ConflictThe Middle East
Saladin retakes Jerusalem
An adversary Europeans themselves made a hero
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He was a Kurd, not an Arab, and built his power in Egypt before turning to the Levant. His chivalry became a European literary commonplace — Dante placed him outside hell, among the virtuous pagans. In modern Arab and Kurdish politics he has become a symbol claimed by very different movements.
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Saladin united the Muslim forces and retook Jerusalem in 1187. Unlike the crusaders of 1099 he let the inhabitants leave freely. European writers wrote of him with admiration for centuries after.
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