Keçikalesi Castle

Keçikalesi Castle, locally known as just Keçikalesi, lies on a mountain next to the village of the same name, in the province of Niğde in Turkey.

The mountain, also called Keçikalesi, on which the castle is situated is actually a very old volcano summit, situated on the southwestern slopes of the Hasan Dağı (Mount Hasan), itself also an old volcano. The Keçikalesi mountain is about 1,700 meters high.

The Hasan Dağı is often identified as the mountain called Mount Argaios by the Byzantines. A fortification on this mountain served as the 2nd beacon in the Byzantine beacon system. Keçikalesi Castle is most likely that fortification.

The beacons formed a semaphore system of 9 beacons, installed during the 9th century by the Byzantine Empire in order to transmit messages from the border with the Abbasid Caliphate across Asia Minor to the Byzantine capital, Constantinople. The line of beacons started at the former Byzantine fortress of Loulon, which was situated on a mountain to the southeast, on the northern exit of the Cilician Gates, a mountain pass through the Taurus Mountains. Based on modern experiments, a message could be transmitted the entire length of the beacon system within an hour.

I was not able to find any historical information about Keçikalesi Castle, other than that it is called a Byzantine fortress. If you know anything, please let me know.

What remains of the castle today is the circuit wall, which follows the shape of the summit. Inside I could not find any remains of other structures.

Keçikalesi Castle is freely accessible. You can drive almost up to the castle over a long dirt road coming from the village. A great castle ruin offering spectacular views over the surrounding area.

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