by the Sultan. Large as was this army, it is doubtful whether it would have overcome the Emir's forces could he have had the loyal following of the other Sheikhs. But the Sultan relied upon the jealousies of the chieftains and not in vain, for the Shehaabs, a rival family, joined the Sultan and cut to pieces the Emir's forces near the Jordan. This spirit of local faction has always been characteristic of the Lebanon and has been successfully calculated upon by all who have had to rule over this people. Somewhat daunted by the defection of the Shehaabs, the Emir made a general appeal to the loyalty of the other Sheikhs, but they responded so feebly that he suddenly sailed for Europe, an undertaking so rare in those days that it shows a startling independence of character.
Great was the excitement in Pisa during the winter of 1615. One of the old palaces was occupied at the command of the Grand Duke by an Oriental, the professor of a mysterious religion. Seeing that the Grand Duke treated him with marked courtesy, the nobility, piqued perhaps by curiosity, visited him and fêted him with great honour. Reports of this extraordinary visitor reached Naples, and the King sent for him to pay a visit. So the Emir proceeded to Naples, where he was comfortably housed and given a liberal allowance. But this life of soft inaction soon palled on the warrior, who had lived a life on horseback in his wild Lebanon. The novelty for the Italians, too, wore off. The King's hospitality proved to have a distinct object, for one day the Emir was asked what force he could muster to the aid of the Italians should they attempt to land in Syria. The Emir gave an equivocal answer, with the result that his allowance was promptly curtailed.
Greater Kings, however, showed an interest in him. Two royal offers he refused with his Eastern politeness. Louis XIII offered, through the French Consul, to mediate between the Emir and the Sultan. The King of Spain sent him a letter offering him a government "better than that of Lebanon" if he would become a Christian. After five years of European life, of which he had become thoroughly sick, he received a letter from home saying that his aged mother was dangerously ill and announcing that the Pasha of Damascus had confirmed him in the government of the Lebanon. When he had with some difficulty convinced the Italians that he did not mean to use his knowledge of their country against them, he was given a passport and sailed away, landing at Acre in 1620. He was received cordially by all his former rivals, and his son, 'Ali, who had beer, ruling the Lebanon for some time, handed over the government to his father.
And now the governor of Damascus, whose tenure of power always depended on his skilful manipulation of the local chiefs, by a cordial recognition of Fukhredeen's suzerainty over the other Sheikhs secured his assistance in collecting taxes long overdue to the Sultan. This suited Fukhredeen for he was able to pay off an old score against the Safas of Tripoli while apparently doing Imperial business. He turned out to be so valuable to the Sultan as a tax-gatherer that in 1626 he received a firman naming him governor of the entire mountains from Jerusalem to Tripoli and confirming his power over the Arab tribes between Damascus and the Dead Sea. The Pasha of Damascus naturally resisted these new rights of his nominal subject but the Emir took him prisoner and soon got a proper acknowledgment of his power. In 1627, in consequence of a new firman which gave him almost royal power, permitting him to repair roads, build forts and raise taxes, he made a grand progress from Antioch to Gaza. Entering Damascus, he quite eclipsed the Pasha. For five years he ruled undisturbed, with justice and wisdom, showing great toleration to the Christians, among whom, it will be remembered, he was brought up. Under him the Franks began to return to the seacoast as traders. But the Turks having got all they could out of the Emir and fearing his glowing power, sent in 1632 an army and a fleet against him. The Lebanon lies between the sea on the west and the plain of the Beka'a on the east. With the fleet along the coast and the army on the plain, the Emir, who had lost heart at the death of his son in a skirmish with the Turks, gave up active resistance and fled with a few followers to the Cliff Castle in the Jezzîn valley, which he is said to have fortified previously, perhaps in anticipation of some such necessity. We may attribute the tower at the entrance to him and perhaps the masonry in the upper chamber, with the tiling of the water-channel, but I am inclined to think that the wall-hewn chambers were ancient excavations which he utilised. The Cliff Castle resembles in many particulars those of Ma'lula, which I described in the Quarterly Statement of April, 1890. The chambers there I am inclined to think even older than the Greek inscriptions cut in their walls.
Here for several months the Emir held out against the besiegers. With a good water supply, ample corn-places, which his prudence had doubtless filled, comfortable chambers, glorious air, and a wide look-out, the siege need not have been such an uncomfortable one. At first the besiegers kept below the cliff's but finding it impossible to scale them went around to the high ground above. Descent seemed equally impossible. Treachery, as usual, betrayed the castle. A goatherd led the Turks to the spring which furnished water to the besieged. Tradition has it that the Turks slew a number of sheep and oxen, defiling the water with the blood and entrails. The Emir, finding his water supply endangered, was let down the cliff by ropes and with his secretary and three sons sought another hiding place.
The Cliff Castle we have been describing is in the range of cliffs that crowns the eastern slope of the Jezzîn valley. Below the cliffs the ground slopes somewhat irregularly westwards, until it comes to an edge at the top of another range of cliffs towering above the stream-bed, not unlike the higher range. Between the base of these cliffs and the stream-bed there is a steep slope, strewn with rocky fragments fallen from the cliff above. In the face of the cliff some 30 feet above its base is the mouth of a cave, inaccessible from below, as the cliff projects out so as to overhang the slope. Square holes cut in the face of the cliff from the cave-mouth to the top suggest that it was once approached from above by a ladder set up against beams projecting from these holes. In time of danger the ladder might have been pulled down into the cave. I have not yet visited this cave, and am indebted for a description of it to the Rev. William K. Eddy, of Sidon. He says that the cave is not wide but that it is very deep, extending quite 200 feet back into the mountain. Water trickles from the rock of the cave and is collected in cisterns hewn in the floor.
To this apparently inaccessible den the Emir escaped. Treachery probably put the Turks on his track. Unable to approach the mouth of the cave they determined to mine down into it, and a square cutting in the top of the rock above still witnesses to their attempts. More successful were their mining operations from below. Fukhredeen was one day quietly smoking his water-pipe, seated on a carpet on the floor of his cave, when suddenly a soldier's head appeared! We must suppose that his nonchalance was dramatically assumed, for he could hardly have been unaware of the mining under his feet. Through this hole made by the Turks over 250 years ago the cave may be approached to-day.
The Emir was taken on board the fleet and conducted to Constantinople; for three years he was permitted to live in domestic retirement on a liberal allowance, but in 1635 in revenge for some deed committed by one of his sons against the Turks he was executed. If the reader cares to follow the career of this illustrious man more fully, I refer him to the second volume of Churchill's "Mount Lebanon."