Although the castle
was built in Byzantine times, most of the remains are from the Selçuk and
Ottoman period. The castle has two gates, one being a memorial gate on the
west and the other on the south. The walls were fortified with fifteen
towers. A large section of the wall has been restored.
Legend has it that
St. John wrote his gospel in one of these towers.
The hill was defended
by this well-fortified castle in the Early Christian, Byzantine, and Selçuk
periods. The part of the wall still standing is from the Early Christian
period and was restored in Selçuk times.
The main gate in the
wall was borrowed from Roman design and was built in the 6th century. Within
the castle are a chapel and numerous cisterns. This old Byzantine church was
later used as a cistern.
