Yılankale, Yilan, Ilan-kale, or Castle of the Snakes is a large medieval crusader castle located east of Adana in modern Turkey, built on a rocky hill overlooking the east bank of the Ceyhan river. Its medieval name is unknown - the "Castle of the Snakes" name is due to a Turkish legend in which it belongs to the king of the snakes (Youngs 1965).
The castle and its impressive towers are visible from the highway E5 from Adana to Iskenderun. Yılankale is one of many castles in the Çukurova region. It was built in the 11th or the 12th century, and was used by the Crusaders .
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Yilan has a lower, middle and upper ward enclosed by curtain walls. The upper ward has seven horseshoe-shaped towers, up to 15 meters in height, projecting from the curtain wall. The gate to the upper ward is flanked by two towers with a gatehouse containing the bent entrance between them. (Youngs 1965). The upper gate can only be reached via a narrow ramp. The castle also contains a chapel and cisterns.
The horseshoe-shaped towers projecting from the curtain wall are characteristic of Armenian castle architecture (Molin 2001), as is the absence of a central donjon. Like many Armenian castles, Yilan makes good use of the local topography for its defence. Its walls closely follow the top of the rock on which the castle is located.
Comparable castles include: