Fortress, Shaft

Abstract

~Originally called Arshuf by the Phoenicians, Apollonia was used as a port city since the late 6th century BC, and all through the Persian, Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods. In the Early Arab period (7th-11th centuries AD) the Muslims ruled the city and fortified it with a surrounding wall. The city was conquered by the Crusaders in 1191. The fortress was constructed, beginning in 1241, at the highest point of the Tel. It is surrounded by a moat and three systems of fortifications: The outer fortification system included a retaining wall, semi-circular towers and a gate. The inner fortifications systems consisted of a 18 feet-high perimeter wall paralleling the outer fortifications systems and standing higher than them. This wall actually functioned as the outer wall of a row of rooms that surrounded the fortress courtyard. The third fortification system consisted of a ten-meter-high stronghold tower, or keep. In a spot between the Grinding Installation and the Northern Hall, there is a deep shaft that may have served as an underground water pool, or alternatively as an escape tunnel leading seawards.