Rumkale Archaeological Site

Rumkale stands in the Yavuzeli district of Gaziantep, on steep cliffs at the point where the Merzimen stream joins the Euphrates. Because the dam lake now surrounds it on three sides, the fortress looks like a peninsula.

Since antiquity it has been known by many names, among them Şitamrat, Kal-a Rhomayta, Hromklay, Ranculat, Kal-at el Rum, Kal-at el Müslimin and Kale-i Zerrin, the Golden Castle. It was also once the seat of the Armenian Catholicos, which explains the Armenian name Hromkla.

The castle has two rings of defence. The first is a natural wall made by cutting the rock vertically on the east, north and west. The second is a wall of hard limestone blocks built on top of it, with seven rectangular towers on the north and east sides and many loopholes on the north. In the twelfth century the rocky spur to the south was carved into a moat, cutting the fortress off from the land.