Talk:Castle of Smar Jbeil

Did you know nomination

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. Track your hook after promotion. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Crisco 1492 (talk) 02:32, 9 May 2026 (UTC)

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The rock-carved ditch, from Ernest Renan's 1864 Mission de Phénicie

• ... that the Crusader castle of Smar Jbeil was built atop a Roman-period necropolis? Source: Renan 1864, p. 247; Chaaya 2016, p. 232.
  • ALT1: ... that Smar Jbeil Castle's donjon sits on a bedrock podium 4 meters (13 ft) high? Source: Chaaya 2016, pp. 215, 220;
  • ALT2: ... that the Crusader castle of Smar Jbeil was built in three distinct phases during the twelfth century? Source: Chaaya 2016, pp. 209, 233.
  • Reviewed: Template:Did you know nominations/Franz Josef Hamm

Moved to mainspace by Elias Ziade (talk). Number of QPQs required: 1. Nominator has 53 past nominations.

el.ziade (talkallam) 13:34, 13 April 2026 (UTC).

General: Article is new enough and long enough
New enough: Long enough:

Policy: Article is sourced, neutral, and free of copyright problems
Adequate sourcing: Neutral: Free of copyright violations, plagiarism, and close paraphrasing:

Hook: Hook has been verified by provided inline citation
Cited: Interesting:

Image: Image is freely licensed, used in the article, and clear at 100px.
Freely licensed: Used in article: Clear at 100px:

QPQ: Done.

Overall: ALT1 is probably not of interest for readers unfamiliar with the term donjon (and perhaps not even for readers who are). Hook 1 seems slightly exaggerated (the source indicates the only parts of the castle actually overlay the ruins of a necropolis) but acceptable. I'm not sure what the purpose of the image is. Please clarify and then the nomination will be good to go. — An anonymous username, not my real name 20:46, 18 April 2026 (UTC)

Thanks for the review. Happy to go without the image. As for the hooks, I'm impartial to whichever you prefer; if ALT1 is too niche without knowing what a donjon is, the main hook or ALT2 both work fine for me.el.ziade (talkallam) 14:27, 19 April 2026 (UTC)

Approved for all hooks, with a personal preference for either the first hook or ALT2. I would've been fine with an image, but none of the hooks directly reference it. — An anonymous username, not my real name 00:18, 20 April 2026 (UTC)

Thanks for the notes, Richard. I'll work through them and look forward to your further feedback.==GA review==

This review is transcluded from Talk:Castle of Smar Jbeil/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Nominator: Elias Ziade (talk · contribs) 14:21, 13 April 2026 (UTC)

Reviewer: Richard Nevell (talk · contribs) 18:03, 15 June 2026 (UTC)

I'll take on this review. Any excuse to read about castles. I'll aim to get to it this week. 🏰 Richard Nevell (talk) 18:03, 15 June 2026 (UTC)

@Richard Nevell Awsome thanks! el.ziade (talkallam) 10:58, 16 June 2026 (UTC)

GA review (see here for what the criteria are, and here for what they are not)

1. It is reasonably well written .

   a (prose, spelling, grammar, and understandability): b (MoS for lead, layout, word choice, fiction, and lists):

   The text is generally well written and clear. Below are a few minors points to enhance up the writing:

   • To help with clarity, in the 'Location and etymology' section I think it is worth noting that Jbeil is also known as Byblos and the distance between it and the castle.
   • The second paragraph of the lead contains a description of the defensive arrangement. It would be helpful to balance that with a note on other buildings at the castle, eg: there's a chapel, hall.
   • 'penitential pilgrimage' need to be explained
   • When the the period of Pericles is mentioned having a range or century in brackets would add context.
   • Some common nouns have been capitalised. eg: West Corner Tower doesn’t need to be capitalised because the term is not a proper noun.
   • Greater use of wikilinks could be made to help the curious. Some terms I noted that might not be familiar to everyone are below:
     • barrel vault
     • castle chapel
     • great hall
     • hypogeum
     • bas-relief
     • Ghineh
     • Seleucid

2. It is factually accurate and verifiable, as shown by a source spot-check.

   a (reference section): b (inline citations to reliable sources): c (OR): d (copyvio and plagiarism):

   The article makes use of high-quality sources to give a detailed account of the castle’s history and architecture.

   I did a spot check of some of the sources (#19, #24, #27, and #28 as of writing) to check they supported the text and any other issues. I wasn't able to access the right page for the first one; #28 checked out; for #27 the spelling in the source is "Semar Djebeil" rather than "Semar Dejebeil". Source #24 showed some issues with close paraphrasing. I used Google Translate to access the source, and have laid out the issue below.

   • (1a) Translated source: The castle was most likely the seat of a knight who had rendered some service to the ruler of the County and was rewarded with the surrounding land in fief.
   • (1b) Wikipedia article: The castle was likely the residence of a knight in the service of the ruler of the County of Tripoli, who was rewarded with the surrounding lands as a feudal fief
   • (2a) Translated source: At the foot of the castle rise the village buildings. So far, no traces of defensive walls have been found, and everything indicates that the village was open. There are at least three churches within its grounds, undoubtedly linked to the Crusades. The largest church in Smar Jbeil is dedicated to a saint popular in Lebanon, Mar Nohra. This church, belonging to the Maronite community, can be dated to the 13th century. Nearby, you can also find a small chapel dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary – local tradition dates this monument to the 6th century
   • (2b) Wikipedia article: At the base of the castle lie the structures of the village of Smar Jbeil. Within the village are at least three churches, each dating from the period of the Crusades. The largest is dedicated to Saint Mar Nohra, a figure venerated in Lebanon and associated with the Maronite community; architectural and stylistic analysis places its construction in the thirteenth century. In proximity stands a smaller chapel dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, which local tradition may date as early as the sixth century.

   This would need to be addressed. I'll probably select another few to check.

3. It is broad in its coverage.

   a (major aspects): b (focused):

   The coverage is largely good, going into an appropriate amount of depth. There are a couple of places where this can be improved. The archaeological investigations are not mentioned in the 'Later history' section; as the investigations are mentioned later on this could just be addressed with a sentence or two summarising what was done, when, and by whom. The other area is that the lead could be expanded with a couple of sentences. Under 'Location and etymology' it is mentioned that the castle is not mentioned in records from the Crusader period; this is a good point to include in the lead and it sets up mentioning archaeology as a key method for understanding the site's history.

   Also, the lead jumps from the castle's construction by the Franks to the early 17th century. It's less jarring in the body of the article because there are other subsections, but the gap in chronology is noticeable. In part I expect that's because of the documentary issue, but do the sources comment on whether the castle was abandoned after the crusader period? I think this ties back to the documentary issue, but if the limitations of the sources are explained, that goes a long way to explaining gaps in the narrative.

   And one other thing: is there anything that could be included about tourism and public access beyond the regular festival?

4. It follows the neutral point of view policy.

   Fair representation without bias:

5. It is stable.

   No edit wars, etc.:

6. It is illustrated by images and other media, where possible and appropriate.

   a (images are tagged and non-free content have non-free use rationales): b (appropriate use with suitable captions):

   My one suggestion is that for the map from Renan's work in the 'Location and etymology' section it would be helpful to add the year it was published in brackets.

7. Overall:

   Pass/Fail: