Citadel of Arbil
Encyclopedia
The Citadel of Arbil is a tell
or occupied mound, and the historical city centre of Arbil
in Iraq
. It has been claimed that the site is the oldest continuously inhabited town in the world.
The earliest evidence for occupation of the citadel mound dates to the 5th millennium BC, and possibly earlier. It appears for the first time in historical sources during the Ur III
period, and gained particular importance during the Neo-Assyrian period. During the Sassanian
period and the Abbasid Caliphate, Arbil was an important centre for Christianity
. After the Mongols
captured the citadel in 1258, the importance of Arbil declined. During the 20th century, the urban structure was significantly modified, as a result of which a number of houses and public buildings were destroyed. In 2007, the High Commission for Erbil Citadel Revitalization (HCECR) was established to oversee the restoration
of the citadel. In the same year, all inhabitants, except one family, were evicted from the citadel as part of a large restoration project. Since then, archaeological
research and restoration works have been carried out at and around the tell by various international teams and in cooperation with local specialists. The government plans to have 50 families live in the citadel once it is renovated.
The buildings on top of the tell stretch over a roughly oval area of 430 by 340 m (1,410.8 by 1,115.5 ) occupying 102000 sqm. The only religious structure that currently survives is the Mulla Afandi
Mosque. The mound rises between 25 and 32 m (82 and 105 ) from the surrounding plain. When it was fully occupied, the citadel was divided in three districts or mahalla
s: from east to west the Serai, the Takya and the Topkhana. The Serai was occupied by notable families; the Takya district was named after the homes of dervish
es, which are called takyas; and the Topkhana district housed craftsmen and farmers.
period, as pottery fragments
possibly dating to that period have been found on the slopes of the mound. Clear evidence for occupation comes from the Chalcolithic period, with sherds resembling pottery of the Ubaid
and Uruk
periods in the Jazira
and southeastern Turkey
, respectively. Given this evidence for early occupation, the citadel has been called the oldest continuously occupied site in the world.
destroyed Urbilum in his 43rd regnal year, and during the reign of his successor Amar-Sin
, Urbilum was incorporated into the Ur III state. In the 18th century BC, Arbil appears in a list of cities that were conquered by Shamshi-Adad
of Upper Mesopotamia and Dadusha of Eshnunna
during their campaign against the land of Qabra. Shamshi-Adad installed garrisons in all the cities of the land of Urbil. During the 2nd millennium BC, Arbil was incorporated into Assyria
. Arbil served as a point of departure for military campaigns toward the east.
Arbil was an important city during the Neo-Assyrian period. The city took part in the great revolt against Shamshi-Adad V
that broke out over the succession of Shalmaneser III
. During the Neo-Assyrian period, the name of the city was written as Arbi-Ilu, meaning 'Four Gods'. Arbil was an important religious centre that was compared with cities such as Babylon
and Assur
. Its goddess Ishtar
of Arbil was one of the principal deities of Assyria, often named together with Ishtar of Nineveh
. Her sanctuary was repaired by the kings Shalmaneser I
, Esarhaddon
and Assurbanipal. Inscriptions from Assurbanipal record oracular dreams inspired by Ishtar of Arbil. Assurbanipal probably held court in Arbil during part of his reign and received there envoys from Rusa II
of Urartu
after the defeat of the Elam
ite ruler Teumman.
After the end of the Assyrian Empire, Arbil was first controlled by the Medes
and then incorporated into the Achaemenid Empire
before it became part of the empire of Alexander the Great after the Battle of Gaugamela
, which was fought near Arbil in 331 BC. The Roman
and Parthian Empire
fought over control of Arbil, or Arbira as it was known in that period, and the city became an important Christian centre. During the Sassanid period, Arbil was the seat of a governor. In 340 AD, Christians in Arbil were persecuted and in 358, the governor became a martyr
when he converted to Christianity. A Nestorian
school was founded in Arbil by the School of Nisibis
in c. 521. During this period, Arbil was also the site of a Zoroastrian
fire temple
.
s in the 7th century. It remained an important Christian centre until the 9th century, when the bishop
of Arbil moved his seat to Mosul
. From the first half of the 12th century until 1233, Arbil was the seat of the Begteginids, a Turkman
dynasty that rose to prominence under the reign of Zengi
, the atabeg
of Mosul. Muzaffar Din Gökburi, the second dynast of the Begtegenid dynasty and a staunch supporter of Saladin
, created a lower town around the city on the citadel mound and founded hospitals and madrasah
s. Gökburi died in 1233 without an heir and control of Arbil shifted to the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mustansir
after he had besieged the city.
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 for an approaching Caliphal army before they could capture the citadel. After the fall of Baghdad to the Mongols in 1258, they returned to Arbil and were able to capture the citadel after a siege lasting six months. The Mongols appointed a Christian governor to the town and there was an influx of Jacobite
s, who were allowed to build a church. Persecutions of Christians started however in 1289, leading up to the massacre of all Christians in both the lower town and the citadel town in 1310.
During the Ottoman
period, Arbil was part of the province
of Baghdad, which was established in 1535. In 1743, the city was held for a short time by the Afsharid
ruler Nader Shah
after a siege lasting 60 days. An engraving from 1820 shows that at that time both the citadel mound and the plain at its southern foot were occupied. Mohammed Khor, a local Kurdish
beg
of Rowanduz
, controlled Arbil for a short period in 1862. In 1892, the town had approximately 3,200 inhabitants, including a sizeable Jewish
minority.
opened its doors in a renovated mansion in the southeast quarter of the citadel.
of the citadel mound's slopes is c. 45°. Three ramps, located on the northern, eastern and southern slopes of the mound, lead up to gates in the outer ring of houses. The southern gate was the oldest and was rebuilt at least once, in 1860, and demolished in 1960. The current gate house was constructed in 1979. The eastern gate is called the Harem Gate and was used by women. It seems unclear when the northern gate was opened. One source claims that it was opened in 1924, while another observes that there were only two gates in 1944 – the southern and eastern gates.
During the early 20th century, there were three mosque
s, two schools, two takyas and a hammam on the citadel. The citadel also housed a synagogue
until 1957. The only religious structure that currently survives is the Mulla Afandi
Mosque, which was rebuilt on the location of an earlier 19th-century mosque. The hammam was built in 1775 by Qassim Agha Abdullah. It went out of service during the 1970s and was renovated in 1979, although many original architectural details were lost.
When it was still occupied, the citadel was divided in three districts or mahalla
s: from east to west the Serai, the Takya and the Topkhana. The Serai was occupied by notable families; the Takya district was named after the homes of dervish
es, which are called takyas; and the Topkhana district housed craftsmen and farmers. An inventory made in 1920 shows that at time the citadel was divided in 506 house plots. Since that time, the number of houses and inhabitants has gradually declined. For example, in 1984, 4,466 people lived in 375 houses whereas a 1995 census showed that the citadel had only 1,631 inhabitants living in 247 houses. Until the opening-up of the main north–south thoroughfare, the streets on the citadel mound radiated outward from the southern gate like the branches of a tree. Streets were between 1 and 2.5 m (3.3 and 8.2 ) wide and ranged in length from 300 metres (984.3 ft) for major alleyways to 30 – for cul-de-sac
s.
The perimeter wall of the citadel is not a continuous fortification wall, but consists of the façades of approximately 100 houses that have been built against each other. Because they have been built on or near the steep slope of the citadel mound, many of these façades were strengthened by buttress
es to prevent their collapse or subsidence
. There were circa 30 city-palaces; most of them located along the perimeter of the citadel. The oldest surviving house that can be securely dated through an inscription was built in 1893. The oldest houses can be found on the southeastern side of the mound, whereas houses on the northern perimeter date to the 1930s–1940s. Before the introduction of modern building techniques, most houses on the citadel were built around a courtyard. A raised arcade
overlooking the courtyard, a flat roof and a bent-access entrance to prevent views of the courtyard and the interior of the house were characteristic elements of the houses on the citadel.
,_iraqi_kurdistan.jpg)
In 2006 and 2007, a team from the University of West Bohemia
, together with Salahaddin University
in Arbil, carried out an extensive survey and evaluation of the entire citadel. As part of this project, geodetic
measurements of the citadel were taken and these were combined with satellite imagery
, regular photographic imagery and aerial photographs
to create a map and digital 3D model of the citadel mound and the houses on top of it. Geophysical prospection
was carried out in some areas of the citadel to detect traces of older architecture buried under the present houses. Archaeological investigations included an archaeological survey
on the western slope of the citadel mound, and the excavation of a small test trench in the eastern part of the citadel.
A Neo-Assyrian chamber tomb
was found at the foot of the citadel mound during construction activities in 2009. It was subsequently excavated by the local Antiquities Service and archaeologists from the German Archaeological Institute
(DAI). The tomb was plundered in antiquity but still contained pottery dating to the 8th and 7th centuries BC. The cooperation between the Antiquities Service and the DAI was continued later that year with a further investigation of the tomb and with a small excavation nearby and geophysical survey of the surrounding area, in which also students from Salahaddin University participated. These investigations revealed the presence of architecture probably dating to the Neo-Assyrian period, as well as more burials belonging to subsequent centuries.
In 2007, the Kurdistan Regional Government
(KRG) established the High Commission for Erbil Citadel Revitalization (HCECR) to preserve and restore the citadel with the help of UNESCO
. Among other things, the HCECR advocates the establishment of a zone extending up to 300 – from the citadel in which building height should be restricted to approximately 10 metres (32.8 ft). This would ensure the visual dominance of the citadel over its surroundings. On 8 January 2010, the HCECR and the Iraqi State Board for Antiquities and Heritage (SBAH) submitted the Citadel of Erbil to the Iraqi Tentative List of sites that are considered for nomination as World Heritage Site
. The submission states that "The Citadel is today one of the most dramatic and visually exciting cultural sites not only in the Middle East but also in the world." Two further agreements between the HCECR and UNESCO were signed in March 2010, and it was disclosed that Arbil Governorate will finance the restoration project with US$13 million. The first restoration works have been carried out in June 2010.
Tell
A tell or tel, is a type of archaeological mound created by human occupation and abandonment of a geographical site over many centuries. A classic tell looks like a low, truncated cone with a flat top and sloping sides.-Archaeology:A tell is a hill created by different civilizations living and...
or occupied mound, and the historical city centre of Arbil
Arbil
Arbil / Hewlêr is the fourth largest city in Iraq after Baghdad, Basra and Mosul...
in Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
. It has been claimed that the site is the oldest continuously inhabited town in the world.
The earliest evidence for occupation of the citadel mound dates to the 5th millennium BC, and possibly earlier. It appears for the first time in historical sources during the Ur III
Third Dynasty of Ur
The Third Dynasty of Ur, also known as the Neo-Sumerian Empire or the Ur III Empire refers simultaneously to a 21st to 20th century BC Sumerian ruling dynasty based in the city of Ur and a short-lived territorial-political state that some historians regard as a nascent empire...
period, and gained particular importance during the Neo-Assyrian period. During the Sassanian
Sassanid Empire
The Sassanid Empire , known to its inhabitants as Ērānshahr and Ērān in Middle Persian and resulting in the New Persian terms Iranshahr and Iran , was the last pre-Islamic Persian Empire, ruled by the Sasanian Dynasty from 224 to 651...
period and the Abbasid Caliphate, Arbil was an important centre for Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
. After the Mongols
Mongol Empire
The Mongol Empire , initially named as Greater Mongol State was a great empire during the 13th and 14th centuries...
captured the citadel in 1258, the importance of Arbil declined. During the 20th century, the urban structure was significantly modified, as a result of which a number of houses and public buildings were destroyed. In 2007, the High Commission for Erbil Citadel Revitalization (HCECR) was established to oversee the restoration
Building restoration
Building restoration describes a particular treatment approach and philosophy within the field of architectural conservation. According the U.S...
of the citadel. In the same year, all inhabitants, except one family, were evicted from the citadel as part of a large restoration project. Since then, archaeological
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
research and restoration works have been carried out at and around the tell by various international teams and in cooperation with local specialists. The government plans to have 50 families live in the citadel once it is renovated.
The buildings on top of the tell stretch over a roughly oval area of 430 by 340 m (1,410.8 by 1,115.5 ) occupying 102000 sqm. The only religious structure that currently survives is the Mulla Afandi
Mulla Effendi
Mulla Abu Bakr Effendi, also Mulla Effendi , also Abu Bakr IIII or Küçük Mulla was a senior Kurdish Muslim cleric, Islamic philosopher, scholar, astronomer, politician, and a prominent Iraqi personality from Arbil, Iraq.Mulla Effendi was born into a respected and intellectual family of Islamic...
Mosque. The mound rises between 25 and 32 m (82 and 105 ) from the surrounding plain. When it was fully occupied, the citadel was divided in three districts or mahalla
Mahalla
A mahalla is an urban division in Uzbekistan. Historically, mahallas were autonomous social institutions built around familial ties and Islamic rituals. Before the establishment of the Soviet rule in Uzbekistan, Mahallas fulfilled local self-government functions connecting private sphere with...
s: from east to west the Serai, the Takya and the Topkhana. The Serai was occupied by notable families; the Takya district was named after the homes of dervish
Dervish
A Dervish or Darvesh is someone treading a Sufi Muslim ascetic path or "Tariqah", known for their extreme poverty and austerity, similar to mendicant friars in Christianity or Hindu/Buddhist/Jain sadhus.-Etymology:The Persian word darvīsh is of ancient origin and descends from a Proto-Iranian...
es, which are called takyas; and the Topkhana district housed craftsmen and farmers.
Prehistory
The site of the citadel may have been occupied as early as the NeolithicNeolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
period, as pottery fragments
Sherd
In archaeology, a sherd is commonly a historic or prehistoric fragment of pottery, although the term is occasionally used to refer to fragments of stone and glass vessels as well....
possibly dating to that period have been found on the slopes of the mound. Clear evidence for occupation comes from the Chalcolithic period, with sherds resembling pottery of the Ubaid
Ubaid period
The Ubaid period is a prehistoric period of Mesopotamia. The tell of al-`Ubaid west of nearby Ur in southern Iraq's Dhi Qar Governorate has given its name to the prehistoric Pottery Neolithic to Chalcolithic culture, which represents the earliest settlement on the alluvial plain of southern...
and Uruk
Uruk period
The Uruk period existed from the protohistoric Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age period in the history of Mesopotamia, following the Ubaid period and succeeded by the Jemdet Nasr period. Named after the Sumerian city of Uruk, this period saw the emergence of urban life in Mesopotamia. It was...
periods in the Jazira
Al-Jazira, Mesopotamia
Upper Mesopotamia is the name used for the uplands and great outwash plain of northwestern Iraq and northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey which is known by the traditional Arabic name of Al-Jazira , variously transliterated into Roman script as Djazirah, Djezirah and Jazirah...
and southeastern Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, respectively. Given this evidence for early occupation, the citadel has been called the oldest continuously occupied site in the world.
Ur III to the Sassanids
Arbil appears for the first time at the end of the 3rd millennium BC in historical records of the Ur III period as Urbilum. King ShulgiShulgi
Shulgi of Urim was the second king of the "Sumerian Renaissance". He reigned for 48 years, dated to 2029 BCE–1982 BCE...
destroyed Urbilum in his 43rd regnal year, and during the reign of his successor Amar-Sin
Amar-Sin
Amar-Sin was the third ruler of the Ur III Dynasty. He succeeded his father Shulgi .Year-names are known for all 9 years of his reign...
, Urbilum was incorporated into the Ur III state. In the 18th century BC, Arbil appears in a list of cities that were conquered by Shamshi-Adad
Shamshi-Adad I
Shamshi-Adad I Shamshi-Adad I Shamshi-Adad I (fl. late 18th century BC (short chronology) was an Assyrian king. He rose to prominence when he carved out an empire encompassing much of Mesopotamia, Syria and Asia Minor...
of Upper Mesopotamia and Dadusha of Eshnunna
Eshnunna
Eshnunna was an ancient Sumerian city and city-state in central Mesopotamia. Although situated in the Diyala Valley north-east of Sumer proper, the city nonetheless belonged securely within the Sumerian cultural milieu.The tutelary deity of the city was Tishpak .- History :Occupied from the Jemdet...
during their campaign against the land of Qabra. Shamshi-Adad installed garrisons in all the cities of the land of Urbil. During the 2nd millennium BC, Arbil was incorporated into Assyria
Assyria
Assyria was a Semitic Akkadian kingdom, extant as a nation state from the mid–23rd century BC to 608 BC centred on the Upper Tigris river, in northern Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...
. Arbil served as a point of departure for military campaigns toward the east.
Arbil was an important city during the Neo-Assyrian period. The city took part in the great revolt against Shamshi-Adad V
Shamshi-Adad V
Shamshi-Adad V was the King of Assyria from 824 to 811 BC.-Biography:He was the son and successor of Shalmaneser III, the husband of Shammuramat , and the father of Adad-nirari III, who succeeded him as king....
that broke out over the succession of Shalmaneser III
Shalmaneser III
Shalmaneser III was king of Assyria , and son of the previous ruler, Ashurnasirpal II....
. During the Neo-Assyrian period, the name of the city was written as Arbi-Ilu, meaning 'Four Gods'. Arbil was an important religious centre that was compared with cities such as Babylon
Babylon
Babylon was an Akkadian city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad...
and Assur
Assur
Assur , was one of the capitals of ancient Assyria. The remains of the city are situated on the western bank of river Tigris, north of the confluence with the tributary Little Zab river, in modern day Iraq, more precisely in the Al-Shirqat District .Assur is also...
. Its goddess Ishtar
Ishtar
Ishtar is the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of fertility, love, war, and sex. She is the counterpart to the Sumerian Inanna and to the cognate north-west Semitic goddess Astarte.-Characteristics:...
of Arbil was one of the principal deities of Assyria, often named together with Ishtar of Nineveh
Nineveh
Nineveh was an ancient Assyrian city on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, and capital of the Neo Assyrian Empire. Its ruins are across the river from the modern-day major city of Mosul, in the Ninawa Governorate of Iraq....
. Her sanctuary was repaired by the kings Shalmaneser I
Shalmaneser I
Shalmaneser I was a king of Assyria.Son of Adad-nirari I, he succeeded his father as king in 1265 BC....
, Esarhaddon
Esarhaddon
Esarhaddon , was a king of Assyria who reigned 681 – 669 BC. He was the youngest son of Sennacherib and the Aramean queen Naqi'a , Sennacherib's second wife....
and Assurbanipal. Inscriptions from Assurbanipal record oracular dreams inspired by Ishtar of Arbil. Assurbanipal probably held court in Arbil during part of his reign and received there envoys from Rusa II
Rusa II
Rusa II was king of Urartu between around 680 BC and 639 BC. It was during his reign that the massive fortress complex, Karmir-Blur, was constructed....
of Urartu
Urartu
Urartu , corresponding to Ararat or Kingdom of Van was an Iron Age kingdom centered around Lake Van in the Armenian Highland....
after the defeat of the Elam
Elam
Elam was an ancient civilization located in what is now southwest Iran. Elam was centered in the far west and the southwest of modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of Khuzestan and Ilam Province, as well as a small part of southern Iraq...
ite ruler Teumman.
After the end of the Assyrian Empire, Arbil was first controlled by the Medes
Medes
The MedesThe Medes...
and then incorporated into the Achaemenid Empire
Achaemenid Empire
The Achaemenid Empire , sometimes known as First Persian Empire and/or Persian Empire, was founded in the 6th century BCE by Cyrus the Great who overthrew the Median confederation...
before it became part of the empire of Alexander the Great after the Battle of Gaugamela
Battle of Gaugamela
The Battle of Gaugamela took place in 331 BC between Alexander the Great and Darius III of Persia. The battle, which is also called the Battle of Arbela, resulted in a massive victory for the ancient Macedonians and led to the fall of the Achaemenid Empire.-Location:Darius chose a flat, open plain...
, which was fought near Arbil in 331 BC. The Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
and Parthian Empire
Parthian Empire
The Parthian Empire , also known as the Arsacid Empire , was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Persia...
fought over control of Arbil, or Arbira as it was known in that period, and the city became an important Christian centre. During the Sassanid period, Arbil was the seat of a governor. In 340 AD, Christians in Arbil were persecuted and in 358, the governor became a martyr
Martyr
A martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce, or accept, a belief or cause, usually religious.-Meaning:...
when he converted to Christianity. A Nestorian
Nestorianism
Nestorianism is a Christological doctrine advanced by Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople from 428–431. The doctrine, which was informed by Nestorius's studies under Theodore of Mopsuestia at the School of Antioch, emphasizes the disunion between the human and divine natures of Jesus...
school was founded in Arbil by the School of Nisibis
School of Nisibis
The School of Nisibis , for a time absorbed into the School of Edessa, was an educational establishment in Nisibis, modern-day Turkey. It was an important spiritual center of the early Syriac Orthodox Church, and like Gundeshapur, is sometimes referred to as the world's first university. The...
in c. 521. During this period, Arbil was also the site of a Zoroastrian
Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism is a religion and philosophy based on the teachings of prophet Zoroaster and was formerly among the world's largest religions. It was probably founded some time before the 6th century BCE in Greater Iran.In Zoroastrianism, the Creator Ahura Mazda is all good, and no evil...
fire temple
Fire temple
A fire temple in Zoroastrianism is the place of worship for Zoroastrians. Zoroastrians revere fire in any form. In the Zoroastrian religion, fire , together with clean water , are agents of ritual purity...
.
Muslim conquest until the Ottomans
Arbil was conquered by the MuslimMuslim conquests
Muslim conquests also referred to as the Islamic conquests or Arab conquests, began with the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He established a new unified polity in the Arabian Peninsula which under the subsequent Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphates saw a century of rapid expansion of Muslim power.They...
s in the 7th century. It remained an important Christian centre until the 9th century, when the bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
of Arbil moved his seat to Mosul
Mosul
Mosul , is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial...
. From the first half of the 12th century until 1233, Arbil was the seat of the Begteginids, a Turkman
Turkmen people
The Turkmen are a Turkic people located primarily in the Central Asian states of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and northeastern Iran. They speak the Turkmen language, which is classified as a part of the Western Oghuz branch of the Turkic languages family together with Turkish, Azerbaijani, Qashqai,...
dynasty that rose to prominence under the reign of Zengi
Zengi
Imad ad-Din Zengi was the atabeg of Mosul, Aleppo, Hama and Edessa and founder of the Zengid dynasty, to which he gave his name.-Early life:...
, the atabeg
Atabeg
Atabeg, Atabek, or Atabey is a hereditary title of nobility of Turkic origin, indicating a governor of a nation or province who was subordinate to a monarch and charged with raising the crown prince...
of Mosul. Muzaffar Din Gökburi, the second dynast of the Begtegenid dynasty and a staunch supporter of Saladin
Saladin
Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb , better known in the Western world as Saladin, was an Arabized Kurdish Muslim, who became the first Sultan of Egypt and Syria, and founded the Ayyubid dynasty. He led Muslim and Arab opposition to the Franks and other European Crusaders in the Levant...
, created a lower town around the city on the citadel mound and founded hospitals and madrasah
Madrasah
Madrasah is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, whether secular or religious...
s. Gökburi died in 1233 without an heir and control of Arbil shifted to the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mustansir
Al-Mustansir
Al-Mustansir was the penultimate Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad from 1226 to 1242. He was the son of az-Zahir and the grandson of an-Nasir. His lasting contribution was the founding of the Mustansiriya Madrasah on the banks of the Tigris in 1233....
after he had besieged the city.
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 for an approaching Caliphal army before they could capture the citadel. After the fall of Baghdad to the Mongols in 1258, they returned to Arbil and were able to capture the citadel after a siege lasting six months. The Mongols appointed a Christian governor to the town and there was an influx of Jacobite
Syriac Orthodox Church
The Syriac Orthodox Church; is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church based in the Eastern Mediterranean, with members spread throughout the world. The Syriac Orthodox Church claims to derive its origin from one of the first Christian communities, established in Antioch by the Apostle St....
s, who were allowed to build a church. Persecutions of Christians started however in 1289, leading up to the massacre of all Christians in both the lower town and the citadel town in 1310.
During the Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
period, Arbil was part of the province
Subdivisions of the Ottoman Empire
The subdivisions of the Ottoman Empire were administrative divisions of the state organisation of the Ottoman Empire. Outside this system were various types of vassal and tributary states....
of Baghdad, which was established in 1535. In 1743, the city was held for a short time by the Afsharid
Afsharid dynasty
The Afsharids were members of an Iranian dynasty of Turkmen origin from Khorasan who ruled Persia in the 18th century. The dynasty was founded in 1736 by the military commander Nader Shah who deposed the last member of the Safavid dynasty and proclaimed himself King of Iran. During Nader's reign,...
ruler Nader Shah
Nader Shah
Nāder Shāh Afshār ruled as Shah of Iran and was the founder of the Afsharid dynasty. Because of his military genius, some historians have described him as the Napoleon of Persia or the Second Alexander...
after a siege lasting 60 days. An engraving from 1820 shows that at that time both the citadel mound and the plain at its southern foot were occupied. Mohammed Khor, a local Kurdish
Kurdish people
The Kurdish people, or Kurds , are an Iranian people native to the Middle East, mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey...
beg
Bey
Bey is a title for chieftain, traditionally applied to the leaders of small tribal groups. Accoding to some sources, the word "Bey" is of Turkish language In historical accounts, many Turkish, other Turkic and Persian leaders are titled Bey, Beg, Bek, Bay, Baig or Beigh. They are all the same word...
of Rowanduz
Rowanduz
The town Rawandiz is a city of Iraq, which located in the sub-district of Soran, in the Arbil Governorate of Iraqi Kurdistan, close to the Iranian border.The population in 2003 was 95,089...
, controlled Arbil for a short period in 1862. In 1892, the town had approximately 3,200 inhabitants, including a sizeable Jewish
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
minority.
Modern period
During the 20th century, the citadel witnessed significant urban and social changes. A 15 metres (49.2 ft) high steel water tank was erected on the citadel in 1924, providing the inhabitants with purified water, but also causing water damage to the foundations of the buildings due to increased water seepage. The number of inhabitants gradually declined over the 20th century as the city at the foot of the citadel grew and wealthier inhabitants moved to larger, modern houses with gardens. In 1960, over 60 houses, a mosque and a school were demolished to make way for a straight road connecting the southern gate with the northern gate. Some reconstruction works were carried in 1979 on the citadel's southern gate and the hammam. In 2007, the remaining 840 families were evicted from the citadel as part of a large project to restore and preserve the historic character of the citadel. These families were offered financial compensation. One family was allowed to continue living on the citadel to ensure that there would be no break in the possible 8,000 years of continuous habitation of the site, and the government plans to have 50 families live in the citadel once it is renovated. In 2004, the Kurdish Textile MuseumKurdish Textile Museum
The Kurdish Textile Museum is a museum devoted to textiles produced in Iraqi Kurdistan. It was established in 2004 and is located in a renovated mansion in the southeast quarter of the Citadel of Arbil....
opened its doors in a renovated mansion in the southeast quarter of the citadel.
Architecture and layout
The citadel is situated on a large tell – or settlement mound – of roughly oval shape that is between 25 and 32 m (82 and 105 ) high. The area on top of the mound measures 430 by 340 m (1,410.8 by 1,115.5 ) and is 102000 square metres (121,991 sq yd) large. Natural soil has been found at a depth of 36 metres (118.1 ft) below the present surface of the mound. The angleSlope
In mathematics, the slope or gradient of a line describes its steepness, incline, or grade. A higher slope value indicates a steeper incline....
of the citadel mound's slopes is c. 45°. Three ramps, located on the northern, eastern and southern slopes of the mound, lead up to gates in the outer ring of houses. The southern gate was the oldest and was rebuilt at least once, in 1860, and demolished in 1960. The current gate house was constructed in 1979. The eastern gate is called the Harem Gate and was used by women. It seems unclear when the northern gate was opened. One source claims that it was opened in 1924, while another observes that there were only two gates in 1944 – the southern and eastern gates.
During the early 20th century, there were three mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
s, two schools, two takyas and a hammam on the citadel. The citadel also housed a synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
until 1957. The only religious structure that currently survives is the Mulla Afandi
Mulla Effendi
Mulla Abu Bakr Effendi, also Mulla Effendi , also Abu Bakr IIII or Küçük Mulla was a senior Kurdish Muslim cleric, Islamic philosopher, scholar, astronomer, politician, and a prominent Iraqi personality from Arbil, Iraq.Mulla Effendi was born into a respected and intellectual family of Islamic...
Mosque, which was rebuilt on the location of an earlier 19th-century mosque. The hammam was built in 1775 by Qassim Agha Abdullah. It went out of service during the 1970s and was renovated in 1979, although many original architectural details were lost.
When it was still occupied, the citadel was divided in three districts or mahalla
Mahalla
A mahalla is an urban division in Uzbekistan. Historically, mahallas were autonomous social institutions built around familial ties and Islamic rituals. Before the establishment of the Soviet rule in Uzbekistan, Mahallas fulfilled local self-government functions connecting private sphere with...
s: from east to west the Serai, the Takya and the Topkhana. The Serai was occupied by notable families; the Takya district was named after the homes of dervish
Dervish
A Dervish or Darvesh is someone treading a Sufi Muslim ascetic path or "Tariqah", known for their extreme poverty and austerity, similar to mendicant friars in Christianity or Hindu/Buddhist/Jain sadhus.-Etymology:The Persian word darvīsh is of ancient origin and descends from a Proto-Iranian...
es, which are called takyas; and the Topkhana district housed craftsmen and farmers. An inventory made in 1920 shows that at time the citadel was divided in 506 house plots. Since that time, the number of houses and inhabitants has gradually declined. For example, in 1984, 4,466 people lived in 375 houses whereas a 1995 census showed that the citadel had only 1,631 inhabitants living in 247 houses. Until the opening-up of the main north–south thoroughfare, the streets on the citadel mound radiated outward from the southern gate like the branches of a tree. Streets were between 1 and 2.5 m (3.3 and 8.2 ) wide and ranged in length from 300 metres (984.3 ft) for major alleyways to 30 – for cul-de-sac
Cul-de-sac
A cul-de-sac is a word of French origin referring to a dead end, close, no through road or court meaning dead-end street with only one inlet/outlet...
s.
The perimeter wall of the citadel is not a continuous fortification wall, but consists of the façades of approximately 100 houses that have been built against each other. Because they have been built on or near the steep slope of the citadel mound, many of these façades were strengthened by buttress
Buttress
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall...
es to prevent their collapse or subsidence
Subsidence
Subsidence is the motion of a surface as it shifts downward relative to a datum such as sea-level. The opposite of subsidence is uplift, which results in an increase in elevation...
. There were circa 30 city-palaces; most of them located along the perimeter of the citadel. The oldest surviving house that can be securely dated through an inscription was built in 1893. The oldest houses can be found on the southeastern side of the mound, whereas houses on the northern perimeter date to the 1930s–1940s. Before the introduction of modern building techniques, most houses on the citadel were built around a courtyard. A raised arcade
Arcade (architecture)
An arcade is a succession of arches, each counterthrusting the next, supported by columns or piers or a covered walk enclosed by a line of such arches on one or both sides. In warmer or wet climates, exterior arcades provide shelter for pedestrians....
overlooking the courtyard, a flat roof and a bent-access entrance to prevent views of the courtyard and the interior of the house were characteristic elements of the houses on the citadel.
Research and restoration
University of West Bohemia
The University of West Bohemia is a university in Pilsen, Czech Republic. It was founded in 1991 and consists of seven faculties.-Organization:The faculties are the basic units of the university. The units implement their own academic programs...
, together with Salahaddin University
Salahaddin University
Salahaddin University is an educational institution in in Arbil , capital of Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq. One of the oldest and largest institutions of higher learning in Kurdistan Region, Salahaddin University was established in 1968 and was originally based in Sulaimaniya. It was...
in Arbil, carried out an extensive survey and evaluation of the entire citadel. As part of this project, geodetic
Geodesy
Geodesy , also named geodetics, a branch of earth sciences, is the scientific discipline that deals with the measurement and representation of the Earth, including its gravitational field, in a three-dimensional time-varying space. Geodesists also study geodynamical phenomena such as crustal...
measurements of the citadel were taken and these were combined with satellite imagery
Satellite imagery
Satellite imagery consists of photographs of Earth or other planets made by means of artificial satellites.- History :The first images from space were taken on sub-orbital flights. The U.S-launched V-2 flight on October 24, 1946 took one image every 1.5 seconds...
, regular photographic imagery and aerial photographs
Aerial photography
Aerial photography is the taking of photographs of the ground from an elevated position. The term usually refers to images in which the camera is not supported by a ground-based structure. Cameras may be hand held or mounted, and photographs may be taken by a photographer, triggered remotely or...
to create a map and digital 3D model of the citadel mound and the houses on top of it. Geophysical prospection
Geophysical survey
Geophysical survey is the systematic collection of geophysical data for spatial studies. Geophysical surveys may use a great variety of sensing instruments, and data may be collected from above or below the Earth's surface or from aerial or marine platforms. Geophysical surveys have many...
was carried out in some areas of the citadel to detect traces of older architecture buried under the present houses. Archaeological investigations included an archaeological survey
Archaeological field survey
Archaeological field survey is the method by which archaeologists search for archaeological sites and collect information about the location, distribution and organization of past human cultures across a large area...
on the western slope of the citadel mound, and the excavation of a small test trench in the eastern part of the citadel.
A Neo-Assyrian chamber tomb
Chamber tomb
A chamber tomb is a tomb for burial used in many different cultures. In the case of individual burials, the chamber is thought to signify a higher status for the interree than a simple grave. Built from rock or sometimes wood, the chambers could also serve as places for storage of the dead from one...
was found at the foot of the citadel mound during construction activities in 2009. It was subsequently excavated by the local Antiquities Service and archaeologists from the German Archaeological Institute
German Archaeological Institute
The German Archaeological Institute is an institution of research within the field of archaeology , and a "scientific corporation", with parentage of the federal Foreign Office of Germany-Origin:...
(DAI). The tomb was plundered in antiquity but still contained pottery dating to the 8th and 7th centuries BC. The cooperation between the Antiquities Service and the DAI was continued later that year with a further investigation of the tomb and with a small excavation nearby and geophysical survey of the surrounding area, in which also students from Salahaddin University participated. These investigations revealed the presence of architecture probably dating to the Neo-Assyrian period, as well as more burials belonging to subsequent centuries.
In 2007, the Kurdistan Regional Government
Kurdistan Regional Government
The Kurdistan Regional Government , , is the official ruling body of the predominantly Kurds-populated Kurdistan Region in Northern Iraq...
(KRG) established the High Commission for Erbil Citadel Revitalization (HCECR) to preserve and restore the citadel with the help of UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
. Among other things, the HCECR advocates the establishment of a zone extending up to 300 – from the citadel in which building height should be restricted to approximately 10 metres (32.8 ft). This would ensure the visual dominance of the citadel over its surroundings. On 8 January 2010, the HCECR and the Iraqi State Board for Antiquities and Heritage (SBAH) submitted the Citadel of Erbil to the Iraqi Tentative List of sites that are considered for nomination as World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
. The submission states that "The Citadel is today one of the most dramatic and visually exciting cultural sites not only in the Middle East but also in the world." Two further agreements between the HCECR and UNESCO were signed in March 2010, and it was disclosed that Arbil Governorate will finance the restoration project with US$13 million. The first restoration works have been carried out in June 2010.
External links
- Citadel Documentation Project lfgm.fsv.cvut.cz
- High Commission for Erbil Citadel Revitalization erbilcitadel.org
- Research of the citadel at Arbil, Iraqi Kurdistan kar.zcu.cz