{"id":18926,"date":"2017-04-14T16:56:12","date_gmt":"2017-04-14T15:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.journals.cambridge.org\/?p=18926"},"modified":"2017-09-21T11:55:50","modified_gmt":"2017-09-21T10:55:50","slug":"the-ancient-history-and-heritage-of-the-mosul-region-an-a-z-part-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/blog\/2017\/04\/14\/the-ancient-history-and-heritage-of-the-mosul-region-an-a-z-part-i\/","title":{"rendered":"The ancient history and heritage of the Mosul region: an A\u2013Z, Part I"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Eleanor Robson, Editor of\u00a0Iraq<\/em><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Over the past few months, the Iraqi armed forces and their allies have freed substantial areas of northern Iraq from ISIS\/Da\u2019esh, liberating many hundreds of thousands of people from the terrorists\u2019 control. The focus of their efforts is Mosul, a city which has been inhabited for around five thousand years. East of the river Tigris the landscape is dominated by the walls and palaces of Nineveh, capital of the great Assyrian empire in the 7th<\/sup> century BCE. On the west bank, the medieval city of the Zangid dynasty (1127\u20131259 CE) is densely packed with synagogues, churches, mosques, and other important heritage buildings. Monasteries, Yezidi shrines, and important archaeological sites are also scattered through the surrounding towns and countryside.<\/p>\n

Over the past 2 \u00bd years ISIS\/Da\u2019esh has inflicted systematic damage to Mosul\u2019s heritage infrastructure. Beyond their videoed destructions at Mosul Museum and the Assyrian city of Nimrud, they have desecrated or demolished many buildings that offended their narrow religious sensibilities, and looted archaeological sites. The current bombing campaign in the war against ISIS is also doing untold harm, especially to west Mosul. Recently liberated archaeologists and archivists are now starting to document what has gone, and what is still at risk.<\/p>\n

Iraq<\/em> has been publishing Iraqi and international research on the cultural heritage of the Mosul region ever since the journal was founded in the 1930s. To celebrate its new-found freedom, and in support of the intense programme of assessment, planning and restoration that is now beginning, I have chosen 26 articles from past volumes to showcase the amazing richness of Mosul\u2019s history and heritage, from A-Z.<\/p>\n

Adiabene<\/strong><\/p>\n

After the fall of Nineveh, after the collapse of Seleucid rule, the kingdom of Adiabene formed in the Mosul region in the 2nd<\/sup> century BC. This very recent article contrasts the self-portrayals of Adabenian kings with how the Romans pictured them.<\/p>\n