Arwad Island and Fortress
جزيرة أرواد وقلعتها
Syria's only inhabited island off Tartus, once an independent Phoenician kingdom, with a fortress and ancient sea walls.
About three kilometres off Tartus lies Arwad, Syria's only inhabited island, reached by a short boat ride. It can be reached by a short boat trip; a crowded little town of lanes and harbours, it lives from fishing, boatbuilding and tourism.
In the first millennium BC it was Aradus, an independent Phoenician city famed for its fleet and trade, controlling parts of the facing coast including Amrit. Remains of its ancient sea walls, of enormous stone blocks, line the shore.
Arwad has been inhabited since at least the 3rd millennium BC and is mentioned in the archives of Ebla and Alalakh; the Phoenicians settled it in the early 2nd millennium BC. A barren rock about 800 by 500 metres, covered with fortifications and multi-storey houses and ringed by a massive wall, it had an artificial harbour on its landward side, a powerful navy, its own coinage and kings, and a hegemony over neighbouring Phoenician cities such as Marat (Amrit) and Sumur. When Alexander the Great invaded Syria in 332 BC its king Gerostratus and his son Straton submitted to him.
The Crusaders used the island, and it was the Templars' last foothold in the Levant until 1302. A stone fortress in the centre, rebuilt in Ayyubid and Ottoman times, has a courtyard and towers and was later used as a small museum.
Note: photos may not reflect the site's current condition.
For the visitor
Location: 34.8565, 35.8577 · Open on the map
Photos: NASA — via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
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