Talk:Castle of Smar Jbeil

Castle of Smar Jbeil is currently a Warfare good article nominee. Nominated by el.ziade (talkallam) at 14:21, 13 April 2026 (UTC)

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Military history: Fortifications / European / Polish / Medieval / Crusades C‑class

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This article has been rated as C-class on the project's quality scale.

This article has been checked against the following criteria for B-class status:
Referencing and citation: criterion not met Coverage and accuracy: criterion met Structure: criterion met Grammar and style: criterion met Supporting materials: criterion met

Associated task forces:
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	Fortifications task force
	European military history task force
	Polish military history task force
	Medieval warfare task force (c. 500 – c. 1500)
	Crusades task force

A fact from Castle of Smar Jbeil appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 15 May 2026 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that the Crusader castle of Smar Jbeil was built atop a Roman-period necropolis?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Did you know archive/2026/May. The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Castle of Smar Jbeil.

Wikipedia

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)[reply]

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Comment or view
Article history

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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).[reply]

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)[reply]

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)[reply]

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)[reply]