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.

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