Erbil 5.97

Erbil, also spelt as Arbil or Irbil, is the capital city of Kurdistan Region in Iraq. It is located approximately 350km north of Baghdad. Its governorate has a permanent population of approximately 1.61 million.Human settlement at Erbil can be dated back to possibly 5000 BC, and it is one of the oldest continuously inhabited areas in the world. At the heart of the city is the ancient Citadel of Arbil. The earliest historical reference to the region dates to the Ur III dynasty of Sumer, when king Shulgi mentioned the city of Urbilum, the ancient Assyrian name of modern-day Arbil.Erbil became an integral part of the kingdom of Assyria by at least the 21st century BC through to the end of the 7th century BC, and it was known in Assyrian annals variously as Urbilim, Arbela and Arba-ilu. After this it was part of the geopolitical province of Assyria under several empires in turn, including the Median Empire, the Achaemenid Empire (Achaemenid Assyria), Macedonian Empire, Seleucid Syria, Parthian Empire (Athura), Assyria (Roman province) and Sassanid Empire (Assuristan), as well as being the capital of the Neo-Assyrian state of Adiabene between the mid 2nd century BC and early 2nd century AD. Following the Arab conquest of Persia, Assyria as a geo-political entity (then known as Assuristan/Athura) slowly dissolved, and during medieval times the city came to be ruled by the Seljuk and Ottoman Turks.