Qale- Soleyman (Solomon) of Jiroft and its Function

Soleyman Castle is mentioned in written sources of the Islamic era and is very important in the modern culture of the people of Halilrud. due to this importance, false stories and information about this castle have been formed among the people of the region. Therefore, research on Soleyman Castle and its function will lead to a revision of the views that have already been presented without scientific evidence and reasons.
In this article, an attempt has been made to discuss a historical monument, while analyzing this important work, to examine a corner of the dark corners of the region's history. This article, which is a monograph on Suleyman Castle, consists of two general sections; In the first part, this important castle is described and in the second part, historical texts are examined. Although they only mention the name of this castle, they are very important because they have hidden points that without them, it will not be possible to understand exactly what this monument is.

This research is basic research in terms of the nature of research and historical in terms of the type of research. The information of this article is collected by field and library methods and the method of using the data is descriptive-analytical. In this article, first, the appearance of the castle is discussed and elements such as the topographic features of the mountain on which the castle is located, architectural works, etc. are described and spatially analyzed. Then, the data of historical texts are analyzed.

Location
Soleyman Castle is located in the southwest of Jiroft, on top of a single mountain of the same name, at the southern end of the western mountain range of Jiroft called Mata, and can only be reached from a difficult route. Despite the low height of this mountain compared to the northern peaks of the Bahr-e-Asman mountain range, it has a complete view and control over the Jiroft plain, and this mountain itself can be seen from very far distances and from four directions.There is only one way to reach the surface of Solomon Castle from the northeast (Photo 4) and access to this castle from other directions is impossible. Mount Solomon's Castle minus the north side, which has a relatively gentle slope, can be likened to a rectangular cube, of course, on two floors with a sloping head. The height of the mountain from the ground level to the second level floor is approximately 150 meters and from the second level floor to the highest part of the mountain is estimated at about 110 meters (Photo 6). In fact, it seems that the most important part of the castle is the strip that exists in the eastern part of the mountain. There is no other structure on the surface of this strip except 12 water storage ponds. Access to the mountain level on which the castle is built is possible only from one point and one route. To do this, you have to walk the entire eastern side of the mountain - which is about 550 meters - around the southern end of the mountain and reach a very narrow gap in the mountain wall.Contrary to expectations, the surface of the castle is very steep and has a very steep slope to the east. At this level, no other construction can be seen except for two artificial and man-made features, one at the southern end and the other near the northern end, including three reservoirs. Photo 16 shows the position of these three structures relative to each other and at the castle level.
Text review: In the texts, this fort is mentioned in two periods of time, first in the events related to the late Seljuk dynasty of Kerman and second in the period of Al-Muzaffar. The first reference is made in the book Bada'i al-Azman by Afzal following the events of 570 AH. At this time, one of the elders of the Seljuk court [named Amir Mukhlis al-Din Massoud] was angered and sent to Soleyman castle for imprisonment (Afzal Addin Kermani, 1948, p. 57. Mirzā Mohammad Ebrahim Khabisi, 2008, p. 456-458).There are several important points in this reference: First, the castle was state-owned and administered by the government, at least during the Seljuk period. Second probably one of its main uses was prison, sending political prisoners or important prisoners there. The second period is related to the time of Al-Muzaffar and during this time, Suleiman's castle was famous for its invincibility and greatness (Moinuddin Yazdi, 1948, p. 176). During this period, there were clashes between the rulers of Al-Muzaffar and the Mongol tribes of Oghan and Jerma, known as the Hazareh of the Mongol tribes (for these two tribes, see Hafez Abru, 2001, p. 193) - who fled to this fort and took refuge in it. It took place (Kotobi, 1986, p. 53; Moinuddin Yazdi, 1947, pp. 187-188; Hafez Abro, 2001, pp. 194-195).

Analysis

Depending on the location, accessibility, distance from main routes, distance from settlements and villages, distance from water resources and the shape and plan of the castle and its spatial facilities. It is not with a defensive function or control of the path, but according to the authors, it is a work that was developed in a certain period, probably during the Seljuk period, with a specific purpose, but later different groups used it with different purposes. Of course, it is quite acceptable that other groups have known and used it under any name before this date, but there is no convincing textual evidence and archaeological evidence to prove this hypothesis. There are many mountain castles in different parts of Iran that are very similar to Suleiman Castle in terms of various conditions such as distance from settlements and large population centers, difficulty of access, topographic features, etc., which was used as a prison according to historical texts. They will be useful, including Qahqaheh Castle in Ardabil and Alamut Castle in Qazvin, Istkhar Castle in Fars and Olonjoq Castle in Marand. Alamut Castle apparently served as a prison in pre- and post-Ismaili periods.

Soleyman Castle is one of the most famous mountain castles in Jiroft and south of Kerman, which is an invincible natural fortress due to its special shape, location and location on a single all-rock mountain. But this castle has features such as location, shape, plan, distance from the road and large settlements, water supply and lack of vast space facilities that make it unused for a long time and can only be provided if food and water are provided. The required time spent in it means that if the castle is besieged by the enemy, the besieged will not last long.
Although cultural materials are slightly scattered on the surface of Soleyman Castle, but due to the similarity of its pottery pieces with the examples of Sadr Islam to the Middle Ages in the old city of Jiroft and also based on historical sources, three historical periods can be considered for this castle: The period before the Seljuks, the period of the Seljuks and the periods after that. Although the oldest evidence of the use of this castle dates back to the first centuries AH, but its use in earlier and even pre-Islamic periods due to its natural features is quite possible, but it can not be considered its use. In the Seljuk period, according to a very important reference to the text of Badāye' al-Azman written by Afzal al-Din Kermani, this fort had a governmental function and was probably a prison or at least a prison of certain people whose natural characteristics of the monumental confirm such a use. Comparing this castle with several castles in different regions of Iran, such as Alamot, Qahqahe, Istakhr and Olonjok castles, which are comparable to Soleyman Castle in different ways and have been used as prisons based on the texts, strengthens such an assumption. The third period after the extinction of the Seljuks includes this period in which the castle seems to have been abandoned and lost its former use and was used only by various groups that generally fought with the central government (in Kerman). Considering all the features that have been enumerated, Soleyman Castle has never been a military, defensive, orWith the function of controlling important communication roads.