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    (Wikipedia) - Erbil   (Redirected from Arbil) Erbil Hawler Kurdish: Hewlêr - ھەولێر Country Autonomous region Province Settled Government  • Governor Elevation Population (2013 est.)  • Total
    Clockwise, from top: Downtown, Old Minaret, Statue of Mubarak Ben Ahmed Sharaf-Aldin, and Citadel of Arbil
    Erbil HawlerErbil in Kurdistan Region of Iraq
    Arbil Province
    9000 BC
    Nawzad Hadi
    420 m (1,380 ft)
    1.5 million

    Erbil, also written Arbil, or Irbil, and known as Hewlêr (Kurdish: ھەولێر Hewlêr; Syriac: ܐܪܒܝܠ Arbel, Arabic: أربيل Arbīl ) is the largest city and capital of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. It is located 88 kilometres (55 miles) east of Mosul and has a permanent population of approximately 1.5 million as of 2013.


    Erbil''s archaeological museum houses a large collection of pre-Islamic artifacts, and is a center for archaeological projects in the area.

    The city officially has been appointed Arab Tourism Capital 2014 by the Arab Council of Tourism. In July 2014 it was appointed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.



    The name Erbil was mentioned in Sumerian holy writings of third millennium BC as Urbilum, Urbelum or Urbillum, which appears to originate from Arbilum in the language of the Hurrians who inhabited the area. Later, the Akkadians and Assyrians by a folk etymology rendered the name as arba''ū ilū to mean four gods. The city became a centre for the worship of the Assyro-Babylonian goddess Ishtar. In classical times the city became known as Arbela (''Άρβηλα). In Old Persian the city was called Arbairā.


    HistoryThe ancient city wall still dominates the center of Erbil.Old Minaret, ErbilSiege of Erbil by the Ilkhanid Mongols in 1258-59 depicted in the Jami'' al-tawarikh by Rashid-al-Din Hamadani Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Département des Manuscrits, Division Orientale.Arbil WallCitadel of Arbil, Iraqi KurdistanAssyrian Christian Church, Arbil, Iraqi KurdistanAncient history

    It has been claimed that Erbil is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in history.

    The first mention of Erbil in literary sources comes from the archives of Ebla. They record two journeys to Erbil (Irbilum) by a messenger from Ebla around 2300 BC. Later, Erridupizir, king of Gutium, captured the city in 2200 BC.


    Erbil was an integral part of Assyria from around 2500 BC until 605 BC, and it remained part of Assyria under Persian, Greek, Parthian, Roman and Sassanid rule.

    Under the Median Empire, Cyaxares might have settled a number of people from the Ancient Iranian tribe of Sagartians in Arbela and Kirkuk, probably as a reward for their help in the capture of Nineveh. The Persian emperor Cyrus the Great occupied Assyria in 547 BC, and established it as an Achaemenid satrapy called in Old Persian Aθurā (Athura), with Arbela as the capital.


    Erbil became part of the region disputed between Rome and Persia under the Sasanids. The ancient Assyrian kingdom of Adiabene (the Greek form of Ḥadyab) had its center at Erbil, and the town and kingdom are known in Jewish Middle Eastern history for the conversion of the royal family to Judaism. Its populace then converted from the Mesopotamian Religion during the 1st and 2nd centuries to Church of the East Christianity, with Pkidha traditionally becoming its first bishop around 104 AD. The metropolitanate of Ḥadyab in Arbela became a centre of eastern Syriac Christianity until late in the Middle Ages.

    Medieval history

    Arbela was an early center of Syriac Christianity. By 100 AD there was a bishop seated in the city. As many of the Aramaic-speaking Assyrians adapted Biblical (including Jewish) names, most of the early bishops had Eastern Aramaic or Jewish/Biblical names, which does not suggest that many of the early Christians in this city were converts from Judaism. It served as the seat of a Metropolitan of the Assyrian Church of the East. From the city''s Christian period come many church fathers and well-known authors in Syriac.

    When the Mongols invaded the Near East in the 13th century, they attacked Arbil for the first time in 1237. They plundered the lower town but had to retreat before an approaching Caliphate army and had to put off the capture of the citadel. After the fall of Baghdad to Hülegü and the Mongols in 1258, they returned to Arbil and were able to capture the citadel after a siege lasting six months. Hülegü then appointed an Assyrian Christian governor to the town and there was an influx of Jacobites, who were allowed to build a church.

    As time passed, sustained persecutions of Christians, Jews and Buddhists throughout the Ilkhanate began in earnest in 1295 under the rule of Oïrat amir Nauruz. This manifested early on in the reign of the Ilkhan Ghazan. In 1297, after Ghazan had felt strong enough to overcome Nauruz''s influence, he put a stop to the persecutions.

    During the reign of the Ilkhan Öljeitü the Christian inhabitants retreated to the citadel to escape persecution. In the Spring of 1310, the Malek (governor) of the region attempted to seize it from them with the help of the Kurds. Despite Mar Yahballaha''s best efforts to avert the impending doom, the citadel was at last taken by Ilkhanate troops and Kurdish tribesmen on July 1, 1310, and all the defenders were massacred, including all the Christian inhabitants of the lower town.

    The city''s Aramaic-speaking Assyrian population remained significant in size until the destruction of the city by the forces of Timur in 1397.


    Modern history



    The parliament of the Kurdistan Autonomous Region was established in Erbil in 1970 after negotiations between the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) led by Mustafa Barzani, but was effectively controlled by Saddam Hussein until the Kurdish uprising at the end of the 1991 Gulf War. The legislature ceased to function effectively in the mid-1990s when fighting broke out between the two main Kurdish factions, the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). The city was captured by the KDP in 1996 with the assistance of the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein. The PUK then established an alternative Kurdish government in Sulaimaniyah. KDP claimed that on March 1996 PUK asked for Iran''s help to fight KDP. Considering this as a foreign attack on Iraq''s soil, the KDP asked the Iraqi government for help.

    The Kurdish Parliament in Erbil reconvened after a peace agreement was signed between the Kurdish parties in 1997, but had no real power. The Kurdish government in Erbil had control only in the western and northern parts of the autonomous region. During the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, a United States special forces task force was headquartered just outside of Erbil. The city was the scene of celebrations on April 10, 2003 after the fall of the Ba''ath regime.

    During the US occupation of Iraq, sporadic attacks had hit Erbil. Parallel bomb attacks against Eid celebrations killed 109 people on February 1, 2004. Responsibility was claimed by the Ansar al-Sunnah, and stated to be in solidarity with Ansar al-Islam. Another bombing on May 4, 2005 killed 60 civilians.

    The Erbil International Airport opened in the city in 2005.

    Projects Downtown Erbil

    Downtown Erbil is a project for a large-scale mixed-use complex in Erbil. The project is coordinated by Emaar Properties, the GCC''s largest real estate developer. Emaar is well known for international big projects like Downtown Dubai and Burj Khalifa. The project was launched in 2013 and will cover an area of 541,000 square meters. This area will be used for residential apartments, hotels and a shopping mall.

    Aura Erbil



    Erbil International Airport is one of Iraq''s busiest airports and is near the city. Services includes direct flights to many domestic destinations as well as flights to international destinations in the Middle East, North Africa and Europe.



    20 (68) 27 (81) 30 (86) 34 (93) 42 (108) 44 (111) 48 (118) 49 (120) 45 (113) 39 (102) 31 (88) 24 (75) 49 (120)
    12.4 (54.3) 14.2 (57.6) 18.1 (64.6) 24 (75) 31.5 (88.7) 38.1 (100.6) 42 (108) 41.9 (107.4) 37.9 (100.2) 30.7 (87.3) 21.2 (70.2) 14.4 (57.9) 27.2 (80.98)
    7.4 (45.3) 8.9 (48) 12.4 (54.3) 17.5 (63.5) 24.1 (75.4) 29.7 (85.5) 33.4 (92.1) 33.1 (91.6) 29 (84) 22.6 (72.7) 15 (59) 9.1 (48.4) 20.18 (68.32)
    2.4 (36.3) 3.6 (38.5) 6.7 (44.1) 11.1 (52) 16.7 (62.1) 21.4 (70.5) 24.9 (76.8) 24.4 (75.9) 20.1 (68.2) 14.5 (58.1) 8.9 (48) 3.9 (39) 13.22 (55.79)
    −4 (25) −6 (21) −1 (30) 3 (37) 6 (43) 10 (50) 13 (55) 17 (63) 11 (52) 4 (39) −2 (28) −2 (28) −6 (21)
    111 (4.37) 97 (3.82) 89 (3.5) 69 (2.72) 26 (1.02) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 12 (0.47) 56 (2.2) 80 (3.15) 540 (21.25)
    9 9 10 9 4 1 1 3 6 10
    1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
    Source #1: Climate-Data.org, My Forecast for records, humidity, snow and precipitation days
    Source #2: What''s the Weather Like.org, Erbilia
    Main sights Citadel of Erbil




    Other sights Culture SportsFranso Hariri Stadium



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