The short answer is the Ayyubid Sultan al-Adil, at the beginning of the 13th century of the Common Era. Pretty much all sources concur that the credit in constructing the massive fortress still proudly occupying the northwest corner of the Old City as of today goes to this prince.
Far more controversial is to the existence of previous structure(s) standing at the same spot. Was there an older set of fortifications in this "oldest of all cities"? if so, how old?
Three phases in the history of this monument were proposed by the German orientalists Wulzinger and Watzinger all the way back in 1924 as follows:
1. A Byzantine fortress that had presumably replaced an older Roman Castrum and remained in use until the Ayyubid age.
2. The above-mentioned Ayyubid citadel, restored during the reign of the early Mameluke as amply documented by inscriptions citing the names of al-Adil, Baybars, Qalwun, and others.
3. The same edifice undergoing renovations towards the end of the Mameluke age.
In reality, there exists no convincing evidence of the Citadel or any similar construction in that location prior to the Seljuk age. Though no less an authority than Jean Sauvaget subscribed to the castrum hypothesis, there has been to date nothing to support this presumption archaeologically or in historical records. Doubtless the bastion hosts no inconsiderable quantity of recycled Roman vestiges but those are in all likelihood spolia from the ancient Temple of Jupiter, specifically its peribolos.
With the Turkish adventurer Atsiz ibn Uvaq (died circa 1079) and the Seljuk Tutush (emir of Damascus who died 1095), The real history of the Citadel starts as the city's most formidable bulwark and the residence of its ruler. Records are consistent in precising that the Atabeg Nureddin Zengi died and was buried in the Citadel prior to transferring his earthly remains to the mausoleum in the funerary school erected for that prupose, a pattern that was repeated after the death of the illustrious Saladin, founder of the Ayyubid dynasty.
Photos early 1980's or prior courtesy of Michael Meinecke.
Cathcart King. The Defences of the Citadel of Damascus; a Great Mohammedan Fortress of the Time of the Crusades. Archaeologia, Volume 94 1951 , pp. 57-96.
Citadelle de Damas.
Jean Sauvaget. La Citadelle de Damas I.
Jean Sauvaget. La Citadelle de Damas II.
Karl Wulzinger & Carl Watzinger. Damaskus, die Islamische Stadt. Walter de Gruyter 1924.
Far more controversial is to the existence of previous structure(s) standing at the same spot. Was there an older set of fortifications in this "oldest of all cities"? if so, how old?
Three phases in the history of this monument were proposed by the German orientalists Wulzinger and Watzinger all the way back in 1924 as follows:
1. A Byzantine fortress that had presumably replaced an older Roman Castrum and remained in use until the Ayyubid age.
2. The above-mentioned Ayyubid citadel, restored during the reign of the early Mameluke as amply documented by inscriptions citing the names of al-Adil, Baybars, Qalwun, and others.
3. The same edifice undergoing renovations towards the end of the Mameluke age.
In reality, there exists no convincing evidence of the Citadel or any similar construction in that location prior to the Seljuk age. Though no less an authority than Jean Sauvaget subscribed to the castrum hypothesis, there has been to date nothing to support this presumption archaeologically or in historical records. Doubtless the bastion hosts no inconsiderable quantity of recycled Roman vestiges but those are in all likelihood spolia from the ancient Temple of Jupiter, specifically its peribolos.
With the Turkish adventurer Atsiz ibn Uvaq (died circa 1079) and the Seljuk Tutush (emir of Damascus who died 1095), The real history of the Citadel starts as the city's most formidable bulwark and the residence of its ruler. Records are consistent in precising that the Atabeg Nureddin Zengi died and was buried in the Citadel prior to transferring his earthly remains to the mausoleum in the funerary school erected for that prupose, a pattern that was repeated after the death of the illustrious Saladin, founder of the Ayyubid dynasty.
Photos early 1980's or prior courtesy of Michael Meinecke.
Cathcart King. The Defences of the Citadel of Damascus; a Great Mohammedan Fortress of the Time of the Crusades. Archaeologia, Volume 94 1951 , pp. 57-96.
Citadelle de Damas.
Jean Sauvaget. La Citadelle de Damas I.
Jean Sauvaget. La Citadelle de Damas II.
Karl Wulzinger & Carl Watzinger. Damaskus, die Islamische Stadt. Walter de Gruyter 1924.
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