The Mamluk Passegeway
In 1297-98 the Mamluk Sultan Husam Al-Deen Lajin undertook massive fortification works in Shobak, constructing towers and ramparts in defence of the north area of the citadel, where the Palace was located.
This passageway, placed between the inner and the outer castle walls, provided access to a series of small towers, built during Crusader and Ayyubid periods and later incorporated into a single bastion.
The powerful external masonry in large drafted-margin ashlars was probably built by masters sent from Cairo, where Al-Lajin resided.
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Archaeologists have reconstructed the evolution of the castle over time by analyzing the sequence of construction phases and identifying the building techniques characteristic of each historical period.
Fur further details:
- Nucciotti, Michele. “Analisi stratigrafiche degli elevati: primi risultati.” In Archeologia dell’insediamento crociato-ayyubide in Transgiordania. Il progetto Shawbak, edited by Guido Vannini, 27-55. Firenze: All’Insegna del Giglio, 2007.
- Walker, Bethany, and Francesca Dotti, Michele Nucciotti. “Shawbak and the mamluk Transjordan.” In Da Petra a Shawbak. Archeologia di una frontiera. Catalogo della Mostra, edited by Guido Vannini, and Michele Nucciotti, 126-131. Firenze: Giunti, 2009.
- Fragai, Lorenzo. New research perspectives on the Mamluk Qa'a at Kerark Castle: building archaeology and historical contextualization. Journal of Islamic Archaeology, 6(2): 187-208.
It is possible that the counterweights for the siege engine known as a trabuchium, now on display in the Castle Museum, may have originally come from this bastion.
To learn more, including details on the siege techniques used during the medieval period:
- Vanni Desideri, Andrea. “Notes on Two Manjanīq Counterweights from Mamluk Shawbak.” Mamlūk Studies Review 22 (2019): 23-48.
- Chevedden, Paul E.. “The Invention of the Counterweight Trebuchet: A Study in Cultural Diffusion.” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 54 (2000): 71-116.
Last update
14.04.2025