Abu Qubays
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Abu Qubays أبو قبيس Qal'at Abu Qobeis |
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| Village | |
Skyline of Abu Qubays fortress, 2004
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 Abu Qubays
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| Coordinates: 35°14′10″N 36°18′52″E / 35.23611°N 36.31444°ECoordinates: 35°14′10″N 36°18′52″E / 35.23611°N 36.31444°E | |
| Country |
 Syria
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| Governorate | Hama |
| District | Al-Suqaylabiyah |
| Subdistrict | Tell Salhab |
| Population (2004) | |
| • Total | 758 |
Abu Qubays (Arabic: أبو قبيس also spelled Abu Qobeis, Abu Qubais or Bu Kubais; also known as Qartal) is a former medieval castle and currently an inhabited village in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the Hama Governorate, located northwest of Hama. It is situated in the al-Ghab plain, west of the Orontes River. Nearby localities include Daliyah 21 kilometers to the west,al-Laqbah to the south, Deir Shamil to the southeast, Tell Salhab to the northeast and Nahr al-Bared further northeast. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Abu Qubays had a population of 758 in the 2004 census. Its inhabitants are predominantly Alawites.
Abu Qubays was originally built by the Arabs during the Abbasid era and was further strengthened by the Byzantines in the late 10th century. The castle was round, relatively small and overlooks the Orontes River. During a second campaign against Muslim-held Syria by Byzantine emperor Basil II, Abu Qubays was burned along with a number of other fortresses in the province of Homs.
Following the Crusader conquest of the coastal Levant in 1099, the Fatimid commander Iftikhar ad-Daula left his post in Jerusalem and moved to Abu Qubays of which he became lord, along with the castles of Qadmus and al-Kahf. The rulers of Abu Qubays, namely Iftikhar and his family, maintained a high income and social stature similar to the lords from the Banu Munqidh family of the Shaizar fortress to the south. The Ismailis (then known as the "Assassins") purchased Abu Qubays, as well as Qadmus and al-Kahf, from Ibn Amrun, the local ruler of the Banu Munqidh family, in the 1130s. The Crusaders referred to it as Bokabeis. The Ismailis of Abu Qubays paid a yearly tribute to the Knights Hospitallers of Margat (Qal'at Marqab), a prominent Crusader military order, consisting of 800 gold pieces and a fixed number of bushels of barley and wheat.
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