In the early 12th century, dark omens hung over the city of Aleppo.

At the time, it was a vast powerhouse of a settlement, probably housing upwards of 100,000 people within its ancient walls and in the surrounding countryside.

Ever since the initial Arab conquests, 500 years earlier, during the 7th century,

most of the city's inhabitants had been Muslim.

Yet just like the other cities of the East, it was also home to large and influential communities of Christians and Jews.

Once one of the greatest cities in the world, by the 12th century, and influential communities of Christians and Jews.

Once one of the greatest cities in the world, by the 12th century, Aleppo was a war zone,

a battleground between three vying factions, the original Arab inhabitants of the region, an incoming

Seljuk-Turk warrior elite who had risen to supremacy in the latter half of

the 11th century, and most recently yet another incoming warrior aristocracy in the form

of European crusaders who had arrived in the region en masse just a handful of years before.

These three warring factions also contended with innumerable smaller ones,

be they Shiite rebels seizing the opportunity to go their own way,

ancient Jewish and Christian populations,

as well as Kurds, Armenians and Bedouin tribesmen.

In short, the region was a melting pot of cultures, a crossroads of east and west, and a

tinderbox just waiting to go off.

Upon the death of the great Seljuk ruler Tutus in 1095, Aleppo had fallen into the hands of his son, Ridwan, who almost immediately went to war with his brother, Dukak, in Tothush's other city, Damascus.

Just two years later, when the warriors of the First Crusade arrived in the region,

Ridwan still clung on to the city, though he now had to face off against the newcomers,

as well as his brother dukques, not to mention a whole

host of other Turkic, Arabic and Armenian neighbours, all seeking to pursue their own ends.

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