Shmemis Castle

Shmemis Castle

Shmemis Castle or Qalaat ash-Shmemis, is a castle located northwest of Salamiyah in Hama Governorate, Syria. It was first built, on top of an extinct volcano, in the 1st century BC by Sampsiceramus I, the first Priest King of the Royal family of Emesa (ruling Roman client dynasty). It was later destroyed by the Persian king Khosrau II in 613 AD, and rebuilt in AD 1229 by Assad ud-Din Shirkoh, an Ayyubid governor of Homs.