Erbil Citadel

History

The Citadel Town of Erbil, or Qala’t Erbil, is an impressive elevated settlement that has been inhabited continuously for millennia. Although it’s exact origins cannot be traced with certainty, there are strong archaeological indications and finds, however, to indicate that it goes back to some 6000 years. The fortified town itself must have been present during to the Assyrian Period (1365-612 BC), or some 3000 years ago.

Some archaeologists believe that the site has been settled in since the Neolithic to Mid Bronze Age period (6000-1500 BC).

There are several conjectural possibilities as to how Erbil Citadel Town originated and developed its present form. They may be outlined as follows:

1. Gradual Accumulation:
That the mound represents a gradual accumulation of historical settlement layers rising slowly to reach its present height of some 30 meters. If one assumes that the age of the citadel is around 6000 years then this means that its height has been rising at the rate of 1 meter every 200 years. Although this rate seems to be a very slow one but is, nevertheless, reasonable when compared with archaeological evidence.

2. Assyrian Settlement:
That it may have been an Assyrian settlement with a ziggurat in the middle surrounded by temples. And that when it was destroyed and abandoned, it turned into a heap of ruin. Then, at a later stage, it compacted and presented itself as a very useful “Tell” and defensible ground for human habitation.

3. Man-Made Mound:
That the mound was artificially created by people who desired to live in this fertile land but needed a fortified site. Of course, this would have needed a massive human effort which is unprecedented in the history of human settlements in Mesopotamia.

4. Natural Mound:
That the mound was a natural one, perhaps a few meters high and risen gradually by human habitation. The flat land geography of the area, however, makes this proposition unlikely. Also, the shape and the slope of the Tell appear so ‘organized’ that it makes it unlikely to have been a typically undulating natural mound.

Location

The citadel town of Erbil lies in the middle of the Greater City of Erbil. It lies between longitudinal lines (45.05 E, 43.4 E) and latitudinal lines (37.20 N, 36.25 N). Although it is now completely engulfed by the huge expanse of the modern city it still lies at the heart of the busy central commercial district.

Erbil is the Capital City of the Kurdish Regional Government in Iraq and is about 350 kilometers northeast of Baghdad, 80 kilometers southeast of Mosul, and 96 kilometers northwest of Sulaimaniya.
The city may be reached by car from all major towns of Iraq and also from the neighboring countries of Iran, Turkey, Syria and Jordan by a modern system of highways. There is also an international airport which is only about 7 kilometers west of the citadel.

Once you are near the citadel you may walk up the steps of the Southern Gate or walk up the ramp of the Northern Gate. Alternatively, you can take a taxi to take you up the northern gate. Then, from either gate you may walk through the meandering alleyways of the town and visit its beautiful restored houses, the mosque, the public baths (hammam), and its numerous cultural attractions and museums. Moreover, certain vantage points at the peripheral wall of the town offer fantastic views of the city of Erbil below- ideal for the keen photographer.

Topografy

The citadel town of Erbil is elliptical in overall form and rises to about 28-32 meters above the surrounding city below. Because of this height it dominates the city’s skyline although, recently, this visual domination has become seriously threatened by new high-rise commercial development very close to it. If this high-rise development is continued to be allowed it will soon be completely suffocated and its dramatic visual dominance will be a thing of the past.

Its longer dimension (east-west axis) is about 430 meters long and its shorter one (north-south axis) is about 340 meters long. It encloses an area slightly more than 10 hectares. The slope, which surrounds the citadel all around, is earthen and steeply inclines between 35 to 60 degrees. The slope is steeper on the northwestern side than other sides.
The climate of the city is semi-arid continental in nature, with four clearly defined seasons. Summers are hot and dry with mean temperature highs of 39-43 degrees Celsius and without rainfall. Winters are mildly cold averaging some 7 degrees Celsius with an average of 56 mm. of rain. Spring is a most pleasant season in Kurdistan. Mean high temperatures range from 13-18 degrees Celsius in March to 27-32 degrees in May.

However, during the hot summer time, the citadel enjoys a markedly cooler micro-climate. This is because its narrow alleyways provide continuous shade and induce pleasant breezes. Moreover, the interiors of its traditional buildings offer a very pleasant and comfortable environment. Open courtyards are usually planted with trees and occasionally have water fountains. The thickness of brick walls and other passive cooling techniques such as semi-basements and window screens offer added advantages.

The High Commission for Erbil Citadel Revitalization

Erbil Citadel is an impressive elevated settlement that has been inhabited continuously for millennia. Although it’s exact origins cannot be traced with certainty, there are strong archaeological indications and finds, however, to indicate that it goes back to some 6000 years. The fortified town itself must have been present during to the Assyrian Period (1365-612 BC), or some 3000 years ago.

The only way to discover the real age and origin of the citadel, however, is to make systematic and scientific archaeological excavations deep down into the middle and other selected points of the mound. Unfortunately, this has not been done yet. It is hoped that such excavations may start in the near future and, any major discovery of an archaeological find would provide a great boost to its enhancement and revitalization.

The present name of “Erbil” is derived from the Assyrian word “Arba-Illu” meaning “Four Gods”. Other derivative names include: Arbailu, Arabales, Arbira, and Urbi-Lum as was mentioned by the Sumerian King, Shulki of the Third Dynasty (2000 BC). In Kurdish it is now called Hawler.

The Assyrian city of Erbil was thus a sanctuary for four worshipped gods. These included Ishtar, the great goddess of love and war, and Assur, the national god of Assyria. The other two gods are not yet known. During the reigns of the Assyrian kings Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal (688-627 BC). King Sennacherib (705-681 BC) constructed a water canal all the way from Pistora Valley to Erbil, some 20 kilometers away. The head of this canal still survives with a cuneiform inscription stating: I, King Sennacherib, dug three rivers from the mountains of Khani Alti above Arba-Illu, the home of goddess Ishtar, and straightened their course.

In 331 BC, the Achaemenid king Darius lll was defeated by Alexander the Great near this town. The town seems to have continued to occupy the mound during Roman and Parthian times and became under Christian influence when the Roman Empire was converted to Christianity by Constantine in AD 325. Then, it became under Sassanian rule until they were deposed by the Muslim Arabs led by Uqba bin Farqad in AD 640.

The conquest of Erbil by Muslims was achieved without any serious resistance. The town continued to thrive and prosper but was now contested by the rising power of Mosul which became the metropolitan capital of the northern region of Mesopotamia since the 9th Century AD. Erbil was referred to by Arab geographers as a leading town in the district of Hulwan.

The town regained its political and economic importance in AD 1167 when it became the capital of the Kurdish Emir Zain al-Din Ali Kuchuk Begtegin. He was the former ruler of Sinjar, Harran, and Tikrit. However, the most famous of this dynasty was Muzaffar al-Din Kokbari, a brother-in-law of Saladin. During his long rule, which spanned from 1190-1232, Erbil thrived and experienced a remarkable growth that extended beyond the confines of the upper citadel city and occupied the southern foothills for the first time. A notable personality of this period, Abu al-Abbas al-Khidhir who was born in 1085, became the preacher for a madrassa built in the citadel by Abu Manzoor Sarvatkin in 1138.

This lower walled town, which became known as al-Muzaffariya, after the name of its ruler, covered a relatively large area which included houses, suqs, khans, hospitals, mosques, and madrassas (schools). This growth was inevitable because the upper town had reached its limit and that there was by now a general feeling of security. To this day, a beautiful brick minaret remains from the so-called al-Muzaffariya madrassa (or Choli). The madrassa as well as all the historic fabric of Muzaffariya town have totally disappeared and replaced by modern development over the years.

On the death of Kokbari in 1132, Erbil became under the rule of the Abbasid Caliph al-Mustansir in Baghdad through an appointed Wali or Governor. Then in 1235 lower Erbil was attacked and ransacked by the Mongols. However, they could not capture the fortified upper town until Baghdad itself and devastated by the Mongols in 1258. It seems that they achieved this difficult military task only when they secured the cooperation of Badr al-Din Lu’lu’, the then ruler of Mosul (1222-1259), and was rewarded by being appointed as the ruler of Erbil and the region.

The famous historian of Erbil, Abu al-Barakat Ibn al-Mustawfi (1169-1239), who was born in the citadel and became a Minister under Kokbari, was in the citadel when it was besieged by the Mongols. Another notable historian from this period was Shams al-Din bin khalkan who is well known for his 9- volume work entitled “Wafayat al-Aa’yan”. He was appointed a Minister but resigned his post after the death of Kokbari.

In 1261, there was an unsuccessful revolt by kokbari’s sons to recapture the town. The socio-political environment was remarkably tolerant when a Christian named Taj al-Din Mukhtas was appointed Governor of Erbil. He seems to have encouraged Christians, Jacobites in particular, to settle in the town and build a church for their community. A conjectural map of al-Muzaffariya during the 13th Century, based on contemporary accounts, shows that it was surrounded by a wall pierced by three gates. It enclosed an area of approximately 120 hectares which included Muzaffariya Madrassa west of the citadel.

Not much is recorded about the history of Erbil between the 13th Century and the mid 16th Century except that it became under the rule of the so-called Turcoman Black Sheep Dynasty (Kara Koyunlu :1411-1470) and the White Sheep Dynasty (Ak Koyunlu:1470-1508). In 1534, the Ottoman Sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent, occupied the town and had its ruler, Izz al-Din Sheer, put to death. He appointed Hussein Beg Dasni as ruler and maintained its administrative following to the Pashalik of Baghdad. After a period of intense competition between the Ottoman Turks and the Persian Safavids to control the whole region, Sultan Murad IV finally secured Iraq as an integral part of the Ottoman Empire in 1638.

The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries witnessed severe rivalries between notable local families such as the Baban Emirs who ruled Erbil during this period. An engraving that accompanied a book entitled “Narrative of a Residence in Koordistan” published in 1820 and authored by Claudius Rich (1787-1821), shows the citadel town clearly dominating the surrounding landscape. It also shows that some urban growth around the southern side of the citadel has firmly taken hold and that Muzaffariya minaret stands alone to the west of the town. During most of the 19th Century, Erbil was under the administrative rule of Baghdad but was then separated and linked with the Sanjaq of Shahrazoor after the proclamation of the Ottoman law of Villayets in 1870.

It may be safely assumed that the urban form and structure of Erbil citadel did not change to any significant extent since the 18th Century. It was not until the arrival of the British in Erbil in 1918 and, later, the foundation of the State of Iraq in 1921 that some measure of urban modernization started to take place. The Municipality of Erbil was founded in 1885 and the first Mayor was Ahmad Agha Abdul Wahab. In 1913 the first modern vehicular road was

opened in the lower town. The first Mutasarrif (Governor) was Ahmad Afandi Othman. Electricity did not reach the town until 1932. The longest serving Mayor for the town was Muhsin Agha Mahmoud Agha who served from 1928 to 1958.