Keçi Castle

Keçi Castle, locally known as Keçi Kalesi, lies north of the town of Gerede, in the province of Bolu in Turkey.

Several sources state that the castle dates back to the Bithynian period. Bithynia, however, was a Hellenistic kingdom that originated in the 4th century BC and was bequeathed to the Roman Empire in 74 BC after which it became the Roman province Bithynia et Pontus. In the 4th century that province became part of the Byzantine Empire. And only in the 7th century the name Bithynia fell out of use as the area was incorporated in the Opsikion Theme (a theme was a Byzantine district).

I was not able to find out which exact period these sources were referring to, but to me the castle looked medieval and so probably a Byzantine construction. When the 16th-century Ottoman explorer Evliya Çelebi visited the town of Gerede, he mentioned a military base. That base may have been Keçi Castle.

It was built in the Arkut Mountains, probably as the fortification of the ancient city of Cratia (present-day Gerede), where the inhabitants could find refuge in times of danger. It has a somewhat rectangular ground plan with square and D-shaped towers in the curtain walls. There is an almost square inner castle, attached to the north wall.

The Turkish name Keçi Kalesi translates back to Goat Castle. As with other castles with this name in Turkey; there is a tale about a siege where goats with candles secured to their horns played a part. In this particular tale the defenders were Greek/Roman and the attackers were Turkish, and the goats were sent down the hill by the defenders to scare off the attackers.

The ruin of Keçi Castle was restored in 1993 to its present appearance. Its interior is empty, save for the remains of a couple of small cisterns.

Keçi Castle is freely accessible via a dirt road. The castle is nicely located on a forested mountain and offers a wide view over the plain below, of which I couldn't see much because of an approaching thunderstorm.

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