Hasankeyf preserved an Ayyubid principality after the loss of Egypt and Syria. Its rulers supported buildings and libraries; the principality’s fall and later local family rule require separate chronologies.

Vaulted prayer hall of the Er-Rizk Mosque with turquoise-painted lower walls, carpets, a wooden pulpit and ceiling fans
Interior of the Er-Rizk Mosque at Hasankeyf, photographed by Dosseman on 20 September 2005, CC BY-SA 4.0. The view predates the reservoir-related relocation works and includes modern paint and fittings. [6] Photo: Dosseman / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0.

A fortress-town became an Ayyubid seat

Hasankeyf, medieval Hisn Kayfa, controlled a crossing of the Tigris. Its Artuqid rulers had developed the town and built the great bridge before Ayyubid rule. Yusuf Oğuzoğlu records al-Kamil’s conquest in 1232 and his assignment of the town to his son al-Salih. [1] The Ayyubids thus inherited an existing urban centre, rather than founding an empty fortress. Distinguishing the Artuqid and Ayyubid phases helps identify which rulers commissioned particular works.

A regional principality under larger powers

Yusuf Baluken’s doctoral research defines the main principality’s political history as 1232–1462. Its reach included Siirt, Erzen and Hazzo, and its rulers initially operated under Ilkhanid influence while maintaining relations with the Egyptian Mamluks. Baluken also points to coins struck in their own names as evidence of dynastic legitimacy. [2] These relationships show that local hereditary government could coexist with the authority of a larger regional power. Survival after the loss of Ayyubid Egypt and Syria did not mean isolation from surrounding politics.

Why 1462 and 1524 answer different questions

Baluken dates the end of the principality to its conquest by Uzun Hasan in 1462. [2] Later local family government belongs to a further chapter. Oğuzoğlu describes Melik Halil in the Safavid period. [1] Abdurrezzak Çelik’s regional history follows the disputes among Halil’s successors and dates Melik Süleyman’s surrender of the keys of Hasankeyf, Siirt and associated fortresses to the Ottoman governor Hüsrev Pasha to 1524 (p.32). [3] The two dates should therefore not be presented as competing estimates for one identical event, or as evidence for uninterrupted independent rule.

Books, copying and courtly learning

Baluken’s 2025 research reconstructs al-Malik al-Adil Suleyman’s library using surviving manuscripts and ownership records. He describes the acquisition and copying of books, paid library staff and collections extending beyond religious subjects. One particularly concrete example is Suleyman’s own copy of Ibn Shaddad’s historical geography in 1387, now identified as Bodleian manuscript Marsh 333. Other surviving volumes concern literature, ethics and medicine. [4] Such traces make scholarly patronage tangible: it involved acquiring particular texts, employing skilled workers and circulating books between cities.

Mosques, endowments and dynastic layers

Oğuzoğlu connects the Er-Rizk Mosque’s minaret inscription with Sultan Suleyman and the year 1409. He also describes endowments supporting repairs to the bridge and fortress, teaching institutions and assistance for poor people and prisoners. [1] These revenues sustained urban services as well as rulers’ commemorative projects. The tiled Zeynel Bey tomb belongs to the Aq Qoyunlu phase, not an Ayyubid commission. Sevgi and Yılmaz distinguish these different building periods in their architectural conservation study. [5]

Reading the monuments after relocation

The Ilısu reservoir changed how these remains can be encountered. Sevgi and Yılmaz document several conservation methods, including protection in place, dismantling and reassembly, moving stabilised blocks and transporting whole structures. For Er-Rizk, the minaret was dismantled and rebuilt, while other portions were moved by different methods. [5] Describing every monument as simply lifted intact, or every part as submerged, erases these differences. The 2005 interior photograph records one earlier setting; surviving manuscripts provide a different kind of evidence for the city’s medieval life.

Sources and further reading

  1. Yusuf Oğuzoğlu, Hasankeyf, TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi 16 (1997), pp.364–368: conquest, inscriptions and endowments.
  2. Yusuf Baluken, Hasankeyf Eyyûbîleri, doctoral thesis (2016), author’s university abstract:1232–1462, regional reach, coins and external relations.
  3. Abdurrezzak Çelik, Tanzimattan Cumhuriyete Siirt (Siirt,2019), p.32: local succession and surrender of fortresses in 1524.
  4. Yusuf Baluken, Eyyûbîler Devrinde Hükümdar Kütüphaneleri ve Hasankeyf Eyyûbî Hükümdarı el-Melikü’l-Âdil Süleymân’ın Kütüphanesi, Bingöl Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi 29 (2025), pp.120–141, especially 126–131.
  5. Serap Sevgi and Mesut Yılmaz, Hasankeyf’te Baraj Gölü Alanında Kalan Taşınmaz Kültür Varlıklarını Koruma ve Kurtarma (Taşıma) Yaklaşımı ve Metotları, Vakıflar Dergisi 57 (2022), pp.177–202.
  6. Dosseman, Er-Rizk Mosque interior,20 September 2005, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.