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94-496: One of the early famous figures from the tribe was the legendary Hatim Al-Ta'i (Hatim of Tayy; died 578), a Christian Arab renowned for generosity and hospitality who figured in the One Thousand and One Nights . The early Islamic historical sources report that his son, Adi ibn Hatim , whom they sometimes refer to as the "king" of Tayy, converted to Islam before Muhammad 's death. Another figure from Tayy during this period

188-901: 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 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

282-424: A beautiful and rich woman named Husn Banu ( حسن بانو ), who will marry only the person who is able to obtain answers to all seven of them. The riddles are: A king, who falls in love with her but unable to find answers, tells the generous Hatemtai, whom he meets by chance, all about it. Hatim undertakes the quest to find the answers and help the king marry her.    "But come with old Khayyam, and leave

376-466: A century for metalwork it did not make. However, Julian Raby has defended 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

470-525: 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 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

564-744: 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

658-469: 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 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

752-678: A historic Shammar dynasty on the Arabian Peninsula. They were the most formidable enemies of the House of Saud in Nejd. They were centered in Ha'il, a city in northern Nejd that derived its wealth from being on the route of the Hajj . The Al Rashid derived their name from the grandfather of Abdullah , the first Rashidi amir of Ha'il, who was named Ibn Rashid. The Rashidi emirs cooperated closely with

846-406: 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 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

940-402: 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

1034-530: 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

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1128-542: 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

1222-631: A part of the Sasanian province of Asōristān . Christianity was present among the indigenous Assyrian people in Mosul as early as 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

1316-520: 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 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

1410-746: 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

1504-464: 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

1598-539: 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

1692-510: 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

1786-722: Is Iraq 's largest Arab tribe, along with the Jubur , with more than 1.5 million members. Under the leadership of Banu Mohamad, known as Al Jarba, there was a massive exodus into Iraq. Most of the Shammar in Iraq gave up their nomadic lifestyles to settle in major cities, especially the Jazirah plain, the area between the Tigris and Euphrates from Baghdad to Mosul . Droughts triggered several migrations of Shammar into Iraq, which, according to

1880-405: Is a major city in northern Iraq , serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate . The city is considered the second-largest city in Iraq in terms of population and area after the capital Baghdad. Mosul is approximately 400 km (250 mi) north of Baghdad on the Tigris river. The Mosul metropolitan area has grown from the old city on the western side to encompass substantial areas on both

1974-682: Is a poem which has been translated into English as "On Avarice". Outside Arabia, the tales of Hatim are also popular in Persia , India , and Pakistan . Qissa-e-Hatem-tai ( قصۂ حاتم طائی ), alternatively Dastan-e-Hatem-tai ( داستانِ حاتم طائی ), meaning "The Tale of Hatemtai" is very popular in Persia and the Indian subcontinent . Sayad Haider Bakhsh Haidri, the author of the Qissa-e-Hatim Tai, writes in his introduction that he has taken

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2068-696: 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 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

2162-415: Is an octagon filled with complex geometric patterns, which appears on at least 13 items over 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,

2256-521: Is composed of groups such as Al-Zuhairy and Al-Towej in Najaf . The Shammar became one of the most powerful Iraqi tribes, owning vast tracts of land and provided strong support of the Hashemite monarchy . Shammar power was threatened after the overthrow of the monarchy in 1958 by Abdul-Karim Qassem , and the Shammar welcomed Ba'athist rule. After the overthrow of Saddam Hussein , Ghazi al-Yawar , from

2350-688: 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 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,

2444-540: Is mainly Sunni , while the southern branch, Shammar Toga, converted to Shia Islam around the 19th century after settling in southern Iraq. The Shammar that remained in Arabia had tribal territories extending from the city of Ha'il northwards to the frontiers of the Syrian Desert . The Shammar had a long traditional rivalry with the confederation of 'Anizzah , who inhabited the same area. The city of Ha'il became

2538-580: Is military leader of al-Sanadid Forces , a Shammar militia formed in 2013 nominally to protect the tribe's interests from ISIL . 1852: Shammar defeat Anazah and Alqusaim in the Battle of Baqa. Clans: Clans: Clans: Hatim Al-Ta%27i Hatim al-Tai ( Arabic : حاتم الطائي , 'Hatim of the Tayy tribe'; died 578), full name Ḥātim bin ʿAbd Allāh bin Saʿd aṭ-Ṭāʾiyy ( Arabic : حاتم بن عبد الله بن سعد الطائي )

2632-400: 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

2726-549: Is said that he used to give away everything he possessed except for his mount and weapons. Rozat-ul-Sufa mentions that "In the eighth year after the birth of his eminence the Prophet (Muhammad), died Noushirwan the Just , and Hatemtai the generous, both famous for their virtues", around 579 CE. According to the 17th-century orientalist D'Herbelot , his tomb was located at a small village called Anwarz, in Arabia. One of his works

2820-570: The Arabian Nights stories. The celebrated Persian poet Saadi , in his work Gulistan (1259) wrote: "Hatim Taï no longer exists but his exalted name will remain famous for virtue to eternity. Distribute the tithe of your wealth in alms; for when the husbandman lops off the exuberant branches from the vine, it produces an increase of grapes". He is also mentioned in Saadi's Bostan (1257). According to legends in various books and stories, he

2914-596: 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

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3008-739: The Byzantine and Sasanian Empires. Since some sections of Tayy, and most of the Ghassanids and Lakhmids, were present in Mesopotamia and the Levant prior to Muhammad's preaching of Islam in the early 7th century . In the Namara inscription (the second oldest pre-Islamic Arabic inscription, dating from 328 CE), the name "Shammar" is believed to refer to a city in Yemen, though it may refer to

3102-579: The Conquest of Ha'il in 1921. Following Al Rashid's defeat many Shammar fled to Syria and Iraq. Eventually the clan of their uncles, Al Sabhan pledged allegiance to Ibn Saud in Riyadh . Ibn Saud also married a daughter of one of the Shammari chiefs, who bore him one Saudi King, Abdullah . After the establishment of modern borders, most Bedouins gradually left their nomadic lifestyle. Today, most members of

3196-454: 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 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

3290-538: The Medes , Persians , Chaldeans , Scythians , Cimmerians , and Sagartians . Nineveh fell after a siege and bitter house-to-house fighting in 612 BC during 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

3384-561: The Ottoman census upon its annexation, had only 1.5 million inhabitants. The Shammar took over the Jazirah after displacing Al-Ubaid tribe. According to Sheikh Abdullah Humaid Alyawar, the son of the sheikh of Shammar, in Iraq the total population of Shammar is estimated to be more than 1.5 million. The Shammar Al-Sayeh, a tribal confederation of tribes from Shammar, is the branch of Shammar who were independent of Aljraba's authority. Shammar

3478-468: The Ottoman Empire . However, this cooperation became problematic as the Ottomans lost popularity. As with many Arab dynasties, the lack of a generally accepted rule of succession was a recurrent problem with Rashidi rule. The internal dispute normally centered on whether succession should be horizontal (i.e. to a brother) or vertical (to a son). These divisions within the family led to bloody infighting. In

3572-532: 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, 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

3666-789: 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 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

3760-590: 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

3854-417: 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

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3948-463: The "Left Bank" (east side) and the "Right Bank" (west side), as locals call the two riverbanks. Mosul encloses the ruins of the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh – once the largest city in the world – on its east side. 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

4042-514: The 'Abda family of Dhaigham, who ruled Shammar from Jabal Shammar. In the 17th century, a large section of the Shammar left Jabal Shammar under the leadership of the Al Jarba and settled in Iraq, reaching as far as the northern city of Mosul , their current stronghold. The Shammar are currently one of Iraq's largest tribes and are divided into two geographical , as opposed to genealogical , subsections. The northern branch, known as Shammar al-Jarba,

4136-463: 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

4230-444: The 14th century, after the tribe changed their name, to Jabal Shammar . There, Tayy, later Shammar, became either city-dwellers in the city of Ha'il , nomadic pastoralists , camel-herders and horse-breeders in northern Najd , or agriculturists in the countryside outside Ha'il or in the surrounding desert oases . These divisions were based on profession, personal interest and skill, and not family or blood-line stratifications within

4324-468: 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

4418-526: The Al Jarbah clan, was unanimously chosen as interim president. Ghazi Al-Yawar's uncle is the current Sheikh of Sheikhs of Shammar. The Shammar tribe have been present in Syria since at least the 1920s when rivalry between Syrian and Iraqi Shammar culminated in violence reported by the League of Nations in 1926. Syrian Shammar Sheikh Diham al Hadi, the paramount Shammar sheikh in Syria, conducted an attack at

4512-609: The Lot     Of Kaikobad and Kaikhosru forgot:       Let Rustum lay about him as he will,     Or Hatem Taiy cry Supper--heed them not." Mosul Mosul ( / ˈ m oʊ s əl , m oʊ ˈ s uː l / MOH -səl, moh- SOOL ; Arabic : الموصل ‎ , romanized :  al-Mawṣil , pronounced [alˈmawsˤil] , locally [ɪlˈmoːsˤɪl] ; Kurdish : مووسڵ ‎ , romanized :  Mûsil ; Turkish : Musul ; Syriac : ܡܘܨܠ , romanized :  Māwṣil )

4606-483: 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 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

4700-549: The Mongol siege and capture of Mosul in July 1262, probably caused 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

4794-405: The Saudi realm, finally taking the Saudi capital Riyadh in 1895 and expelling the Saudi leaders to Kuwait . The Bedouin Shammari tribesmen provided the majority of the Al Rashid's military support. Later, in the first two decades of the 20th century, Al Rashid were defeated by Ibn Saud and his Wahhabi forces when his campaign to restore his family's rule in the Arabian Peninsula culminated in

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4888-428: The Shammar live modern, urbanized lifestyles in Saudi Arabia and Iraq, and some sections settled in Syria and Jordan . Despite this, the vast majority of Shammar continue to retain a strong tribal identity and loyalty to their tribe. Many also participate in Cultural Festivals to learn about their ancient lifestyles, and to take part in traditional activities such as folk dancing . The House of Rashid (Rasheed) were

4982-444: 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

5076-524: The Tayy expanded north into Iraq all the way to the capital at the time, Al-Hirah . The area of the two mountains subsequently came to be known as " Jabal Shammar " ("Shammar's Mountain") from the 14th century, the first time that the Shammar as a tribe were noted in literature. Led by Usma bin Luai, the Tayy invaded the mountains of Ajaa and Salma from Banu Assad and Banu Tamim in northern Arabia in their exodus from Yemen in 115 CE. These mountains were renamed to Jabal Tayy (Tayy's Mountain), and then again in

5170-454: The Tayy. Led by Usma bin Luai, the Tayy invaded the mountains of Ajā and Salma from Banu Assad and Banu Tamim in northern Arabia in their exodus from Yemen in 115 CE. These mountains are now known as the Shammar . The Tayy became nomadic camel-herders and horse-breeders in northern Najd for centuries. Because of their strength and blood relations with the Yemenite dynasties that came to rule Syria (The Ghassanids) and Iraq (The Lakhmids),

5264-418: The city where the Himyarite King Shammar Yahri'sh lived, Radda District (located about 100 kilometres (62 mi) from Dhamar , an ancient historic site). Since King Shammar Yahri'sh ruled during the last decade of the third century, it could be referring to the city he lived in or one named after him. It could also be referring to the city of Ha'il, although there is no evidence that Imru Al-Qays fought

5358-429: 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 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

5452-453: The city. Around 700 BC, King Sennacherib made Nineveh Assyria's new capital. Immense building work 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

5546-416: 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 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

5640-414: 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

5734-476: The early 1200s that Mosul had the demand for large-scale production of them. Mosul 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

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5828-432: The early 13th century. Inlaid metalworking in 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

5922-414: The early years, a proud acknowledgement of tradition" and that the city's metalwork gained 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

6016-427: The end of March 1926 upon 'Ajil al Yawar, a Sheikh of the Iraqi Shammar. In April 1959 however, the CIA 's Foreign Broadcast Information Service reported that the Iraqi and Syrian branches of the Shammar were able to bury their differences, both joining an alliance with the Syrian Baath Party against a common enemy. The current leader of the Syrian Shammar is Sheikh Humaydi Daham al-Hadi . His son Bandar al-Humaydi

6110-412: 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 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

6204-421: 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 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

6298-435: The heart of the Jabal Shammar region and was inhabited largely by settled members of Shammar and their clients. Two clans succeeded each other in ruling the city in the 19th century. The first clan, the Al Ali , were replaced by the Al Rashid . During the civil war that tore apart the Second Saudi State in the late 19th century, the emirs of Ha'il, from the house of Al Rashid, intervened and gradually took control of much of

6392-482: 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 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

6486-492: 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

6580-467: The last years of the nineteenth century six Rashidi leaders died violently. Nevertheless, The Al Rashid family continued to rule and fight together against Ibn Saud. Saudi Arabia- The first twenty years of the 20th century on the Arabian Peninsula featured a long-running series of wars as the Saudis and their allies sought to unite the peninsula. Some members of the Rasheed family left the country and went into voluntary exile, mostly to Kuwait. The Shammar

6674-426: The most epigraphic inscriptions. However, the only reference to this industry in contemporary sources 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

6768-522: 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

6862-550: The proverbial phrase "more generous than Hatim" ( Arabic : أكرم من حاتم , romanized :  ʾakram min Ḥātim ). According to Arab writer and poet Ibn Abd Rabbih , he was one of three people who reached the highest point of generosity in the pre-Islamic era, the other two were Ka'b ibn Mama and Harim ibn Sinan al-Murri. Al-Tai's generosity and chivalry have become proverbial not only in Arabic but also in Persian . His son

6956-428: The rest of cases it depends on nisbah s. However, al-Mawsili 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

7050-443: 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 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

7144-429: The story from "someone’s" Persian text, but has amplified and extended it at suitable points "to please the listeners." Multiple films (see below) have been made about Hatim based on this story, which narrates seven of his fantastic adventures in seven chapters. The books on the story usually consist of a short introduction describing his ancestry and character and tells the seven episodes based on seven riddles, asked by

7238-456: 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

7332-532: The tribe. It is common for the same nuclear family to have members living each of the three different lifestyles. Because of their strength and blood relations with the Yemenite dynasties that came to rule Syria (Ghassanids) and Iraq (Muntherids), the Tayy expanded north into Iraq all the way to al-Hira , the capital at the time. Oral tradition mentions that the first chiefs of the Shammar tribe, Arar and Omair, were of

7426-488: The turn of the 13th century, 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

7520-402: 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

7614-430: The two decades from roughly 1220 to 1240, 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

7708-632: Was Adi ibn Hatim , who was a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad . Al-Tai lived in Ha'il in the present-day Saudi Arabia and was mentioned in some Hadiths attributed to Muhammad. He died in 578 AD, and was buried in Tuwarin , Ha'il . His tomb is described in the Arabian Nights . His name Hatim means 'black crow ' in Arabic. He lived in the sixth century CE and also figures in

7802-455: 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),

7896-562: Was Zayd al-Khayr , a prominent member of Tayy who is said to have led Tayy's delegation to Muhammad accepting Islam. The Shammar are a tribal confederation made up of three main branches: Abdah, Al-Aslam, and Sinjarah. The earliest non-Arab sources refer to Arabs as Taits, thought of as referring to the Tayy, as Iyas ibn Qabisah al-Ta'i , a governor of al-Hirah in Lower Mesopotamia in the Lakhmid kingdom , had contact with both

7990-538: Was a famous personality in the region of Ta'i (present day Ha'il) and is also a well-known figure in the rest of the Middle East as well as the Indian subcontinent, featuring in many books, films and TV series in Arabic , Persian , Urdu , Turkish , Hindi , Kashmiri and various other languages. He is associated with the Lakhmid court in Hira , especially under its most famous king Al-Mundhir III ibn al-Nu'man . It

8084-639: Was an Arab knight , chieftain of the Tayyi tribe of Arabia , ruler of Shammar , and poet who lived in the last half of the sixth into the beginning of the seventh century. Although he was considered a well-established poet in his time, today he is best known for his altruism . Additionally, he is known to be a model of Arab manliness . Al-Tai is associated with the Lakhmid court in Hira , especially under its most famous king Al-Mundhir III ibn al-Nu'man . Stories about his extreme generosity have made him an icon among Arabs up until today, as evident in

8178-614: 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 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

8272-629: 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

8366-607: 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 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

8460-523: 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

8554-541: 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

8648-481: 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

8742-814: 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 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

8836-548: Was possibly also "intimately connected to others in Mosul". The Mosul metalwork 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

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