Castles of "Syria" HAMA CASTLE vs QALAAT AL-MADIQ

Hama Castle (Arabic: قلعة حماة‎) is located in Hama, Syria, Located on the Orontes River. The location is dated back to the Seleucids. Later on, it was taken by the Romans, until it was captured by Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah. It was later controlled by the Qarmatians, Mirdasids and the Seljuks. It was devastated during the 1157 Hama earthquake. Afterwards, it was rebuilt by the Zengids and Ayyubids, before it was destroyed by the Mongols in 1258. Sultan Baibars rebuilt it again, and by the Ottoman era, it lost its strategic value and barely anything of it left. It was excavated by a Danish expedition between 1931 and 1938.

See statistics

Qalaat al-Madiq (Arabic: قلعة المضيق‎ also spelled Kal'at al-Mudik or Qal'at al-Mudiq; also known as Afamiyya or Famiyyah) is a town and medieval fortress in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the Hama Governorate, located northeast of Hama. It is situated in the al-Ghab plain, on the eastern bank of the Orontes River. Nearby localities include the district center al-Suqaylabiyah to the south, Bureij and Karnaz to the southeast, Kafr Nabudah to the east, al-Huwash to the north, Huwayjah al-Sallah and Shathah to the northwest and Al-Tuwayni and Ennab to the west. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Qalaat al-Madiq had a population of 12,925 in the 2004 census. It is the administrative center and second largest locality in the Qalaat al-Madiq nahiyah ("subdistrict") which consisted of 40 localities with a collective population of 85,597 in 2004. The town's inhabitants are predominantly Sunni Muslims. Qalaat al-Madiq is the site of the ancient city of Apamea, the ruins of which are located just east of the town. The modern fortress, after which the town was named, was built during Muslim rule in the 12th century. It is still inhabited by townspeople. The Syrian Armed Forces retook this town from rebels during the May 2019 Hama offensive.

See statistics