Erbil (; ), also called Hawler (), is the capital and most populated city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and the capital of the Erbil Governorate. Erbil is described as the region's cultural, economic, industrial, educational and medical hub.
Erbil is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Human settlement at Erbil may be dated back to the 5th millennium BC. At the heart of the city is the ancient Citadel of Erbil and Mudhafaria Minaret. The earliest historical reference to the region dates to the Third Dynasty of Ur of Sumer, when King Shulgi mentioned the city of Urbilum. The city was later conquered by the Assyrians.
In the 3rd millennium BC, Erbil was an independent power in its area. It was conquered for a time by the Gutians. Beginning in the late 2nd millennium BC, it came under Assyrian control. Subsequent to this, it was part of the geopolitical province of Assyria under several empires in turn, including the Median Empire, the Achaemenid Empire (Achaemenid Assyria), Macedonian Empire, Seleucid Empire, Armenian Empire, Parthian Empire, Roman Assyria and Sasanian Empire, as well as being the capital of the tributary state of Adiabene between the mid-second century BC and early 2nd century AD. In ancient times the patron deity of the city was Ishtar of Arbela.Porter, Barbara Nevling, "Ishtar of Niniveh and her collaborator, Ishtar of Arbela, in the Reign of Assurbanipal", Iraq, vol. 66, pp. 41–44, 2004
Following the Muslim conquest of Persia, the region no longer remained united, and during the Middle Ages, the city came to be ruled by the Seljuk and Ottoman empires.Georges Roux – Ancient Iraq
Erbil's archaeological museum houses a large collection of pre-Islamic artifacts, particularly the art of Mesopotamia, and is a centre for archaeological projects in the area. The city was designated as the Arab Tourism Capital 2014 by the Arab Council of Tourism.Erbil named 2014 Arab Tourism Capital . Retrieved 30 January 2014"Erbil: Kurdish City, Arab Capital", Rudaw. Retrieved 30 January 2014 In July 2014, the Citadel of Erbil was inscribed as a World Heritage Site.
Names Erbil is the romanization of the city's Ottoman Turkish name ,. still used as the city's name in official English translation.. The Modern Standard Arabic form of the name is Arbīl ().. In classical antiquity, it was known as Arbela in Latin and () in Greek, derived from Old Persian Arbairā (), from Assyrian Arbaʾilu, from Sumerian Urbilum (, ur-bi₂-lumki)..
Archaeology In 2006 a small excavation was conducted by Karel Novacek of the University of West Bohemia. While the citadel remains were of the Ottoman Period, a field survey of the western slope of the tell found a few pottery shards from the Neolithic to Middle Bronze Age with more numerous finds from the Late Bronze to Iron Ages and from the Hellenistic, Arsacid, Sassanid Periods. Being so heavily occupied, the site has never been properly excavated. In 2013 a team from the Sapienza University of Rome conducted some ground penetrating radar work on the center of the citadel. Starting in 2014 an Iraqi-led excavation began on a citadel location where the collapse of a modern building provided an opportunity for excavation. Historical aerial photographs and ground surveys have also begun on the lower city.Lawler, Andrew, "Erbil Revealed", Archaeology, vol. 67, no. 5, pp. 38–43, 2014Al Yaqoobi, Dara, et al., "Archaeological investigations on the citadel of Erbil: background, framework and results", The archaeology of the Kurdistan region of Iraq and adjacent regions, pp. 23-27, 2016Macginnis, J. D. A., "Archaeology of the Town under the Citadel Erbil/Hawlér", Subartu 4-5, pp. 10-13, 2011
The wider plain around Erbil has a number of promising archaeological sites, most notably Tell Baqrta. The Erbil Plain Archaeological Survey began in 2012. The survey combines satellite imagery and field work to determine the development and archaeology of the plain around Erbil.Ur, Jason, et al., "Ancient Cities and Landscapes in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq: The Erbil Plain Archaeological Survey 2012 Season", Iraq, vol. 75, pp. 89–117, 2013 Tell Baqrta is a very large, 80 hectare, site which dates back to the Early Bronze Age.Kopanias, Konstantinos, et al., "The Tell Nader and Tell Baqrta Project in the Kurdistan region of Iraq: Preliminary report of the 2011 season", Subartu 6, pp. 23–57, 2013Peyronel, Luca et al., "The Italian Archaeological Expedition in the Erbil Plain, Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Preliminary Report on the 2016 – 2018 Excavations at Helawa", Mesopotamia, vol. 54, pp. 1-104, 2019
History
Neolithic Erbil was among the earliest regions of agricultural settlement during the Neolithic period, marking a significant stage in the development of human civilization in Mesopotamia.
Bronze Age Early Bronze The region in which Erbil lies was largely under Sumerian domination from .
With the rise of the Akkadian Empire (2335–2154 BC) all of the Akkadian Semites and Sumerians of Mesopotamia were united under one rule. Erridupizir, king of the kingdom of Gutium, captured the city in 2150 BC.Timeline ErbilCitadel.orq
The first mention of Erbil in literary sources comes from the archives of the kingdom of Ebla. They record two journeys to Erbil (Irbilum) by a messenger from Ebla around 2300 BFC.
The Neo-Sumerian ruler of Ur, Amar-Sin, sacked Urbilum in his second year, c. 1975 BC.
Middle Bronze In the centuries after the fall of the Ur III empire Erbil became a power in its area. It was conquered by Shamsi-Adad during his short lived Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia, becoming independent after its fall.
Late Bronze By the time of the Middle Assyrian Empire (1365–1050 BC) Erbil was within the Assyrian zone of control.
Iron Age The region fell under the Neo-Assyrian Empire (935–605 BC). The city then changed hands a number of times including the Persian, Greek, Parthian, Roman and Sassanid rule.
Under the Medes, Cyaxares might have settled a number of people from the ancient Iranian tribe of Sagartians in the Assyrian cities of Arbela and Arrapha (modern Kirkuk), probably as a reward for their help in the capture of Nineveh. According to Classical authors, the Persian emperor Cyrus the Great occupied Assyria in 547 BC and established it as an Achaemenid military protectorate state (or satrapy) called in Old Persian Aθurā (Athura), with Babylon as the capital.Yarshater, Ehsan (1993). The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 3. Cambridge University Press. p. 482. . Of the four residences of the Achaemenids named by Herodotus—Ecbatana, Pasargadae or Persepolis, Susa and Babylon—the last [situated in Iraq] was maintained as their most important capital, the fixed winter quarters, the central office of bureaucracy, exchanged only in the heat of summer for some cool spot in the highlands. Under the Seleucids and the Parthians the site of the Mesopotamian capital moved slightly to the north on the Tigris—to Seleucia and Ctesiphon. It is indeed symbolic that these new foundations were built from the bricks of ancient Babylon, just as later Baghdad, a little further upstream, was built out of the ruins of the Sassanian double city of Seleucia-Ctesiphon.
The Medes, and with them the Sagarthians, were to revolt against Darius I of Persia in 522 BC, but this revolt was firmly put down by the army which Darius sent out under the leadership of General Takhmaspada the following year. The events are depicted in the Behistun Inscription which stands today in the mountains of Iran's Kermanshah province.
The Battle of Gaugamela, in which Alexander the Great defeated Darius III of Persia, took place in 331 BC approximately west of Erbil according to Urbano Monti's world map. After the battle, Darius managed to flee to the city. (Somewhat inaccurately, the confrontation is sometimes known as the "Battle of Arbela".) Subsequently, Arbela was part of Alexander's Empire. After the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC, Arbela became part of the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire.
Erbil became part of the region disputed between Rome and Persia under the Sasanids. During the Parthian era to early Sassanian era, Erbil became the capital of the state of Adiabene (Assyrian Ḥadyab). The town and kingdom are known in Jewish history for the conversion of the royal family, notably Queen Helena of Adiabene, to Judaism.
Its populace then gradually converted from the ancient Mesopotamian religion between the first and fourth centuries to Christianity, with Pkidha traditionally becoming its first bishop around 104 AD. The ancient Mesopotamian religion did not die out entirely in the region until the tenth century AD. There also existed a Christian community thought to be converts from Judaism. The Adiabene (East Syriac ecclesiastical province) in Arbela (Syriac: Arbel) became a centre of eastern Syriac Christianity until late in the Middle Ages.
Medieval history As many of the Assyrians who had converted to Christianity adopted Biblical (including Jewish) names, most of the early bishops had Eastern Aramaic or Jewish/Biblical names, which does not suggest that many of the early Christians in this city were converts from Judaism.Gillman, Ian and Hans-Joachim Klimkeit. Christians in Asia before 1500. (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1999) p. 33 It served as the seat of a Metropolitan of the Assyrian Church of the East. From the city's Christian period come many church fathers and well-known authors in Aramaic.
Following the Muslim conquest of Persia, the Sassanian province of Naxwardašīragān and later Garamig ud Nodardashiragan,D. Sellwood, "ADIABENE," Encyclopædia Iranica, I/5, pp. 456–459 of which Erbil made part of, was dissolved, and from the mid-seventh century AD the region saw a gradual influx of Muslim peoples, predominantly Arabs and Turkic peoples.
The most notable Kurdish tribe in the region was the Hadhabani, of which several individuals also acted as governors for the city from the late tenth century until the 12th century when it was conquered by the Zengids and its governorship given to the Turkic Begtegenids, of whom the most notable was Gökböri, who retained the city during the Ayyubid era.V. Minorsky. Studies in Caucasian History III, Prehistory of Saladin. Cambridge University Press. 208 pp. 1953.Nováček, K., Amin, N., & Melčák, M. (2013). A Medieval City Within Assyrian Walls: The Continuity of the Town of Arbīl in Northern Mesopotamia. Iraq, 75, 1–42. Yaqut al-Hamawi further describes Erbil as being mostly Kurdish-populated in the 13th century.B. James. Le « territoire tribal des Kurdes » et l'aire iraqienne (xe-xiiie siècles): Esquisse des recompositions spatiales. Revue des Mondes Musulmans et de la Méditerranée, 2007. P. 101-126.
When the Mongols invaded the Near East in the 13th century, they attacked Arbil for the first time in 1237. They plundered the lower town but had to retreat before an approaching Caliphate army and had to put off the capture of the citadel. After the fall of Baghdad to Hülegü and the Mongols in 1258, the last Begtegenid ruler surrendered to the Mongols, claiming the Kurdish garrison of the city would follow suit; they refused this however, therefore the Mongols returned to Arbil and were able to capture the citadel after a siege lasting six months.J. von Hammer-Purgstall. 1842. Geschichte der Ilchane, das ist der Mongolen in Persien, Volume 1. P. 159-161. Hülegü then appointed a Christian Assyrian governor to the town, and the Syriac Orthodox Church was allowed to build a church.
As time passed, sustained persecutions of Christians, Jews and Buddhists throughout the Ilkhanate began in earnest in 1295 under the rule of Oïrat amir Nauruz, which affected the indigenous Christian Assyrians greatly.Grousset, p. 379 This manifested early on in the reign of the Ilkhan Ghazan. In 1297, after Ghazan had felt strong enough to overcome Nauruz's influence, he put a stop to the persecutions.