The Ottoman explorer Evliya Celebi tells the story of how the Badlis fortress in Kurdistan came to be. The Ottomans feared Kurdistan's fortifications. To equal the dread, legends were created to explain why they are so strong. When the Ottoman sultans referred to Kurdistan as a wall against the Safavids, they were referring to the worth of the fortifications especially. Even before the Ottoman period, these fortifications played a crucial role in determining the result of key events.
Evliya Celebi (17th-century):
Let us recount the first builder of this ancient fortress and the reason for its being named thus.
According to the true reports of, first of all, the chroniclers of Rum and the Arabs and the Persians; and the true historian Mıkdisi son of Bey Haki-i Yarmeni; and his excellency Sultan Sherefeddin Abbasi, author of the Sheref-name, of the Abbasid dynasty, and forefather of the noble Khan: Iskender was called Zulkarneyn ("two-horned") because he had two horns of firm flesh on his forehead. In one tradition, "thirty-two years" is called a karn, since the sphere of the universe revolves once in thirty-two years; and because Iskender experienced two such karns or global revolutions, they called him Zulkarneyn. But karn also means "horn" in Arabic, and the most correct tradition is that he was called Zulkarneyn because of his horns. Iskender could not get one hour's restful sleep because of the pain from these horns, and none of his physicians could find a cure for it. Finally, while he was searching for a cure according to the suggestion of the physicians and the ulema, Iskender received this revelation from God (Koran, 18:94): "O Zulkarneyn, verily Gog and Magog are committing corruption in the earth (etc.)." Following this noble command he went with all his doctors and physicians to the Land of Darkness seeking the Water of Life. Having passed the Sea of Dark and built the Wall of Gog, on his return he expended much effort seeking the Water of Life for the pain of his horns and for eternal life; but when he found no trace of it he despaired of the cure of life and washed his hands of it.
At that time, by God's wisdom, the prophet Khızır was a saintly individual in Iskender's army. He used to wander off far from other people. At one point he was overcome with the heat and drank from a clear stream. This turned out to the Water of Life. The prophet Khızır is alive to this day, and is charged with serving the islands in the sea and elsewhere. Some dispute his prophethood, but the majority maintain it.
Finally, unable to find the Water of Life and therefore a life cure, and instructed by his physicians that it might be found in the navel of the earth, the mountain of Bingöl, he headed in that direction. Coming to the River Tigris before Basra, he drank from it, and the pain of his horns subsided. So he proceeded along the bank of the Tigris, drinking of the pure water as he covered the stages of the march, until he arrived at the point where the Batman and the Tigris flow together. Drinking from both rivers, and observing that the water of the Tigris was more beneficial, he went on to Diyarbekir. It was recorded above in the description of the Tigris, in connection with the eulogy of Diyarbekir, that that river arises above that city from the confluence of four tributaries. Now Iskender drank from each of the four sources, and his horn pain subsided, though the horns remained. When he returned to the point of confluence of the Batman and the Tigris, and drank again from the Batman, he found substantial relief. So he went along the Batman until he came below Kefender fortress. He drank from the springs flowing from the direction of Bitlis, and Iskender's eye was brightened.
Still seeking relief, he entered the town of Bitlis. Here the river splits in two branches. He noticed no beneficial effect drinking from the springs that flow from Avikh valley; but when he drank from those flowing to the right side of the cliff of Bitlis castle, he immediately fell into a restful and pleasant sleep at the foot of that cliff.
After waking, he spent seven entire days drinking at the point of issue of those springs, and thought that he had found eternal life. Miraculously, one of his horns fell off through the effect of that pure water, although the other one remained. "Well!" (cried Iskender) "so the Water of Life is here, and the pure water that we have been drinking and whose benefit we have witnessed all the way from Basra is this Water of Paradise which flows into the Tigris.
"Summon my treasurer named Bedlis," he commanded. When Bedlis came he said: "Oh privileged slave, if you would be the choicest of the choice, expend a fortune from my treasury and construct at this point a fortress, to be complete by the time we return from the country of Cemapur, such that if I, with my majestic force, lay siege to it, I will have difficulty conquering it." "Your wish is my command," replied the treasurer Bedlis. He set out to build such an impenetrable citadel and invincible rampart; and Iskender went on his way with one horn to the country of Cemapur.
Meanwhile Bedlis gathered all the sages and engineers and master builders, and all the wizards (and astrologers) who possessed the Arabian and the Persian sciences, and he determined the auspicious hour for the rising star of this fortress.
Bitlis castle was built 872 years before the birth of the Prophet; Iskender died in the year 882 [sic]. The treasurer Bitlis [sic] constructed this fortress with strong walls that he had all the astrologers perform talismanic astronomical observations, strengthened all four sides and adorned it with devilish machinations, and in every way prepared for battle.
When Iskender the Great heard that Bedlis had completed the castle, and having conquered the land of Cemapur, he traversed the stages as far as the plain of Mush, where he made his camp. Thence he proceeded to the fortress of Bedlis with his innumerable troops. From within the fortress, Bedlis bombarded Iskender with catapults and ballistas and slings and arrows and stones, so much that Iskender felt faint. But recalling the zeal of world conquest, he gathered his strength, and exclaiming that "this infidel slave Bedlis has rebelled against me" he mounted raids and forays and night attacks on all sides with his sea-like army. But after seven days he was still unable to conquer it.
To Bedlis, fortified within the castle, Iskender sent letters of reprieve via envoys, stating: "I grant safe conduct and forgive your crime. Come out, O slave!" But Bedlis rejected the envoys, and once again bombarded with slings and catapults, killing several thousand of Iskender's troops.
The battle raged for forty days and nights. On the forty-first day a swarm of bees appeared out of the opening of a cave at the skirt of the fortress cliff -- yellow bees the size of sparrows. They invaded Iskender's army and turned the tails of all the animals into yak-tail crests, so that all the camels and mules and horses, as though "fleeing from the succession of hornets," and men and beasts crying "Help O steppe of Heyhat!"3 all began to flee. Poor Iskender Zulkarneyn while seeking a remedy for his horn nearly lost his nose and ears. Finally he too despaired and moved off toward Mush plain. --
At once from within the fortress the treasurer Bedlis put the keys of the castle in a jewelled pouch and (coming) with countless treasures and gifts, rubbed his face at the foot of Iskender's steed and kissed the ground while presenting him the keys.
"Wretch!" cried Iskender, "why did you rebel against me and kill so many of my soldiers?" "My Padishah," answered Bedlis, "when you ordered me to construct such a mighty fortress that even you would have trouble conquering it if you lay siege with your majestic force, I accepted the command and built such a fortress, like the Wall of Iskender. It is my Padishah's to command." Iskender acted justly and granted Bedlis the government of the fortress.
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