Ancient era and early Middle Ages south of Mosul, Iraq's oldest monastery of the
Assyrian Church of the East, dating from the 6th century. It was destroyed by
IS in 2014|left 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 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) until the
early Muslim conquests of the mid-7th century. During the
Roman–Parthian period, the
Arab Kingdom of Hatra rose to prominence, flourishing as a major political and cultural center and serving as a buffer state between the two empires, before being destroyed by the
Sasanian Empire. Afterward, the region became part of the Sasanian province of
Arbāyistān. After the Muslim conquests, the region saw 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 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), 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 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 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 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 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 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 a part of the Sasanian province of
Arbāyistān, which bordered
Asoristan to the south,
Adiabene to the east, and Armenia to the north, and extended westward roughly along a line from
Amida past
Singara to the
Khabur River and
Dura-Europos. Mosul was conquered by the
Seljuk Empire in the 11th century. After 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 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 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. 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 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.
Metalworking hub , made by Shuja' ibn Man'a in Mosul in 1232, is one of the most famous brass pieces from Mosul|252x252px 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 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.|249x249px The earliest definite evidence of Mawsili craftsmen emigrating westward to Mamluk Syria and Egypt dates from the 1250s.
Ottoman period 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 arch-rival,
Safavid Persia. Thenceforth Mosul was governed by a
pasha. Following its capture, Mosul was incorporated into the
Baghdad Eyalet, as confirmed by imperial registers from 1558 to 1587, which list
sanjaks ranging from
Zakho and
Erbil in the north to areas around the
Mesopotamian Marshes in the south. Mosul was celebrated for its line of walls, comprising seven gates with large towers, a renowned hospital (
maristan) and a covered market (
qaysariyya), and its fabrics and flourishing trades.
Ottoman Iraq 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 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), the
liwa of Mosul became an independent
wilaya."|left|241x241pxDespite 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 the State, was certainly not the dominant language in the province." 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 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 the 19th century still had its motherhouse in Mosul in the early 21st century. Over 120 Assyrian Iraqi Sisters belonged to this congregation. In order to reestablish rule, in 1834 the sultan abolished public elections for governor, and began "neutraliz[ing] local families such as the
Jalilis and their class" This destruction became a pattern. Every new government tried to hide or demolish what was left by the former government. It became a nexus for the movement of oil via truck and pipeline to Turkey and Syria. Mosul benefited considerably from the development of oilfields in the region. 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. Mosul served as the operational base for the
US Army's
101st Airborne Division during the occupational phase of the
Operation Iraqi Freedom. During its tenure, the 101st Airborne Division was able to extensively survey the city and, advised by the 431st
Civil Affairs Battalion, non-governmental organizations, and the people of Mosul, began reconstruction work by employing the people of Mosul in security, electricity, local governance, drinking water, wastewater, trash disposal, roads, bridges, and environmental concerns. Other U.S. Army units also occupied the city. On
24 June 2004, a coordinated series of car bombs killed 62 people, many of them policemen. On 21 December 14 American soldiers, four American employees of
Halliburton, and four Iraqi soldiers
were killed in a suicide attack on a dining hall at the
Forward Operating Base (FOB) Marez next to the main U.S. military airfield at Mosul.
The Pentagon reported that 72 other personnel were injured in the attack, carried out by a
suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest and the uniform of the Iraqi security services. The
Islamist group
Army of Ansar al-Sunna (partly evolved from
Ansar al-Islam) took responsibility for the attack in an online statement. In December 2007,
Mosul International Airport was reopened. An
Iraqi Airways flight carried 152
Hajj pilgrims to Baghdad, the first commercial flight since U.S. forces declared a no-fly zone in 1993, though further commercial flight remained prohibited. On 23 January 2008, an explosion in an apartment building killed 36 people. The next day, a suicide bomber dressed as a police officer assassinated the local police chief, Brigadier General Salah Mohammed al-Jubouri, the director of police for Nineveh province, as he toured the site of the blast. In May 2008, US-backed Iraqi Army Forces led by Major General Riyadh Jalal Tawfiq, the commander of military operations in Mosul, launched a military offensive of the
Ninawa campaign in hopes of bringing stability and security to the city. The representatives of Mosul in the
Iraqi Parliament, the intellectuals of the city, and other concerned humanitarian groups agreed on the pressing need for a solution to the city's unbearable conditions, but still believed the solution was political and administrative. They also questioned whether such a large-scale military offensive would spare the lives of innocent people. All these factors deprived the city of its historical, scientific and intellectual foundations between 2003 and 2008, when many scientists, professors, academics, doctors, health professionals, engineers, lawyers, journalists, religious clergy (both Muslim and Christian), historians, as well as professionals and artists, were either killed or forced to leave the city under the threat of being shot, exactly as happened elsewhere in Iraq in those years. In 2008, many
Assyrian Christians (about 12,000) fled the city, following
a wave of murders and threats against their community. The murder of a dozen Assyrians, threats that others would be murdered unless they converted to Islam, and the destruction of their houses sparked a rapid exodus of the Christian population. Some fled to Syria and Turkey; others were given shelter in churches and monasteries. Accusations were exchanged between Sunni fundamentalists and some Kurdish groups of being behind this new exodus. Some claims linked it to the provincial elections of January 2009, and the related Assyrian Christians' demands for broader representation in the provincial councils. On 10 June 2014, the
Islamic State captured Mosul during the
June 2014 Northern Iraq offensive. , after the Iraqi troops stationed there withdrew. Troop shortages and infighting among top officers and Iraqi political leaders played into IS's hands and fueled panic that led to the city's abandonment. Half a million people escaped on foot or by car during the next two days. According to western and pro-Iraqi government press, Mosul residents were de facto prisoners, forbidden to leave the city unless they left IS a significant collateral of family members, personal wealth and property. They could then leave after paying a significant "departure tax" for a three-day pass (for a higher fee they could surrender their home, pay the fee and leave for good) and if those with a three-day pass failed to return within that time, their assets would be seized and their family killed. By August, the city's new IS administration was dysfunctional, with frequent power cuts, a tainted water supply, collapse of infrastructure, and failing health care. Ali Ghaidan, a former commander of the Iraqi ground forces, accused
al-Maliki of being the one who issued the order to withdraw from the city. After more than two years of occupation of Mosul,
Iraqi forces, with the help of American and French forces, launched a joint offensive to recapture it on 16 October 2016. The
battle was considered key in the
military intervention against IS. A military offensive to retake the city was the largest deployment of Iraqi forces since the
2003 invasion by U.S. and coalition forces On 9 July 2017, Prime Minister
Haider Al-Abadi arrived in preparation to announce the full liberation and reclamation of Mosul after three years of IS control. A formal declaration was made on the next day. The battle continued for another couple of weeks in the Old City before Iraqi forces regained full control of Mosul on 21 July 2017. According to
Kurdish intelligence, tens of thousands of civilians were killed in the battle, and most of the city was destroyed by Coalition airstrikes and Iraqi shelling. Subsequently, Iranian-sponsored predominantly
Shiite militias from the
Popular Mobilization Units, which fought against IS, gained a foothold in the city. ==Demographics==