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The Lion from Nimrod Castle
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Qal`at Nimrud, or Nimrod's Castle, is a large, sprawling building on a narrow spur overlooking the remains of Crusader Banyas. The reason for the association with the biblical hero Nimrod (Genesis 10:8-10) is unclear. The castle played an important role in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, during the power struggle between the Crusaders and the Muslim Kingdom of Damascus. Only archeological excavations will settle the scholarly dispute as to whether "Nimrod's Castle" was built and used by the Crusaders in the twelfth century to defend their city of Banyas, and only then taken over by the Muslims; or whether the builders were the thirteenth-century Muslim rulers of the region, whose presence is attested by stone-carved building inscriptions set at various points in the walls.