Loulon
Loulon (
.The site was of strategic importance as it controlled the northern exit of the
Arab Caliphate and played a prominent role in the Arab–Byzantine wars
of the period, changing hands several times.
Location
The Scottish scholar
History
Loulon appears to have been settled by the citizens of the nearby town of
Asia Minor.[4][5] Ramsay and other writers assumed that the medieval name "Loulon" reflected the earlier name of Faustinopolis, but recent scholarship attributes its origin to the Hittite name "Lolas" for the local mountain range.[6]
Loulon was one of many other similar forts on both sides of the
Antitaurus range, along which the frontier between Byzantium and the Caliphate ran,[7] but was of particular importance during the long Arab–Byzantine wars as it controlled the northern exit of the Cilician Gates and the main road linking the Byzantine town of Tyana with the Arab-held town of Tarsus in Cilicia.[8] In addition, it served to guard the mines of the area, which were exploited for the minting of coins and the production of weapons.[3] Among Byzantine writers, Loulon was particularly notable as the southernmost of a line of nine beacons that stretched across Asia Minor and relayed messages from the frontier to Constantinople. The system was devised by Leo the Mathematician under Emperor Theophilos (reigned 829–842): two identical clocks were installed on Loulon and the lighthouse of the Great Palace of Constantinople, and messages sent on each of the twelve hours corresponded to a specific message. The Byzantine sources report that Michael III (r. 842–867) discontinued the system for a frivolous reason, but this is likely a tale invented to denigrate him by later writers, sympathetic to the succeeding Macedonian dynasty.[1][9] Arab authors knew the fortress as Lu'lu'a, but it is also identified by modern researchers with the Arabic sources' Hisn al-Saqaliba, the "Fortress of the Slavs", possibly in reference to a garrison of Slavs—often defectors from Byzantine ranks—installed there by the Caliphs.[10]
According to the Arab historians, Loulon was captured by the
Seljuk Turks.[11]
Between 1216 and 1218, Seljuk sultan
The fortress played a role in the conflicts between the
Mamluks of Egypt in the late 15th century, when the frontier between the two empires ran along the Taurus Mountains, paralleling the old Arab–Byzantine border: Lu'lu'a served as the advanced Ottoman outpost, and the fortress of Gülek served as the advanced Mamluk outpost on the other side of the border.[19]
References
- ^ a b Hild 1977, p. 53.
- ^ Ramsay 2010, pp. 351–353.
- ^ a b Brubaker & Haldon 2011, p. 555.
- ^ Hild 1977, p. 52.
- ^ Ramsay 2010, p. 353.
- ^ Hild 1977, p. 54.
- ^ Brubaker & Haldon 2011, pp. 554–555.
- ^ Ramsay 2010, pp. 351–352.
- ^ Toynbee 1973, pp. 299–300.
- ^ Ramsay 2010, pp. 351, 353–354.
- ^ a b c Ramsay 2010, p. 354.
- ^ Brooks 1923, p. 128.
- ^ Bury 1912, pp. 254, 474–477.
- ^ Brooks 1923, p. 133.
- ^ Bury 1912, pp. 279–281.
- ^ Toynbee 1973, p. 114 (note 2).
- ^ Cahen 1968, p. 123.
- ^ Diler & Hinrichs 2009, pp. 1087–1089.
- ^ Har-El 1995, pp. 50, 213.
Sources
- Brooks, E. W. (1923). "Chapter V. (A) The Struggle with the Saracens (717–867)". The Cambridge Medieval History, Vol. IV: The Eastern Roman Empire (717–1453). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 119–138.
- Brubaker, Leslie; Haldon, John (2011). Byzantium in the Iconoclast Era, c.680–850: A History. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-43093-7.
- Bury, John Bagnell (1912). A History of the Eastern Roman Empire from the Fall of Irene to the Accession of Basil I (A.D. 802–867). London: Macmillan and Co.
- ISBN 1-59740-456-X.
- ISBN 978-975-8428-18-2.
- Har-El, Shai (1995). Struggle for Domination in the Middle East: The Ottoman-Mamluk War, 1485-91. Leiden, New York, Köln: BRILL. ISBN 90-04-10180-2.
- Hild, Friedrich (1977). Das byzantinische Strassensystem in Kappadokien (in German). Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. ISBN 3-7001-0168-6.
- ISBN 978-1-108-01453-3.
- ISBN 0-19-215253-X.
