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102-719: The Tigris passes through historical cities like Mosul , Tikrit , Samarra , and Baghdad . It is also home to archaeological sites and ancient religious communities, including the Mandaeans , who use it for baptism . In ancient times, the Tigris nurtured the Assyrian Empire , with remnants like the relief of King Tiglath-Pileser . Today, the Tigris faces modern threats from geopolitical instability, dam projects, poor water management, and climate change, leading to concerns about its sustainability. Efforts to protect and preserve

204-901: 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

306-727: A Plan of Action for promoting exchange and calibration of data and standards pertaining to Tigris river flows was achieved. The consensus, known as the "Geneva Consensus On Tigris River", was reached at a meeting organized in Geneva by the think tank Strategic Foresight Group . In February 2016, the United States Embassy in Iraq as well as the Prime Minister of Iraq Haider al-Abadi issued warnings that Mosul Dam could collapse. The United States warned people to evacuate

408-466: 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

510-525: 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

612-744: 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

714-469: 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

816-451: A largely desert country. Shallow-draft vessels can go as far as Baghdad, but rafts have historically been needed for transport downstream from Mosul . The Tigris is heavily dammed in Iraq and Turkey to provide water for irrigating the arid and semi-desert regions bordering the river valley. Damming has also been important for averting floods in Iraq, to which the Tigris has historically been notoriously prone following April melting of snow in

918-406: 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

1020-402: 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

1122-530: 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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1224-542: 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

1326-631: 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

1428-520: 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

1530-746: 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

1632-464: 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

1734-539: 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

1836-510: 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

1938-625: A time. With the Treaty of Kerden (1746), however, the Zuhab boundaries were restored, ceding the river to the Turks once again. The First Treaty of Erzurum (1823) concluded between Ottoman Turkey and Qajar Iran , resulted in the same. The Second Treaty of Erzurum was signed by Ottoman Turkey and Qajar Iran in 1847 after protracted negotiations, which included British and Russian delegates. Even afterwards, backtracking and disagreements continued, until British Foreign Secretary, Lord Palmerston ,

2040-582: Is 1,750 km (1,090 mi) long, rising in the Taurus Mountains of eastern Turkey about 25 km (16 mi) southeast of the city of Elazığ and about 30 km (19 mi) from the headwaters of the Euphrates. The river then flows for 400 km (250 mi) through Southeastern Turkey before forming part of the Syria-Turkey border . This stretch of 44 km (27 mi) is

2142-457: 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

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2244-696: 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

2346-415: 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,

2448-635: 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,

2550-706: Is formed by the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers at Al-Qurnah , and flows into the Persian Gulf south of the city of Al-Faw . It receives the Karun at Khorramshahr . 3,000 years ago, the Persian Gulf was larger and the Shatt al-Arab had not then formed. Dispute over the river occurred during the Ottoman-Safavid era, prior to the establishment of an independent Iraq in the 20th century. In

2652-400: 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

2754-804: Is the third of the four rivers branching off the river issuing out of the Garden of Eden . The second mention is in the Book of Daniel , wherein Daniel states he received one of his visions "when I was by that great river the Tigris". The Tigris River is also mentioned in Islam in Sunan Abi Daud 4306. The tomb of Imam Ahmad Bin Hanbal and Syed Abdul Razzaq Jilani is in Baghdad and the flow of Tigris restricts

2856-596: 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

2958-601: The Baghdad Pact alliance. The Shatt al-Arab and the forest were depicted in the middle of the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Iraq , from 1932 to 1959. Under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in the late 1960s, Iran developed a strong military and took a more assertive stance in the Near East. In April 1969, Iran abrogated the 1937 treaty over the Shatt al-Arab and Iranian ships stopped paying tolls to Iraq when they used

3060-621: The Euphrates and Tigris rivers in the town of al-Qurnah in the Basra Governorate of southern Iraq . The southern end of the river constitutes the Iran–Iraq border down to its mouth , where it discharges into the Persian Gulf . The Shatt al-Arab varies in width from about 232 metres (761 ft) at Basra to 800 metres (2,600 ft) at its mouth. It is thought that the waterway formed relatively recently in geological time, with

3162-650: The Hawizeh Marshes . The main channel continues southwards and is joined by the Al-Kassarah , which drains the Hawizeh Marshes. Finally, the Tigris joins the Euphrates near al-Qurnah to form the Shatt-al-Arab . According to Pliny and other ancient historians, the Euphrates originally had its outlet into the sea separate from that of the Tigris. Baghdad , the capital of Iraq , stands on

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3264-693: The Hittite nominative form) is the Hurrian name of the Tigris River, which was deified. He was the son of Kumarbi and the brother of Teshub and Tašmišu , one of the three gods spat out of Kumarbi's mouth onto Mount Kanzuras . Later he colluded with Anu and the Teshub to destroy Kumarbi ( The Kumarbi Cycle ). The Tigris appears twice in the Old Testament . First, in the Book of Genesis , it

3366-474: The Iran–Iraq War that lasted from 1980 to 1988, when the pre-1980 status quo was restored. The Iranian cities and major ports of Abadan and Khorramshahr and the Iraqi cities and major ports of Basra and Al-Faw are situated along this river. During the 2003 invasion of Iraq , the waterway was a key military target for the coalition forces . Since it is the only outlet to the Persian Gulf, its capture

3468-454: 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

3570-538: 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

3672-553: The Saadabad pact intended to protect the neutrality of Muslim nations if the world should be plunged into war again. In return for the Shatt al-Arab treaty, Iraq joined the Saadabad pact and Iranian-Iraqi relations were friendly for decades afterward. The Saadabad pact ultimately brought together Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan in an alliance intended to protect their neutrality. In 1955, both Iran and Iraq were founding members of

3774-532: 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

3876-789: 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

3978-472: The Tigris and Euphrates originally emptying into the Persian Gulf via a channel further to the west. Kuwait 's Bubiyan Island is part of the Shatt al-Arab delta. The Karun , a tributary which joins the waterway from the Iranian side, deposits large amounts of silt into the river; this necessitates continuous dredging to keep it navigable. The area used to hold the largest date palm forest in

4080-584: The Treaty of Zuhab in 1639. Control of the waterway was also temporarily lost by the Safavids to the Ottomans in this treaty. In general, the Treaty of Zuhab roughly re-established the common borders of the Ottomans and Safavid Empires the way they had been in 1555. However, the treaty never demarcated a precise and fixed boundary regarding the frontier in the south. Later, Nader Shah (r. 1736–1747) succeeded in restoring Iranian control over Shatt al-Arab for

4182-590: 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

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4284-417: 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

4386-413: 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

4488-408: 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

4590-413: 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

4692-412: The Arabs. During the 1988 battles, the Iranians seemed tired and worn out by the nearly eight years of the war, and "put up very little resistance" to the Iraqi offensives. After the Iran–Iraq War , both sides agreed to once again treat the Algiers Accord as binding. Conflicting territorial claims and disputes over navigation rights between Iran and Iraq were among the main factors for the beginning of

4794-410: The British advisors in Iraq were able to keep the waterway binational under the thalweg principle that worked in Europe: the dividing line was a line drawn between the deepest points along the stream bed. In 1937, Iran and Iraq signed a treaty that settled the dispute over control of the Shatt al-Arab. The 1937 treaty recognized the Iranian-Iraqi border as along the low-water mark on the eastern side of

4896-402: The Iraqi Army officers and generals were from Mosul long before the Saddam regime. Shatt-al-Arab The Shatt al-Arab ( Arabic : شط العرب , lit.   'River of the Arabs '; Persian : اروندرود , romanized :  Arvand Rud , lit.   'Swift River' ) is a river about 200 kilometres (120 mi) in length that is formed at the confluence of

4998-428: The Iraqis decided against war, and chose to make concessions to Tehran to end the Kurdish rebellion. In March 1975, Vice President Saddam Hussein of Iraq and the Shah signed the Algiers Accord in which Iraq recognized a series of straight lines closely approximating the thalweg (deepest channel) of the waterway, as the official border, in exchange for which Iran ended its support of the Iraqi Kurds. The Algiers Accord

5100-419: The Iraqis expelled the Iranians from Salamchech and took Majnun Island . During the fighting in the spring of 1988, the Iranians showed all the signs of collapsing morale. Brogan reported: Reports from the front, both at Faw [Fao] and outside Basra, indicated that the Iranian resistance was surprisingly weak. The army that had shown such courage and élan early in the war now broke in a rout, and fled before

5202-483: 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

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5304-549: 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

5406-418: The Shatt al-Arab captured British Royal Navy sailors who they claim trespassed into their territory: The river is also known in Iraq as the Dijla al-Awara (دجلة العوراء) and in Iran as the Arvand Rud (Persian: اروندرود, lit. 'Swift River'). The Persian epic poem Shahnameh (written between c.  977–1010 CE ) and many other works of Middle Persian literature use the name Arvand ( اروند ) for

5508-469: The Shatt al-Arab except at Abadan and Khorramshahr where the frontier ran along the thalweg (the deep water line) which gave Iraq control of almost the entire waterway; provided that all ships using the Shatt al-Arab fly the Iraqi flag and have an Iraqi pilot, and required Iran to pay tolls to Iraq whenever its ships used the Shatt al-Arab. Shah Reza Shah of Iran together with his close friend President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk of Turkey had been promoting

5610-408: The Shatt al-Arab. The Shah argued that the 1937 treaty was unfair to Iran because almost all river borders around the world ran along the thalweg , and because most of the ships that used the Shatt al-Arab were Iranian. Iraq threatened war over the Iranian move, but on 24 April 1969, an Iranian tanker escorted by Iranian warships ( Joint Operation Arvand ) sailed down the Shatt al-Arab, and Iraq—being

5712-444: 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

5814-555: The Tigris to its neighbour, the Euphrates, whose leisurely pace caused it to deposit more silt and build up a higher bed than the Tigris. The Sumerian form was borrowed into Akkadian as Idiqlat and from there into the other Semitic languages (compare Hebrew : חִדֶּקֶל‎ , romanized :  Ḥîddéqel ; Jewish Babylonian Aramaic : דיגלת‎, דיקגלת‎ , romanized:  diqlāṯ or diglāṯ ; Classical Syriac : ܕܩܠܬ‎ , romanized:  Deqlāṯ , Arabic : دِجلَة , romanized :  Dijlah ). Another name for

5916-461: The Tigris used in Middle Persian was Arvand Rud , literally "swift river". Today, however, Arvand Rud ( Persian : اروندرود ) refers to the confluence of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, known in Arabic as the Šaṭṭ al-ʿArab . In Kurdish languages , it is known as Ava Mezin , "the Great Water". The name of the Tigris in languages that have been important in the region: ἡ, ὁ Τίγρις, -ιδος , hē, ho Tígris, -idos The Tigris

6018-445: The Turkish mountains. Mosul Dam is the largest dam in Iraq. Recent Turkish damming of the river has been the subject of some controversy, for both its environmental effects within Turkey and its potential to reduce the flow of water downstream. Water from both rivers is used as a means of pressure during conflicts. In 2014 a major breakthrough in developing consensus between multiple stakeholder representatives of Iraq and Turkey on

6120-461: The banks of the Tigris. The port city of Basra straddles the Shatt al-Arab. In ancient times, many of the great cities of Mesopotamia stood on or near the Tigris, drawing water from it to irrigate the civilization of the Sumerians . Notable Tigris-side cities included Nineveh , Ctesiphon , and Seleucia , while the city of Lagash was irrigated by the Tigris via a canal dug around 2900 B.C. The Tigris has long been an important transport route in

6222-429: 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

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6324-453: 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

6426-416: 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

6528-414: 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

6630-476: 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

6732-432: 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

6834-412: The early 16th century, the Iranian Safavids gained most of what is present-day Iraq, including Shatt al-Arab. They later lost these territories to the expanding Ottomans following the Peace of Amasya (1555). In the early 17th century, the Safavids under king ( shah ) Abbas I (r. 1588–1629) once again regained Shatt al-Arab. Control of the river was at last permanently ceded to the Ottomans with

6936-414: 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

7038-412: 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

7140-417: The floodplain of the Tigris because between 500,000 and 1.5 million people were at risk of drowning due to flash flood if the dam collapses, and that the major Iraqi cities of Mosul , Tikrit , Samarra , and Baghdad were at risk. In Sumerian mythology , the Tigris was created by the god Enki , who filled the river with flowing water. In Hittite and Hurrian mythology, Aranzah (or Aranzahas in

7242-421: 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

7344-482: 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

7446-547: 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

7548-636: The main patron of Iraqi Kurdish groups fighting for independence from Iraq. In 1974 with the open encouragement and support of Iran, the Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga rebelled against Iraq, and instead of waging a guerrilla war, the peshmerga fought a conventional war against Iraq, leading to very intense fighting. In the winter of 1974–75, Iran and Iraq almost went to war over Iran's support of the Kurds in Iraq (see 1974–75 Shatt al-Arab conflict ). However, given Iran's greater military strength and population,

7650-483: The militarily weaker state—did nothing. The Iranian abrogation of the 1937 treaty marked the beginning of a period of acute Iraqi-Iranian tension that was to last until the Algiers Accords of 1975. All United Nations attempts to intervene and mediate the dispute were rebuffed. Baathist Iraq claimed the frontier agreed to in 1937 was still the legitimate frontier. In response, Iran in the early 1970s became

7752-426: 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

7854-522: 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

7956-724: The number of visitors. Baháʼu'lláh , the founder of the Baháʼí Faith , also wrote The Hidden Words around 1858 while he walked along the banks of the Tigris river during his exile in Baghdad. The river featured on the coat of arms of Iraq from 1932 to 1959. 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 )

8058-760: The only part of the river that is located in Syria. Some of its affluences are Garzan, Anbarçayi, Batman , and the Great and the Little Zab . Close to its confluence with the Euphrates, the Tigris splits into several channels. First, the artificial Shatt al-Hayy branches off, to join the Euphrates near Nasiriyah . Second, the Shatt al-Muminah and Majar al-Kabir branch off to feed the Central Marshes . Further downstream, two other distributary channels branch off (the Al-Musharrah and Al-Kahla ), to feed

8160-462: The rebels as they could lay their hands on". In 1980, President Saddam Hussein of Iraq abrogated the 1975 treaty and Iraq invaded Iran. The main thrust of the military movement on the ground was across the waterway which was the stage for most of the military battles between the two armies. The waterway was Iraq's only outlet to the Persian Gulf, and thus, its shipping lanes were greatly affected by continuous Iranian attacks. When Al-Faw peninsula

8262-428: 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

8364-443: 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

8466-507: The river's legacy are ongoing, with local archaeologists and activists working to safeguard its future. The Ancient Greek form Tigris ( Τίγρις ) is an alternative form of Tígrēs ( Τίγρης ), which was adapted from Old Persian 𐎫𐎡𐎥𐎼𐎠 ( Tigrā ), itself from Elamite Tigra , itself from Sumerian 𒀀𒇉𒈦𒄘𒃼 ( Idigna or Idigina , probably derived from *id (i)gina "running water"). The Sumerian term, which can be interpreted as "the swift river", contrasts

8568-456: 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

8670-488: 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

8772-402: 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

8874-430: 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

8976-536: The waterway and the area of the Persian Gulf surrounding the river mouth. They were tasked until 2007 to make sure that ships in the area were not being used to transport munitions into Iraq. British forces also trained Iraqi naval units to take over the responsibility of guarding their waterways after the Coalition Forces left Iraq in December 2011. On two separate occasions, Iranian forces operating on

9078-460: The world. In the mid-1970s, the region included 17–18 million date palms: an estimated one-fifth of the world's 90 million palm trees. However, by 2002, more than 14 million of the palms had been wiped out by the combined factors of war, salt and pests; this count includes around 9 million palms in Iraq and 5 million in Iran. Many of the remaining 3–4 million trees are in poor health. The Shatt al-Arab

9180-455: 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),

9282-614: 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

9384-535: Was captured by the Iranians in 1986, Iraq's shipping activities virtually came to a halt and had to be diverted to other Arab ports such as Kuwait and even Aqaba , Jordan . On 17 April 1988, Operation Ramadan Mubarak Materialized which saw Al-Faw peninsula recaptured after three days of fighting. After retaking Al-Faw, the Iraqis began a sustained drive to clear the Iranians out of all of southern Iraq. In May 1988,

9486-629: 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

9588-607: 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

9690-523: 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

9792-549: Was important in delivering humanitarian aid to the rest of the country, and stopping the flow of operations trying to break the naval blockade against Iraq. The British Royal Marines staged an amphibious assault to capture the key oil installations and shipping docks located at Umm Qasr on the al-Faw peninsula at the onset of the conflict. Following the end of the war, the UK was given responsibility, subsequently mandated by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1723 , to patrol

9894-541: 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

9996-533: 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

10098-814: 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

10200-658: Was moved to comment in 1851 that "the boundary line between Turkey and Persia can never be finally settled except by an arbitrary decision on the part of Great Britain and Russia". A protocol between the Ottomans and the Persians was signed in Istanbul in 1913, which declared that the Ottoman-Persian frontier run along the thalweg , but World War I canceled all plans. During the Mandate of Iraq (1920–1932),

10302-548: 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

10404-518: Was seen as a national humiliation in Iraq, causing much bitterness over what was seen as Iranian bullying. However, the Algiers Accord saw Iran cease supporting the peshmerga as the Iranians closed the frontier, causing the Kurdish rebellion to promptly collapse. The British journalist Patrick Brogan wrote that "the Iraqis celebrated their victory in the usual manner, by executing as many of

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