- Built by
- Al-Malik al-Zahir Ghazi, son of Saladin
- Script
- Naskh, in a band above the gate
- The work
- 605–612 AH
- In the common era
- 1208–1215
- Inscriptions recorded
- At least three of al-Zahir's reign
Above the entrance runs a carved band of Arabic. It is the most valuable object on the site, because it is the one thing here that does not need to be dated by anybody: it dates itself.
Read out, it says that the work was renewed in the reign of al-Malik al-Zahir over a period beginning in the year 605 and ending in the year 612 — that is, between 1208 and 1215 in the common era. Al-Zahir Ghazi was Saladin's son and ruled Aleppo from 1186 until 1216.
«تجدّدت في دولة مولانا السلطان الملك الظاهر لمدة أوّلها بسنة خمس وستمئة وآخرها سنة اثنتي عشرة وستمئة»
So the castle you are looking at is not a vague medieval fortress. It is a seven-year building programme with a start date, a finish date and a named patron, carved into the front of the building by the people who did it.
At least three inscriptions from al-Zahir's reign, and possibly a fourth, have been recorded at Qal'at Najm.