Guarding the Holy Land

Nimrud is the largest and most perfectly preserved Crusader-period fortress in Palestine. It sits on the southern slopes of Mount Hermon, in present-day northern Israel, on a north-south ridge of a deep gorge. H.H. Kitchener (1850–1916)—a British engineer who conducted an archaeological survey in Palestine in the mid-1870s and later became the proconsul in Egypt—described it as “the finest ruined castle … in the country.”1 In 018medieval times it was known as Qalat al-Subayba, and scholars still refer to it as Subayba, but it is far better known as Qalat Nimrud. Until a few years ago, it was […]