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139-459: Mosul is considered among the larger and more historically and culturally significant cities of the Arab world . Due to Mosul's strategic location, it has traditionally served as one of the hub of international commerce and travel. The North Mesopotamian dialect of Arabic, commonly known as Moslawi , is named after Mosul and is widely spoken in the region. Together with the nearby Nineveh Plains , Mosul

278-615: A Central Semitic group in southern Levant and northern Arabian peninsula . Arab tribes and federations such as Nabataeans , Tanukhids , Salihids , Ghassanids , and numerous other groups were prevalent in southern Levant ( Syrian Desert ) and northern Arabia. Their expansion beyond Arabia and the Syrian desert is due to the Muslim conquests of the 7th and 8th centuries. Iraq was conquered in 633, Levant (modern Syria, Israel, Palestine, Jordan and Lebanon ) between 636 and 640 CE. Egypt

417-743: A covered market ( qaysariyya ), and its fabrics and flourishing trades. Mesopotamia had been acquired by the Ottoman Empire in 1555 by the Peace of Amasya , but until the Treaty of Zuhab in 1639 Ottoman control over Mesopotamia was not decisive. After the Peace of Amasya, the Safavids recaptured most of Mesopotamia one more time during the reign of king Abbas I (r. 1588–1629). Among the newly appointed Safavid governors of Mesopotamia during those years

556-454: A decade of brutal internal civil wars, significantly weakening it. A war-ravaged Assyria was attacked in 616 BC by a vast coalition of its former subjects, most notably their Babylonian relations from southern Mesopotamia, together with the Medes , Persians , Chaldeans , Scythians , Cimmerians , and Sagartians . Nineveh fell after a siege and bitter house-to-house fighting in 612 BC during

695-580: A decline in Mosul's metalworking industry. There is a relative lack of known metalwork from the Jazira in the late 1200s; meanwhile, an abundance of metalwork from Mamluk Syria and Egypt is attested from this same period. This doesn't necessarily mean that production in Mosul ended, though, and some extant objects from this period may have been made in Mosul. The earliest definite evidence of Mawsili craftsmen emigrating westward to Mamluk Syria and Egypt dates from

834-667: A geopolitical entity. In the late 9th century the Turkic dynasts Ishaq ibn Kundaj and his son Muhammad seized control over Mosul, but in 893 Mosul came once again under the direct control of the Abbasid Caliphate . In the early 10th century Mosul came under the control of the native Arab Hamdanid dynasty . From Mosul, the Hamdanids under Abdallah ibn Hamdan and his son Nasir al-Dawla expanded their control over Upper Mesopotamia for several decades, first as governors of

973-514: A large group of countries, mainly located in West Asia and North Africa . While the majority of people in the Arab world are ethnically Arab , there are also significant populations of other ethnic groups such as Berbers , Kurds , Somalis and Nubians , among other groups . Arabic is used as the lingua franca throughout the Arab world. The Arab world is at its minimum defined as

1112-527: A last offensive against Mosul in late 1185, hoping for an easy victory over the presumably demoralized Zengid Emir of Mosul Mas'ud , but failed due to the city's unexpectedly stiff resistance and a serious illness which caused Saladin to withdraw to Harran . Upon Abbasid encouragement, Saladin and Mas'ud negotiated a treaty in March 1186 that left the Zengids in control of Mosul, but under the obligation to supply

1251-497: A male human head, the body of a lion or bull, and wings. They have heads carved in the round, but the body at the side is in relief . They weigh up to 27 tonnes (30 short tons). In 1847 Layard brought two of the colossi weighing 9 tonnes (10 short tons) each including one lion and one bull to London. After 18 months and several near disasters he succeeded in bringing them to the British Museum . This involved loading them onto

1390-594: A million soldiers." The area where Mosul lies was an integral part of Assyria from as early as the 25th century BC. After the Akkadian Empire (2335–2154 BC), which united all the peoples of Mesopotamia under one rule, Mosul again became a continuous part of Assyria proper from circa 2050 BC through the fall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire between 612 and 599 BC. Mosul remained within the geopolitical province of Assyria for another 13 centuries (as

1529-402: A mixture of Arabs , Kurds , Assyrians , Armenians , Turkmens , Shabaks , a few Jews , and isolated populations of Yazidis , Mandeans , Kawliya and Circassians . Saddam was able to garrison portions of the 5th Army within Mosul, had Mosul International Airport under military control, and recruited heavily from Mosul for his military's officer corps. This may have been because most of

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1668-772: A mixture of Arab and Nubian elements. The Arab Abbasid Caliphate fell to the Mongol invasions in the 13th century. Egypt, the Levant and Hejaz also came under the Turkish Mamluk Sultanate . By 1570, the Turkish Ottoman Empire controlled most of the Arab world. However, Morocco remained under the rule of the Zenata Wattasid dynasty , which was succeeded by the Saadi dynasty in

1807-475: A national cinema. While Egyptian and Lebanese cinema have a long history of production, most other Arab countries did not witness film production until after independence, and even today, the majority of film production in countries like Bahrain, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and the United Arab Emirates is limited to television or short films. There is increased interest in films originating in

1946-618: A new royal mansion of superior size, bigger than previous monarchs'. The kings of Assyria continued to be buried in Assur , but their queens were buried in Kalhu. Kalhu is known today as Nimrud because the archaeologists of the 19th and 20th centuries gave it that name, believing it was the legendary city of the biblical Nimrod , which is mentioned in the Book of Genesis. A grand opening ceremony with festivities and an opulent banquet in 864 BC

2085-530: A nexus for the movement of oil via truck and pipeline to Turkey and Syria. Qyuarrah Refinery was built within about an hour's drive from the city and was used to process tar for road-building projects. It was damaged but not destroyed during the Iran–Iraq War . The opening of the University of Mosul in 1967 enabled the education of many in the city and surrounding area. After Iraq's 1991 uprisings , Mosul

2224-540: A noblewomen of the Ilkhanate during the early 1300s. What started as irregular attacks in 1517 were finalized in 1538, when Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent added Mosul to his empire by capturing it from his archrival, Safavid Persia . Thenceforth Mosul was governed by a pasha . Mosul was celebrated for its line of walls, comprising seven gates with large towers, a renowned hospital ( maristan ) and

2363-480: A part of Achaemenid Assyria , Seleucid , Roman Assyria and Sasanian Asōristān ) until the early Muslim conquests of the mid-7th century. After the Muslim conquests, the region saw a gradual influx of Muslim Arab, Kurdish, and Turkic peoples, although indigenous Assyrians continued to use the name Athura for the ecclesiastical province. Nineveh was one of the oldest and most significant cities in antiquity and

2502-743: A pre-Ottoman, pre- Turcoman , pre- Mongol , Arab cultural heritage that was to put the town on its way to recapturing some of the prestige and prominence it had enjoyed under the golden reign of Badr ad-Din Lu’lu’ ." Along with the al-Umari and Tasin al-Mufti families, the Jalilis formed an "urban-based small and medium gentry and a new landed elite", which proceeded to displace the control of previous rural tribes. Such families establish themselves through private enterprise, solidifying their influence and assets through rents on land and taxes on manufacturing. As well as by elected officials, Mosul's social architecture

2641-456: A role in this transmission. Only two items are definitively known to have been produced in Mosul. The first is the Blacas ewer , made by Shuja' ibn Man'a in 1232, and the second is a silver-inlaid pen box made by Ali ibn Yahya in 1255/6 (653 AH). No other works by either craftsman are known. They form part of the broader Mosul work which consists of 35 known surviving brasses made by artisans with

2780-454: A seminal figure" in the Mosul brasswork industry. The particular phrasing of the "benedictory inscriptions" on his objects, bestowing good luck on their owners, is repeated in several works by other Mosul craftsmen. Two assistants of Ibrahim ibn Mawaliya's are known: his tilmidh (apprentice) Isma'il ibn Ward, and his ghulam Qasim ibn Ali. Ahmad al-Dhaki's workshop was possibly also "intimately connected to others in Mosul". The Mosul metalwork

2919-715: A southwestern region in the Khuzestan Province ; others inhabit the Bushehr and Hormozgan provinces and the city of Qom . Mali and Senegal recognize Hassaniya , the Arabic dialect of the Moorish ethnic minority, as a national language . Greece and Cyprus also recognize Cypriot Maronite Arabic under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages . Additionally, Malta, though not part of

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3058-537: A substantial local power base." Mosul's importance as a trading center declined after the opening of the Suez Canal , which enabled goods to travel to and from India by sea rather than by land through Mosul. Mosul was the capital of Mosul Vilayet , one of the three vilayets ( provinces ) of Ottoman Iraq , with a brief break in 1623, when Persia seized the city. At the end of World War I in October 1918, after

3197-506: A test to be accepted into a craftsman's guild. According to Raby, the Mosul metalwork may have been part of the gifts that Badr al-Din Lu'lu' gave to other rulers to appease them as part of his realpolitik diplomacy. Another notable item tentatively attributed to Mosul metalworkers is the Courtauld bag , which is believed to be the world's oldest surviving handbag . It was likely made for

3336-470: A tradition attached to it, of a palace having been built there by Nimrod". However, the name became the cause of significant debate amongst Assyriologists in the mid-nineteenth century, with much of the discussion focusing on the identification of four Biblical cities mentioned in Genesis 10 : "From that land he went to Assyria, where he built Nineveh, the city Rehoboth-Ir , Calah and Resen ". The site

3475-774: A war crime". The president of the Syriac League in Lebanon compared the losses at the site to the destruction of culture by the Mongol Empire . In November 2016, aerial photographs showed the systematic leveling of the Ziggurat by heavy machines. On 13 November 2016, the Iraqi Army recaptured the city from ISIL. The Joint Operations Command stated that it had raised the Iraqi flag above its buildings and also captured

3614-464: A wheeled cart. They were lowered with a complex system of pulleys and levers operated by dozens of men. The cart was towed by 300 men. He initially tried to hook up the cart to a team of buffalo and have them haul it. However the buffalo refused to move. Then they were loaded onto a barge which required 600 goatskins and sheepskins to keep it afloat. After arriving in London a ramp was built to haul them up

3753-412: A wide reputation or " brand value" lasting for over a century. Part of Raby's argument was that many items shared one or two recurring symbols that "served no practical purpose" and may have been meant as a "brand", "workshop mark", a " guild emblem", or "perhaps as a mark of master craftsmanship". The first one is an octagon filled with complex geometric patterns, which appears on at least 13 items over

3892-577: Is a regional organisation that aims, among other things, to consider in a general way the affairs and interests of the Arab countries and sets out the following definition of an Arab: An Arab is a person whose language is Arabic, who lives in an Arab country, and who is in sympathy with the aspirations of the Arab people. This standard territorial definition is sometimes seen to be inappropriate or problematic, and may be supplemented with certain additional elements (see ancillary linguistic definition below). As an alternative to, or in combination with,

4031-601: Is a member-state of the Arab League, although both Chad and Eritrea are observer states of the League (with possible future membership) and have large populations of Arabic speakers. Israel is not a part of the Arab world. By some definitions, Arab citizens of Israel may concurrently be considered a constituent part of the Arab world. Iran has about 1.5 million Arabic speakers. Iranian Arabs are mainly found in Ahvaz ,

4170-458: Is a rosette with either 10 or 12 leaves found at the bottom of the item - either the base of a ewer or the bottom of the shaft of a candlestick. This is not normally visible, and perhaps because it served no practical purpose, it was eventually abandoned around the middle of the century. The last example of this rosette is the bottom of a candlestick made by Dawud ibn Salama in 1248/9 (646 AH). Raby suggested that Ibrahim ibn Mawaliya "may have been

4309-489: Is also an Afro-Asiatic language. The majority of the population speaks Somali and Afar, although Arabic is also widely used for trade and other activities. The Comoros has three official languages: Arabic, Comorian and French. Comorian is the most widely spoken language, with Arabic having a religious significance, and French being associated with the educational system. Chad , Eritrea and Israel all recognize Arabic as an official or working language, but none of them

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4448-581: Is by far the most common nisbah ; only two others are attested: al-Is'irdi (referring to someone from Siirt ) and al-Baghdadi. There are, however, some scientific instruments inlaid with silver that were made in Syria during this period, with the earliest being 1222/3 (619 AH). Instability after the death of Badr al-Din Lu'lu' in 1259, and especially the Mongol siege and capture of Mosul in July 1262, probably caused

4587-456: Is described in an inscribed stele discovered during archeological excavations. By 800 BC Nimrud had grown to 75,000 inhabitants making it the largest city in the world. King Ashurnasirpal's son Shalmaneser III (858–823 BC) continued where his father had left off. At Nimrud he built a palace that far surpassed his father's. It was twice the size and it covered an area of about 5 hectares (12 acres) and included more than 200 rooms. He built

4726-434: Is in progress. Kalhu was located on a prosperous route and was built of an earlier business community under Shalmaneser I (1274-1245 BCE). Through the centuries, it was in disrepair. The city was established from a previous settlement during the rule of Shalmaneser I (1274-1245 BCE). Ashurnasirpal I ordered the removal of debris from the towers and walls and wanted the construction of a new city. This new city would have

4865-437: Is of an unknown date, but D.S. Rice estimated that it was made around 1200. Production of inlaid brasswork in Mosul may have already begun before the turn of the century. The body of Mosul metalwork significantly expands in the 1220s - several signed and dated items are known from this decade, which according to Julian Raby "probably reflects the craft's growing status and production." In the two decades from roughly 1220 to 1240,

5004-553: Is one of the historical centers of the Assyrian people. Mosul and its surroundings have an ethnically and religiously diverse population; a large majority of its population are Arabs , with Assyrians , Turkmens , Kurds and other minorities comprising the rest of the city's population. Sunni Islam is the largest religion, but there are a significant number of Christians , as well as adherents of other sects of Islam and other minority religions. Historically, essential products of

5143-399: Is the account of Ibn Sa'id , an Andalusian geographer who traveled through the region around 1250. He wrote that "there are many crafts in the city, especially inlaid brass vessels which are exported (and presented) to rulers". These were expensive items that only the wealthiest could afford, and it wasn't until the early 1200s that Mosul had the demand for large-scale production of them. Mosul

5282-459: Is the only example in the Muslim world where metalworkers recorded their relationships between masters and apprentices ( tilmidh ) and hirelings ( ajir ). This was apparently a point of pride for Mosul artisans. Julian Raby speculated that two elaborate but impractically tiny Mosuli objects, a tiny 6x4 cm box made by Isma'il ibn Ward and an anonymous 8-cm-tall bucket, were made as "credential work" by apprentice or journeyman metalworkers as part of

5421-436: Is widely spoken; whether Arabic is an official or national language; or whether an Arabic cognate language is widely spoken. While Arabic dialects are spoken in a number of Arab League states, Literary Arabic is official in all of them. Several states have declared Arabic to be an official or national language , although Arabic is not as widely spoken there. As members of the Arab League, however, they are considered part of

5560-596: The Armistice of Mudros , British forces occupied Mosul. After the war, the city and surrounding area became part of the British-occupied Iraq (1918–1920) and then Mandatory Iraq (1920–1932). This mandate was contested by Turkey, which continued to claim the area on the grounds that it was under Ottoman control during the signature of the Armistice. In the Treaty of Lausanne , the dispute over Mosul

5699-804: The Druzes (mainly in Syria and also in Lebanon, Jordan) and Mandaeans (in Iraq). Formerly, there were significant minorities of Jews throughout the Arab World. However, the Arab–Israeli conflict prompted their mass exodus between 1948 and 1972. Today small Jewish communities remain, ranging anywhere from just 10 in Bahrain , to more than 1,000 in Tunisia and some 3,000 in Morocco . Historically, slavery in

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5838-596: The Mashreq . The majority of the vocabulary in these vernaculars is shared with Standard Arabic, but they also significantly borrow from other languages, such as Berber , French , Spanish and Italian in the Maghreb. Although no globally accepted definition of the Arab world exists, all countries that are members of the Arab League are generally acknowledged as being part of the Arab world. The Arab League

5977-484: The Mashriq at 73.6%. The United Nations published an Arab human development report in 2002, 2003 and 2004. These reports, written by researchers from the Arab world, address some sensitive issues in the development of Arab countries: women empowerment, availability of education and information among others. There is no single description of Arab cinema since it includes films from various countries and cultures of

6116-565: The Middle East , film production was scarce until the late 1960s and early 1970s when filmmakers began to receive funding and financial assistance from state organizations. This was during the post-independence and is when most Arab cinema took root. Most films produced at that time were funded by the state and contained a nationalistic dimension. These films helped to advance certain social causes such as independence, and other social, economic and political agendas. A sustained film industry

6255-427: The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) definition. In post-classical history , the Arab world was synonymous with the historic Arab empires and caliphates. Arab nationalism arose in the second half of the 19th century along with other nationalist movements within the Ottoman Empire . The Arab League was formed in 1945 to represent the interests of Arab people and especially to pursue the political unification of

6394-586: The liwa of Mosul became an independent wilaya ." Despite being a part of the Ottoman Empire, during the four centuries of Ottoman rule Mosul was considered "the most independent district" within the Middle East, following the Roman model of indirect rule through local notables. "Mosuli culture developed less along Ottoman–Turkish lines than along Iraqi–Arab lines; and Turkish, the official language of

6533-409: The nisbah al-Mawsili, by some 27 different makers. 80% of them are from the years 1220 to 1275, and the remaining 20% are from 1275 to about 1325. Modern western scholarship has termed this body of metalwork attributed to Mosul the " Mosul School ", although the validity of this grouping is disputed. The "indiscriminate" attribution of silver-inlaid brasses to Mosul, particularly by Gaston Migeon at

6672-430: The standard territorial definition , various parameters may be applied to determine whether a state or territory should be included in this alternative definition of the Arab world. These parameters may be applied to the states and territories of the Arab League (which constitute the Arab world under the standard definition) and to other states and territories. Typical parameters that may be applied include: whether Arabic

6811-457: The 1250s. Extant Mawsili works from these regions seem to be the result of one particular family setting up workshops in Damascus and then Cairo rather than a mass movement of Mosul artisans to those cities. Five Mawsili craftsmen are known from these two cities in the late 13th century, of which 3 or 4 are members of this same family. The first is Husayn ibn Muhammad al-Mawsili , who produced

6950-694: The 16th to 17th centuries. The Ajuran Sultanate also held sway in the southern part of the Horn region. The sentiment of Arab nationalism arose in the second half of the 19th century along with other nationalisms within the declining Ottoman Empire . When the Ottoman Empire collapsed as a result of World War I , much of the Arab world came to be controlled by the European colonial empires: Mandatory Palestine , Mandatory Iraq , British protectorate of Egypt , French protectorate of Morocco , Italian Libya , French Tunisia , French Algeria , Mandate for Syria and

7089-649: The 19 states where Arabs form at least a plurality of the population. At its maximum it consists of the 22 members of the Arab League , an international organization, which on top of the 19 plurality Arab states also includes the Comoros , Djibouti and Somalia . The region stretches from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the east, and from the Mediterranean Sea in

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7228-465: The 19th century still had its motherhouse in Mosul in the early 21st century. Over 120 Assyrian Iraqi Sisters belonged to this congregation. In the 19th century the Ottoman government started to reclaim central control over its outlying provinces. Their aim was to "restore Ottoman law, and rejuvenate the military" and to revive "a secure tax base for the government". In order to reestablish rule, in 1834

7367-667: The 1st century, although the ancient Mesopotamian religion remained strong until the 4th century. It became an episcopal seat of the Assyrian Church of the East in the 6th century. In 637 (other sources say 641), during the period of the Caliph Umar , Mosul was annexed to the Rashidun Caliphate by Utba ibn Farqad al-Sulami during the early Arab Muslim invasions and conquests, after which Assyria dissolved as

7506-681: The Abbassids and later as de facto independent rulers. A century later they were supplanted by the Uqaylid dynasty . Mosul was conquered by the Seljuk Empire in the 11th century. After a period under semi-independent atabeg such as Mawdud , in 1127 it became the centre of power of the Zengid dynasty . Saladin besieged the city of Mosul unsuccessfully in 1182 After his conquest of Aleppo in 1183, ending Zengid rule in Syria, Saladin made

7645-644: The Arab countries; a project known as Pan-Arabism . In page 9 of Best Divisions for Knowledge of the Regions , 10th century Arab geographer Al Maqdisi used the term Arab regions ( Arabic : أَقَالِيمُ ٱلْعَرَبِ ) to refer to the lands of the Arabian Peninsula (Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen). He also considered Iraq, alongside Upper Mesopotamia (Iraq, Syria and Turkey), Ash-Sham (Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and Turkey), Egypt and

7784-485: The Arab world adhere to Islam , and the religion has official status in most countries. Shariah law exists partially in the legal system in some countries (especially in the Arabian Peninsula ), while others are legislatively secular . The majority of the Arab countries adhere to Sunni Islam . Iraq and Bahrain , however, are Shia majority countries, while Lebanon , Yemen , and Kuwait have large Shia minorities. In Saudi Arabia , Ismailite pockets are also found in

7923-567: The Arab world and therefore does not have one form, structure, or style. In its inception, Arab cinema was mostly an imitation of Western cinema. However, it has and continues to constantly change and evolve. It mostly includes films made in Egypt , Lebanon , Syria , Iraq , Kuwait , Algeria , Morocco , and Tunisia . Egypt is a pioneer in the field, but each country in the region has its own unique cinema. Elsewhere in North Africa and

8062-608: The Arab world under the standard territorial definition. Somalia has two official languages, Arabic and Somali , while Somaliland has three, Arabic, Somali and English . Both Arabic and Somali belong to the larger Afro-Asiatic language family. Although Arabic is widely spoken by many people in the north and urban areas in the south, Somali is the most widely used language, and contains many Arabic loan words . Similarly, Djibouti has two official languages, Arabic and French . It also has several formally recognized national languages; besides Somali, many people speak Afar , which

8201-407: The Arab world, has as its official language Maltese . The language is grammatically akin to Maghrebi Arabic. In the Arab world, Modern Standard Arabic , derived from Classical Arabic (symptomatic of Arabic diglossia ), serves as an official language in the Arab League states, and Arabic dialects are used as lingua franca. Various indigenous languages are also spoken, which predate the spread of

8340-546: The Arab world. For example, films from Algeria , Lebanon , Morocco , Palestine , Syria and Tunisia are making wider and more frequent rounds than ever before in local film festivals and repertoire theaters. Arab cinema has explored many topics from politics, colonialism, tradition, modernity and social taboos. It has also attempted to escape from its earlier tendency to mimic and rely on Western film devices. In fact, colonization did not only influence Arab films, but it also had an impact on Arab movies theaters. Apart from

8479-415: The Arabic language. This contrasts with the situation in the wider Islamic world , where, in contiguous Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan, the Perso-Arabic script is used and Arabic is the primary liturgical language, but the tongue is not official at the state level or spoken as a vernacular . Arabs constitute around one quarter of the 1.5 billion Muslims in the Islamic world. The majority of people in

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8618-404: The Assyrian village of Numaniya, on the edge of the town. By the time Nimrud was retaken, around 90% of the excavated part of the city had been destroyed entirely. Every major structure had been damaged, the Ziggurat of Nimrud had been flattened, only a few scattered broken walls remained of the palace of Ashurnasirpal II, the Lamassu that once guarded its gates had been smashed and scattered across

8757-437: The Ayyubids with military support when requested. The city remained in control of the Zengids, until Badr al-Din Lu'lu' took over from 1234 to 1259. During the final stages of the Mongol invasion of Persia and Mesopotamia , in 1258, while about 80 years old, Badr al-Din Lu'lu' went in person to Meraga to offer his submission to the Mongol invader Hulagu . Badr al-Din helped the Khan in his following campaigns in Syria. Mosul

8896-409: The British Museum by Layard and the British archaeologist Hormuzd Rassam . Also in the British Museum is the famous Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III , discovered by Layard in 1846. This stands six-and-a-half-feet tall and commemorates with inscriptions and 24 relief panels the king's victorious campaigns of 859–824 BC. It is shaped like a temple tower at the top, ending in three steps. Series of

9035-419: The GPI of Yemen is only 0.46 in a 53% adult literacy rate. Literacy rate is higher among the youth than adults. Youth literacy rate (ages 15–24) in the Arab region increased from 63.9 to 76.3% from 1990 to 2002. The average rate of GCC States * Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) was 94%, followed by the Maghreb at 83.2% and

9174-426: The Iraqi Army officers and generals were from Mosul long before the Saddam regime. Arab world The Arab world ( Arabic : اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ al-ʿālam al-ʿarabī ), formally the Arab homeland ( اَلْوَطَنُ الْعَرَبِيُّ al-waṭan al-ʿarabī ), also known as the Arab nation ( اَلْأُمَّةُ الْعَرَبِيَّةُ al-ummah al-ʿarabiyyah ), the Arabsphere , or the Arab states , comprises

9313-407: The Islamic world was first developed in Khurasan in the 12th century by silversmiths facing a shortage of silver. By the mid-12th century, Herat in particular had gained a reputation for its high-quality inlaid metalwork. The practice of inlaying "required relatively few tools" and the technique spread westward, perhaps by Khurasani artisans moving to other cities. By the turn of the 13th century,

9452-421: The Lebanon and the so-called Trucial States , a British protectorate formed by the sheikhdoms on the former "Pirate Coast". Nimrud Nimrud ( / n ɪ m ˈ r uː d / ; Syriac : ܢܢܡܪܕ Arabic : النمرود ) is an ancient Assyrian city (original Assyrian name Kalḫu , biblical name Calah) located in Iraq, 30 kilometres (20 mi) south of the city of Mosul , and 5 kilometres (3 mi) south of

9591-428: The Maghreb (Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia and Western Sahara Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic) to be part of the Arab regions. Malta , an island country in Southern Europe whose national language derives from Arabic (through Sicilian Arabic ), is not included in the region. Similarly, Chad , Eritrea and Israel recognize Arabic as one of their official or working languages but are not included in

9730-467: The Middle Ages by a number of Arabic geographers including Yaqut al-Hamawi , Abu'l-Fida and Ibn Sa'id al-Maghribi , using the name "Athur" (meaning Assyria) near Selamiyah. The name Nimrud in connection with the site in Western writings was first used in the travelogue of Carsten Niebuhr , who was in Mosul in March 1760. Niebuhr In 1830, traveller James Silk Buckingham wrote of "two heaps called Nimrod-Tuppé and Shah-Tuppé... The Nimrod-Tuppé has

9869-449: The Mosque of the Prophet Jonah in Mosul. In early 2015, they announced their intention to destroy many ancient artifacts, which they deemed idolatrous or otherwise un-Islamic; they subsequently destroyed thousands of books and manuscripts in Mosul's libraries. In February 2015, ISIL destroyed Akkadian monuments in the Mosul Museum , and on March 5, 2015, Iraq announced that ISIL militants had bulldozed Nimrud and its archaeological site on

10008-446: The Mosul brass industry saw "rapid innovations in technique, decoration, and composition". Artisans were inspired by miniature paintings produced in the Mosul area. Mosul seems to have become predominant among Muslim centers of metalwork in the early 13th century. Evidence is partial and indirect - relatively few objects which directly state where they were made exist, and in the rest of cases it depends on nisbah s. However, al-Mawsili

10147-437: The Muslim world developed out of pre-Islamic practices of slavery in the Arab world . According to UNESCO , the average rate of adult literacy (ages 15 and older) in this region is 78% . In Mauritania the rate is lower than the average, at less than 50%. Bahrain , Palestine , Kuwait , Qatar , and Jordan record a high adult literacy rate of over 95%. The average rate of adult literacy shows steady improvement, and

10286-588: The Nile Valley, Levant and northern Iraq respectively. There are also Assyrian , Armenian , Syriac - Aramean and Arab Christians throughout Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Lebanon and Jordan. There are also native Arab Christian communities in Algeria, Bahrain, Morocco, Kuwait and Tunisia. Smaller ethno-religious minorities across the Arab League include the Yezidis , Yarsan and Shabaks (mainly in Iraq),

10425-702: The Seleucid satrapy of Syria , the Greek term for Assyria ("Syria" originally meaning Assyria rather than the modern nation of Syria ), which the Parthian Empire conquered circa 150 BC. Mosul changed hands again with the rise of the Sasanian Empire in 225 and became a part of the Sasanian province of Asōristān . Christianity was present among the indigenous Assyrian people in Mosul as early as

10564-775: The State, was certainly not the dominant language in the province." In line with its status as a politically stable trade route between the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf , Mosul developed considerably during the 17th and early 18th centuries. Like the development of the Mamluk dynasty in Baghdad, during this time "the Jalili family was establishing itself as the undisputed master of Mosul" and "helping to connect Mosul with

10703-545: The Tigris around where Mosul is today ( Anabasis , III.iv.10). It may be safer to identify Xenophon's Mépsila with the site of Iski Mosul, or "Old Mosul," about 30 km (19 mi) north of modern Mosul, where six centuries after Xenophon's report, the Sasanian Empire 's center of Budh-Ardhashir was built. In any case, "Mepsila" is doubtless the root of the current name. In its current Arabic form and spelling,

10842-637: The UK's Arts and Humanities Research Council funded the "Nimrud Project", directed by Eleanor Robson , whose aims were to write the history of the city in ancient and modern times, to identify and record the dispersal history of artefacts from Nimrud, distributed amongst at least 76 museums worldwide (including 36 in the United States and 13 in the United Kingdom). In 2015, the terrorist organization Islamic State announced its intention to destroy

10981-500: The absolute number of adult illiterates fell from 64 million to around 58 million between 1990 and 2000–2004. Overall, the gender disparity in adult literacy is high in this region, and of the illiteracy rate, women account for two-thirds, with only 69 literate women for every 100 literate men. The average GPI (Gender Parity Index) for adult literacy is 0.72, and gender disparity can be observed in Egypt, Morocco, and Yemen. Above all,

11120-444: The age of 18. Rapists are often treated leniently or acquitted in the Arab region if they marry their victims. 37% of Arab women experienced violence in their lifetime, but the numbers may be higher according to indicators. In some countries, the share of women experiencing violence and abuse by intimate partner reaches 70%. Table of largest cities in the Arab world by official city propers : The Arabs historically originate as

11259-602: The ancient Near East, and were in a palace storeroom and other locations. These are mainly in the British Museum and the National Museum of Iraq , as well as other museums. Another storeroom held the Nimrud Bowls, about 120 large bronze bowls or plates, also imported. The "Treasure of Nimrud" unearthed in these excavations is a collection of 613 pieces of gold jewelry and precious stones. It has survived

11398-582: The area include Mosul marble and oil . Mosul is home to the University of Mosul and its renowned Medical College, one of the Middle East's largest educational and research centers. The city's name is first mentioned by Xenophon in his expeditionary logs in Achaemenid Assyria of 401 BC, during the reign of the Persian Achaemenid Empire . There, he notes a small Assyrian town of "Mépsila" ( Ancient Greek : Μέψιλα ) on

11537-443: The basis of a cuneiform reading of "Levekh" which he connected to the city following Ainsworth and Rich's connection of Xenophon's Larissa to the site. Initial excavations at Nimrud were conducted by Austen Henry Layard , working from 1845 to 1847 and from 1849 until 1851. Following Layard's departure, the work was handed over to Hormuzd Rassam in 1853-54 and then William Loftus in 1854–55. After George Smith briefly worked

11676-458: The basis that the city of Birtha described by Ptolemy and Ammianus Marcellinus has the same etymological meaning as Rehoboth in Hebrew. Sir Henry Rawlinson mentioned that the Arabic geographers referred to it as Athur . British traveler Claudius James Rich mentions, "one or two of the better informed with whom I conversed at Mosul said it was Al Athur or Ashur, from which the whole country

11815-499: The basis that they were blasphemous. A member of ISIL filmed the destruction, declaring, "These ruins that are behind me, they are idols and statues that people in the past used to worship instead of Allah. The Prophet Muhammad took down idols with his bare hands when he went into Mecca . We were ordered by our prophet to take down idols and destroy them , and the companions of the prophet did this after this time, when they conquered countries ." ISIL declared an intention to destroy

11954-529: The city of Kalhu (the Biblical Calah , modern Nimrud ) as his capital in place of the ancient traditional capital of Aššur ( Ashur ), 30 km (19 mi) from present-day Mosul. Thereafter, successive Assyrian emperor-monarchs, such as Shalmaneser III , Adad-nirari III , Tiglath-Pileser III , Shalmaneser V and Sargon II , continued to expand the city. Around 700 BC, King Sennacherib made Nineveh Assyria's new capital. Immense building work

12093-476: The city, as well as introducing Eastern Aramaic as the lingua franca of the empire, whose dialects still endure among the Christian Assyrians of the region today. However, in 706 BC Sargon II (722–705 BC) moved the capital of the empire to Dur Sharrukin , and after his death, Sennacherib (705–681 BC) moved it to Nineveh . It remained a major city and a royal residence until the city

12232-479: The concept of the Mosul School, arguing that the city did have a distinct metalworking tradition with its own techniques, styles and motifs, and sense of community. He compared Mosul's metalwork to Kashan 's pottery and wrote that "Mawsili metalworkers displayed a conscious sense of community and tradition and, at least in the early years, a proud acknowledgement of tradition" and that the city's metalwork gained

12371-572: The confusions and looting after the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in a bank vault, where it had been put away for 12 years and was "rediscovered" on June 5, 2003. One panel of the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III has an inscription which includes the name Ia-ú-a mar Hu-um-ri-i Whilst Rawlinson originally translated this in 1850 as "Yahua, son of Hubiri", a year later reverend Edward Hincks , suggested it refers to king Jehu of Israel (2 Kings 9:2 ff. Whilst other interpretations exist,

12510-485: The course of three decades: the 1220s through the 1240s. Several of the most important Mosul artists from what Raby terms the "second generation of Mosul metalwork" all used this symbol: Ahmad al-Dhaki , Ibn Jaldak, Shuja' ibn Man'a, Dawud ibn Salama, and Yunus ibn Yusuf. A notable absence is Ibrahim ibn Mawaliya, a member of the first generation. The octagon disappears after about 1250, and is also not used by workers known to have been outside Mosul. Another recurring symbol

12649-467: The current state of Arab cinema. Women in the Arab world are still denied equality of opportunity , although their disenfranchisement is a critical factor crippling the Arab nations' quest to return to the first rank of global leaders in commerce, learning and culture, according to a United Nations -sponsored report in 2008. According to the United Nations, 14% of Arab girls are married by

12788-458: The director of the Polish project, with the permission of the Iraqi excavation team, had the whole site documented on film—in slide film and black-and-white print film. Every relief that remained in situ, as well as the fallen, broken pieces that were distributed in the rooms across the site were photographed. Meuszyński also arranged with the architect of his project, Richard P. Sobolewski, to survey

12927-418: The distinctive Assyrian shallow reliefs were removed from the palaces and sections are now found in several museums (see gallery below), in particular the British Museum . These show scenes of hunting, warfare, ritual and processions. The Nimrud Ivories are a large group of ivory carvings, probably mostly originally decorating furniture and other objects, that had been brought to Nimrud from several parts of

13066-460: The earliest known silver-inlaid work from Damascus in the late 1250s. His presumed son, Ali ibn Husayn ibn Muhammad al-Mawsili , was active in Cairo several decades later. However, the earliest known silver-inlaid brasswork from Cairo belongs to another presumed member of this family, Muhammad ibn Hasan. His one known work, a candlestick dated to 1269, has an inscription which suggests he died before it

13205-505: The eastern Al-Hasa region and the southern city of Najran. Ibadi Islam is practiced in Oman , where Ibadis constitute around 75% of Muslims. There are also Christian adherents in the Arab world, particularly in Egypt , Syria , Lebanon , Iraq , Jordan , and Palestine . Small native Christian communities can be found also throughout the Arabian Peninsula and North Africa . Coptic , Maronite and Assyrian Christian enclaves exist in

13344-480: The god of writing and the arts, and as extensive fortifications. In 1988, the Iraqi Department of Antiquities discovered four queens' tombs at the site. Nimrud has been one of the main sources of Assyrian sculpture , including the famous palace reliefs. Layard discovered more than half a dozen pairs of colossal guardian figures guarding palace entrances and doorways. These are lamassu , statues with

13483-419: The history of Arab cinema, recently the portrayal of women became an important aspect in the production of Arab cinema. Arab women shaped a great portion of the film industry in the Arab world by employing their cinematic talents in improving the production of Arab films. The production of Arab cinema has declined in the last decades and many filmmakers in the Middle East gathered to hold a meeting and discuss

13622-499: The history of the alphabet. Nimrud's various monuments had faced threats from exposure to the harsh elements of the Iraqi climate. Lack of proper protective roofing meant that the ancient reliefs at the site were susceptible to erosion from wind-blown sand and strong seasonal rains. In mid-2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) occupied the area surrounding Nimrud. ISIL destroyed other holy sites, including

13761-490: The integration of the administrative apparatus with the central government. This process started in 1834 with the appointment of Bayraktar Mehmed Pasha, who was to rule Mosul for the next four years. After his reign, the Ottoman government (wishing still to restrain the influence of powerful local families) appointed a series of governors in rapid succession, ruling "for only a brief period before being sent somewhere else to govern, making it impossible for any of them to achieve

13900-493: The landscape. A renovation program started in July 2017 with the support of UNESCO . The first phase included conducting studies of the damage caused to the site, assembling an Iraqi maintenance and rehabilitation team, preservation and archiving of the city's cultural heritage in co-operation with the American Smithsonian Institution . Phase 2 was launched in October 2019 with the goal to restore

14039-717: The modern-day Assyrian village of Noomanea in Nineveh Governorate , Iraq . The name Nimrud was recorded as the local name by Carsten Niebuhr in the mid-18th century. In the mid 19th century, biblical archaeologists proposed the Assyrian name Kalḫu (the Biblical Calah ), based on a description of the travels of Nimrod in Genesis 10 . Archaeological excavations at the site began in 1845, and were conducted at intervals between then and 1879, and then from 1949 onwards. Many important pieces were discovered, with most being moved to museums in Iraq and abroad. In 2013,

14178-630: The monument known as the Great Ziggurat , and an associated temple. Nimrud remained the capital of the Assyrian Empire during the reigns of Shamshi-Adad V (822–811 BC), Adad-nirari III (810–782 BC), Queen Semiramis (810–806 BC), Adad-nirari III (806–782 BC), Shalmaneser IV (782–773 BC), Ashur-dan III (772–755 BC), Ashur-nirari V (754–746 BC), Tiglath-Pileser III (745–727 BC) and Shalmaneser V (726–723 BC). Tiglath-Pileser III in particular, conducted major building works in

14317-518: The most characteristic features of 14th-century Mamluk metalwork: large-scale inspirational candlesticks, and large multi-lobed medallions with a wide border that eventually became filled with flying ducks". Mosul metalwork eventually influenced a tradition of metal inlay in Fars and elsewhere in western Iran in the 14th century. The Ilkhanids rounding up artisans and gathering them in their capital of Tabriz for centralized royal production may have played

14456-650: The north to the Indian Ocean in the southeast. The eastern part of the Arab world is known as the Mashriq , and the western part as the Maghreb . According to the World Bank , the Arab world has a total population of 456 million inhabitants and a gross domestic product of $ 2.85 trillion, as of 2021. The region is nevertheless diverse in many ways, and economically includes some of the wealthiest as well as poorest populations. The region mostly corresponds with

14595-502: The northern palace. As of 2020, archaeologists from the Nimrud Rescue Project have carried out two seasons of work at the site, training native Iraqi archaeologists on protecting heritage and helping preserve the remains. Plans for reconstruction and tourism are in the works but will likely not be implemented within the next decade. The first major excavation works, launched in mid-October 2022 by an excavation team from

14734-634: The obelisk is widely viewed by biblical archaeologists as therefore including the earliest known dedication of an Israelite. Note: all the kings of Israel were called "sons of Omri" by the Assyrians (mar means son). A number of other artifacts considered important to Biblical history were excavated from the site, such as the Nimrud Tablet K.3751 and the Nimrud Slab . The bilingual Assyrian lion weights were important to scholarly deduction of

14873-400: The palace entrance. The large number of inscriptions dealing with king Ashurnasirpal II provide more details about him and his reign than are known for any other ruler of this epoch. The palaces of Ashurnasirpal II , Shalmaneser III, and Tiglath-Pileser III have been located. Portions of the site have been also been identified as temples to Ninurta and Enlil , a building assigned to Nabu ,

15012-428: The region because they are not members of the Arab League. The linguistic and political denotation inherent in the term Arab is generally dominant over genealogical considerations. In Arab states, Standard Arabic is used by the government. Local vernacular languages are referred to as Darija ( الدَّارِجَة "everyday/colloquial language" ) in the Maghreb or Aammiyya ( ٱلْعَامِيَّة "common language") in

15151-432: The reign of Sin-shar-ishkun , who was killed defending his capital. His successor, Ashur-uballit II , fought his way out of Nineveh and formed a new Assyrian capital at Harran (now in southeastern Turkey). Mosul (then the Assyrian town of Mepsila, founded by the former inhabitants out of the ruins of their former capital) later succeeded Nineveh as the Tigris bridgehead of the road that linked Assyria and Anatolia with

15290-455: The restored city gates in Nineveh . ISIL went on to do demolition work at the later Parthian ruined city of Hatra . On April 12 2015, an online militant video purportedly showed ISIL militants hammering, bulldozing, and ultimately using explosives to blow up parts of Nimrud. Irina Bokova , the director general of UNESCO , stated "deliberate destruction of cultural heritage constitutes

15429-529: The short-lived Median Empire and succeeding Achaemenid Empire (546–332 BC), where it was a part of the geopolitical province of Athura (Assyria), where the region, and Assyria in general, saw a significant economic revival. Mosul became part of the Seleucid Empire after Alexander 's conquests in 332 BC. While little is known of the city from the Hellenistic period, Mosul likely belonged to

15568-402: The silver-inlaid-brass technique had reached Mosul. A pair of engraved brass flabella found in Egypt and possibly made in Mosul are dated by a Syriac inscription to the year 1202, which would make them the earliest known Mosul brasses with a definite date (although they are not inlaid with anything). One extant item may be even older: an inlaid ewer by the master craftsman Ibrahim ibn Mawaliya

15707-482: The site and record it in plan and in elevation. As a result, the entire relief compositions were reconstructed, taking into account the presumed location of the fragments that were scattered around the world. Excavations revealed remarkable bas-reliefs, ivories, and sculptures. A statue of Ashurnasirpal II was found in an excellent state of preservation, as were colossal winged man-headed lions weighing 10 short tons (9.1 t) to 30 short tons (27 t) each guarding

15846-497: The site because of its "un-Islamic" Assyrian nature. In March 2015, the Iraqi government reported that Islamic State had used bulldozers to destroy excavated remains of the city. Several videos released by ISIL showed the work in progress. In November 2016, Iraqi forces retook the site, and later visitors also confirmed that around 90% of the excavated portion of city had been completely destroyed. The ruins of Nimrud have remained guarded by Iraqi forces ever since. Reconstruction work

15985-425: The site in 1873 and Rassam returned there from 1877 to 1879, Nimrud was left untouched for almost 60 years. A British School of Archaeology in Iraq team led by Max Mallowan resumed digging at Nimrud in 1949; these excavations resulted in the discovery of the 244 Nimrud Letters . The work continued until 1963 with David Oates becoming director in 1958 followed by Julian Orchard in 1963. Subsequent work

16124-407: The standard territorial definition, the Arab world may be defined as consisting of peoples and states united to at least some degree by Arabic language, culture or geographic contiguity, or those states or territories in which the majority of the population speaks Arabic, and thus may also include populations of the Arab diaspora . When an ancillary linguistic definition is used in combination with

16263-550: The steps and into the museum on rollers. Additional 27-tonne (30-short-ton) colossi were transported to Paris from Khorsabad by Paul Emile Botta in 1853. In 1928 Edward Chiera also transported a 36-tonne (40-short-ton) colossus from Khorsabad to Chicago. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has another pair. The Statue of Ashurnasirpal II , Stela of Shamshi-Adad V and Stela of Ashurnasirpal II are large sculptures with portraits of these monarchs, all secured for

16402-454: The sultan abolished public elections for governor, and began "neutraliz[ing] local families such as the Jalilis and their class" and appointing new, non-Maslawi governors directly. In line with its reintegration within central government rule, Mosul was required to conform to new Ottoman reform legislation, including the standardization of tariff rates, the consolidation of internal taxes and

16541-681: The term Mosul, or rather "Mawsil," means "linking point"—or, loosely, "Junction City," in Arabic . On Mosul's eastern side are the ruins of the ancient city of Nineveh, and Assyrians still call the entire city Nineveh (or Ninweh). Mosul is also nicknamed al-Faiha ("the Paradise"), al-Khaḍrah ("the Green"), and al-Hadbah ("the Humped"). It is sometimes called "The Pearl of the North" and "the city of

16680-473: The turn of the 20th century, led to a reaction against the term. Later scholars such as Max van Berchem , Mehmet Ağa-Oğlu , and D.S. Rice all took a more skeptical view; van Berchem in particular argued that only six known items could be definitely attributed to Mosul, and others were likely made elsewhere. Souren Melikian-Chirvani remarked in 1973 that Mosul had been famous in the west for a century for metalwork it did not make. However, Julian Raby has defended

16819-634: The village of Selamiyah ( Arabic : السلامية ), in the Nineveh Plains in Upper Mesopotamia . It was a major Assyrian city between approximately 1350 BC and 610 BC. The city is located in a strategic position 10 kilometres (6 mi) north of the point that the river Tigris meets its tributary the Great Zab . The city covered an area of 360 hectares (890 acres). The ruins of the city were found within one kilometre (1,100 yd) of

16958-456: Was Qasem Sultan Afshar , who was appointed governor of Mosul in 1622. Before 1638, the Ottomans considered Mosul "still a mere fortress, important for its strategic position as an offensive platform for Ottoman campaigns into Iraq, as well as a defensive stronghold and staging post guarding the approaches to Anatolia and to the Syrian coast. Then, with the Ottoman reconquest of Baghdad (1638),

17097-490: Was able to emerge in Egypt when other parts of the Arab world had only been able to sporadically produce feature-length films due to limited financing. Arabic cinema is dominated by films from Egypt . Three quarters of all Arab movies are produced in Egypt. According to film critic and historian Roy Armes, the cinema of Lebanon is the only other in the Arabic-speaking region, beside Egypt's, that could amount to

17236-682: Was by the Directorate of Antiquities of the Republic of Iraq (1956, 1959–60, 1969–78 and 1982–92), the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology University of Warsaw directed by Janusz Meuszyński (1974–76), Paolo Fiorina (1987–89) with the Centro Ricerche Archeologiche e Scavi di Torino who concentrated mainly on Fort Shalmaneser, and John Curtis (1989). In 1974 to his untimely death in 1976 Janusz Meuszyński,

17375-569: Was completed. The "key figure" for early Mamluk metalwork in Cairo, however, was Ali ibn Husayn. His works from the 1280s both show Mosul influence as well as a different "early Mamluk" style. A final member was Husayn ibn Ahmad ibn Husayn, a grandson of Husayn ibn Muhammad, who was active at the turn of the 14th century and made "a major work" for the Rasulid sultan al-Mu'ayyad Hizabr al-Din Dawud ibn Yusuf . This family appears to have initiated "two of

17514-489: Was conquered in 639, and gradually Arabized during the medieval period. A distinctively Egyptian Arabic language emerged by the 16th century. The Maghreb was also conquered in the 7th century, and gradually Arabized under the Fatimids . Islam was brought to Sudan from Egypt during the 8th to 11th centuries. The culture of Sudan today depends on the tribe, some have a pure Nubian, Beja , or Arabic culture and some have

17653-474: Was denominated." Prior to 1850, Layard believed that the site of "Nimroud" was part of the wider region of "Nineveh" (the debate as to which excavation site represented the city of Nineveh had yet to be resolved), which also included the two mounds today identified as Nineveh -proper, and his excavation publications were thus labeled. Henry Rawlinson identified the city with the Biblical Calah on

17792-539: Was described in more detail by the British traveler Claudius James Rich in 1820, shortly before his death. Rich identified the site with the city of Larissa in Xenophon , and noted that the locals "generally believe this to have been Nimrod 's own city; and one or two of the better informed with whom I conversed at Mousul said it was Al Athur or Ashur, from which the whole country was denominated." The site of Nimrud

17931-521: Was highly influenced by the Dominican fathers who arrived in Mosul in 1750, sent by Pope Benedict XIV (Mosul had a large Christian population, predominantly indigenous Assyrians ). In 1873 they were followed by the Dominican nuns, who established schools, health clinics, a printing press, an orphanage, and workshops to teach girls sewing and embroidery. A congregation of Dominican sisters founded in

18070-478: Was included in the northern no-fly zone imposed and patrolled by the United States and Britain between 1991 and 2003. Although this prevented Saddam 's forces from mounting large-scale military operations again in the region, it did not stop his regime from implementing a steady policy of "Arabisation" by which the demography of some areas of Nineveh Governorate were gradually changed. Despite this program, Mosul and its surrounding towns and villages remained home to

18209-531: Was largely destroyed during the fall of the Assyrian Empire at the hands of an alliance of former subject peoples, including the Babylonians , Chaldeans , Medes , Persians , Scythians , and Cimmerians (between 616 BC and 599 BC). Ruins of a similarly located Assyrian city named "Larissa" were described by Xenophon in his Anabasis in the 5th century BC. A similar locality was described in

18348-463: Was left for future resolution by the League of Nations . In 1926, Iraq's possession of Mosul was confirmed by the League of Nations ' brokered agreement between Turkey and Great Britain. Former Ottoman Mosul Vilayet became the Nineveh Governorate of Iraq, but Mosul remained the provincial capital. Mosul's fortunes revived with the discovery of oil in the area, from the late 1920s onward. It became

18487-615: Was settled as early as 6000 BC. The city is mentioned in the Old Assyrian Empire (2025–1750 BC) and during the reign of Shamshi-Adad I (1809–1776 BC) it was listed as a center of worship of the goddess Ishtar , remaining so during the Middle Assyrian Empire (1365–1056 BC). During the Neo-Assyrian Empire (911–605 BC), Nineveh grew in size and importance, particularly from the reigns of Tukulti-Ninurta II and Ashurnasirpal II (883–859 BC) onward; he chose

18626-649: Was spared destruction, but Badr al-Din died shortly thereafter in 1259. Badr al-Din's son continued in his father's steps, but after the Mongol defeat in the Battle of Ain Jalut (1260) against the Mamluks , he sided with the latter and revolted against the Mongols. Hulagu then besieged the city of Mosul for nine month, and destroyed it in 1262. Later Mosul regained some importance but never recovered its original splendor. Mosul

18765-431: Was then a wealthy, prosperous capital city, first for the Zengids and then for Badr al-Din Lu'lu'. The origins of Mosul's inlaid brasswork industry are uncertain. The city had an iron industry in the late 10th century, when al-Muqaddasi recorded that it exported iron and iron goods like buckets, knives and chains. However, no surviving metal objects from Mosul are known before the early 13th century. Inlaid metalworking in

18904-590: Was thenceforth ruled by the Mongol Ilkhanate and Jalairid Sultanate and escaped Timur 's destructions. In 1165, Benjamin of Tudela passed through Mosul. He wrote about a Jewish community of about 7,000 people led by Rabbi Zakkai, presumed to be a scion of the Davidic line . In 1288–89, when the Exilarch was in Mosul, he signed a supporting paper for Maimonides . In the early 16th century, Mosul

19043-604: Was under the Turkmen federation of the Ağ Qoyunlu , but in 1508 it was conquered by the Safavid dynasty of Iran. In the 13th century, Mosul had a flourishing industry making luxury brass items that were ornately inlaid with silver. Many of these items survive today; in fact, of all medieval Islamic artifacts, Mosul brasswork has the most epigraphic inscriptions. However, the only reference to this industry in contemporary sources

19182-627: Was undertaken, and Nineveh eclipsed Babylon , Kalhu and Aššur in size and importance, making it the largest city in the world. Many scholars believe the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were at Nineveh. The mound of Kuyunjik in Mosul is the site of the palaces of King Sennacherib and his successors Esarhaddon , Ashurbanipal , (who established the Library of Ashurbanipal ), Ashur-etil-ilani , Sin-shumu-lishir and Sin-shar-ishkun . The Assyrian Empire began to unravel in 626 BC, being consumed by

19321-478: Was visited by William Francis Ainsworth in 1837. Ainsworth, like Rich, identified the site with Larissa (Λάρισσα) of Xenophon 's Anabasis , concluding that Nimrud was the Biblical Resen on the basis of Bochart 's identification of Larissa with Resen on etymological grounds. The site was subsequently visited by James Phillips Fletcher in 1843. Fletcher instead identified the site with Rehoboth on

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