bishopric is known until 1199 - and was probably inside the old city walls, although not effectively protected by them. After the local garrison was finally withdrawn, perhaps in 1234 when Harput was conquered by the Seljuks, Arsamosata's population "dispersed to villages on the plain and nearby hills". Other than Arsamosata, the castle of Salām was probably the only major site in the northeastern part of Anzitene at Sayf al-Dawla's time. A possible identification is the large stronghold of Shitar Kale near İçme, which overlooks the plain from a height of 1000 feet and commands the Arsanias valley. Along with the village of al-Muqaddamiyyah, Salām lay on Sayf al-Dawla's route from Harput to Arsamosata in 938. The poet Abu Firas refers to a battle "in the district of Salām" at one point, implying that Sayf al-Dawla's victory over the pursuing Byzantines took place near here. Sayf al-Dawla never targeted the highlands of northern and western Anzitene, "doubtless deterred by the danger of Byzantine guerrilla action in favorable terrain", so less is known about this area during the 10th century. Only 3 castles are mentioned in 10th-century sources: Aşvan, al-Tell, and al-Minşār. The castle at Aşvan apparently put up no resistance to Sayf al-Dawla's forces in 956 - they occupied it without trouble and turned it into a base camp. It stood on the south bank of the Arsanias, at a convenient place for launching boats and rafts, and it controlled a ford. One candidate for its location is the mound called Aşvan Kale above the modern village of Aşvan: it is on the river bank, 4 km upstream from a major ford, and the name is identical. However, excavation of the northern half of the mound revealed no evidence of occupation between 400-1000 - nor any indication that the site was ever fortified during its occupation. Instead, according to James Howard-Johnston, the castle, along with the ancient and medieval town, was probably somewhere on the plain just to the west, immediately by the ford. Here, it would have been better positioned to guard the southern approach to ford on the road from Harput than the more defensible but distant mound above the present-day village. Alluvial action and human quarrying may have removed all visible traces of an early medieval castle. (However, according to Stephen Mitchell's hypothesis, there was never a castle of "Hisn Aşvan" - rather, there was just a