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Garo Nalbandian

The finely-shaped stones, arched portals and soaring central pillar (which once supported a domed ceiling) inside one of Nimrud/Subayba’s southern towers, as well as the stout facade of the northwestern tower, were among the renovations conducted at the fort by the Mamluk sultan Baybars (1260–1277).

Nimrud/Subayba had been heavily damaged by Mongol invaders in 1260. Soon afterwards, Muslim forces led by Baybars annhilated the Mongol army at Ein Jalud, in Israel’s Jezreel Valley. Baybars awarded Nimrud/Subayba to his second-in-command, Bilik, who oversaw the fort’s extensive reconstruction.