Castle of Pharaoh's Island

Also known as Île de Graye, Ile de Graye, Jazirat Fara'un, Gezirat Faraun, Coral Island, Salah El-Din Castle, Saladin's Castle, Pharaoh's Island

A small granite island at the northern head of the Gulf of Aqaba carries the southernmost outwork associated with the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Tradition — preserved by William of Tyre — credits King Baldwin I with building a fortress here around 1116 to tax and threaten the Red Sea pilgrim traffic; modern scholarship is cautious, since documented Frankish garrison records are thin. In 1170 Saladin's engineers seized the island and dramatically enlarged the defences, giving the castle its modern Arabic name 'Qal'at Salah al-Din'. Raynald of Châtillon used the anchorage in 1182–83 to launch his infamous Red Sea raid, having dismantled prefabricated galleys at Kerak and hauled them across Oultrejordain on camel-back. Today the islet — Jazirat Fara'un — is an Egyptian antiquities park with a curtain wall, archer towers, bath, kitchens and dovecotes surviving above the coral-fringed shore.

Coordinates: 29.4635°, 34.8599°

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