'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. III. 1917' [‎355] (364/432)

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DEIK EZ-ZOE—EKBIL 355
EBBIL, about 48 m. E. by S. of Mosul. Pop. about 39,000
(1,800 houses). Another estimate gives the population as 15,000
and the number of houses as 3,000. T. (Baghdad—Mosul line;
and branch lines to Kowanduz, to Qal'ah Dlzeh Kdi Sanjaq, and
to the Sultan's estate at Makhmur).
Routes—
(i) To Koi Sanjaq. (See lioute 42.)
(ii) To Rowanduz
(a) via Shakhlawa. (See Boute 43 a.)
{b) via Bahirka. (See 43 b.)
(iii) To Mosul. (See lioute 25 a, m. 245^.)
General Description. —Erbil (Assyrian 'Aba-Ilu, ' Four Gods') was
a great Assyrian city, being especially famous for its cult of the
goddess Ishtar, and under Persian rule it continued to be a considerable
place, and its temple of Ishtar was still famous. Alexander won the
decisive battle that made him master of the Persian Empire some
where in the plain to the SW. of Erbil near the Great Zab in
b . c. 831. Later Erbil was the burial-place of the Parthian kings.
Its sanctity disappeared with the rise of Christianity, and since the
Mohammedan conquest its history has not been of general importance,
though its position as a road centre in a fertile district has ensured
its continued existence. The battle which transferred the Caliphate
from the Omayyad to the Abbasid family was fought in the neighbour
hood about the middle of the eighth century.
The modern town of Erbil stands partly on a large artificial mound
of Assyrian origin, which rises 200 ft. above the plain with a slope of 1
in 1. The mound is 600 yds. in diameter. It is surrounded by a ring
wall, against which houses have been built on the inside, with windows
pierced through to the outer face. Inside, on the summit of the hill,
there are many winding streets, some being only 4-6 ft. wide and
very intricate. There are only two gates, both on the SW., with
camps leading up to them. Below the mound a large quarter (said
to be growing) has sprung up to the W. and S. The khan, baths,
posting-station, and telegraph office are at the foot of the hill on the
W. side. On the NW. side is a one-storied block of mud barracks.
On the N. and E. sides of the citadel are the remains of a wall of mud
4 ft. thick which would still make a good parapet. The stony bed of
the Erbil Eiver (usually dry) lies about 1 m. SE. of the town, and 1^ m.
iflthe same direction is Badowa, a village of 50houses of Dizeih Kurds.
WdW . from the mound, just outside the town, is an old minaret.
Supplies and Commerce. —The of Erbil produces large
quantities of wheat and barley, with a considerable surplus for
export to Baghdad via the Tigris. There is much corn-land in
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