Amedi Explained

Amedi
Native Name:ئامێدی
Settlement Type:Town
Pushpin Map:
  1. Iraq
Pushpin Label Position:top
Pushpin Relief:1
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Type1:Region
Subdivision Name1:Kurdistan Region
Subdivision Type2:Governorate
Subdivision Name2:Duhok
Subdivision Type3:District
Subdivision Name3:Amedi District
Subdivision Type4:Subdistrict
Government Type:Mayor
Established Title:Founded
Established Date:Before 3000 B.C.
Unit Pref:Imperial
Population Total:11000
Timezone:GMT +3
Coordinates:37.0925°N 43.4872°W
Elevation M:1200
Postal Code Type:Postcode
Postal Code:42008
Other Name:Amêdî
Native Name Lang:ku

Amedi or Amadiye (Kurdish: ئامێدی|Amêdî;[1] [2] ; עמידיא|ʿAmədya[3]) is a town in the Duhok Governorate of Kurdistan Region of Iraq.[4] It is built on a mesa in the broader Great Zab river valley. Amedi is known for its celebrations of Newroz.

Etymology

According to ibn al-Athir, the Arabic name "ʿAmadiyya" is eponymous to Imad al-Din Zengi, who built a Citadel in 1142 on the site of an earlier fortification called āšib.[5] Another theory is that the name is named after Imad al-Dawla, but this theory is less likely.

According to Professor Jeffrey Szuchman, Amedi is of Hurrian or Urartian origin.[6]

History

From the Early Bronze Age until it came under the control of the Mitanni in the 16th century BC, Amedi region was part of Kurda and it was entirely inhabited by Subartu, which did not speak a Semitic language.[7] [8] During the rule of the Mittani, the inhabitants of this region were known as Zubarians.[9] [10] [11] [12]

After the fall of the Mittani, Amedi was conquered by Ashurnasirpal I of the Middle Assyrian Empire in the 11th century BC after he fought a vicious campaign against the Mittani Empire.[13]

After the fall of the Assyrian Empire, the Amedi region came under the rule of the Medes. When Xenophon passed through the region in the 4th century BC, he referred to its inhabitants as the Medes and identified the sparsely inhabited area as “ruined Median cities“.[14] Later Amedi area was incorporated into the Achaemenid Empire under the name of Media Magna. Under the rule of the Parthian Empire Amedi region was part of the Barchan (Barzan) district.[15] eventually it became an integral part of Sasanian Empire in the district of Adiabene until it was conquered by the Muslims in 640s, after they defeated the Kurds in Tikrit, Mosul and Saharzor.[16]

Then, for several centuries, after the Abbasid Revolution in the seventh century, it was ruled by an amir from the royal Abbasid dynasty, reputed to be one of the richest families in the region.[17]

Amedi was the birthplace of the messiah claimant David Alroy (fl. 1160). In 1163, according to Joseph ha-Kohen's Emeq ha-Baka, the Jewish population numbered about a thousand families and traded in gall-nuts. Alroy led a revolt against the city but was defeated and killed in the process.[18] The Spanish Jewish historian Solomon ibn Verga (1450–1525) portrayed the Jewish community of Amedi at the time of Alroy as wealthy and contented.[19]

Amedi was the seat of the semi-autonomous Bahdinan, which lasted from 1376 to 1843. There are ruins of the Qubahan School in Amedi which was founded during the region of Sultan Hussein Wali of Bahdinan(1534-1576) AD for the study of Islamic Sciences.[20] [21] There are also ruins of a synagogue and a tomb attributed to Ezekiel a church in the small town. One of the icons of the city is the Great Mosque of Amedi, which dates back to the 12th century and the oldest and largest in the region.[22]

In 1760, the Dominican Leopoldo Soldini founded a mission for Kurdistan in Amedi, with his colleague Maurizio Garzoni.[23]  Garzoni lived there for fourteen years and composed a 4,600 word Italian-Kurdish dictionary and grammar. The dictionary is a key work because it represents the first study of the Kurdish grammar and language; for this reason, Garzoni is often called the “father of Kurdology”.[24] [25] In 1907, the population numbered 6,000, of whom 2,500 were Kurds, 1,900 Jews and 1,600 Chaldean Catholic Assyrians.[26]

Geography

Climate

Amedi has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Csa) with hot summers and cool, wet winters. Being the most northerly city in Iraq, it is the mildest major city in the country. Snow falls occasionally in the winter.

Notable people

See also

Notes and References

  1. News: Li sînorê Gare 12 gund ji ber bombebaranên Tirkiyê hatine valakirin . 18 December 2019 . Rûdaw . ku.
  2. Web site: ئامێدی كوردستانی سەرسوڕهێنەر- وێبسایتی فەرمی دەستەی گشتی گەشت و گوزار . bot.gov.krd . 18 December 2019.
  3. Book: Greenblatt . Jared . The Jewish Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Amədya . 2010 . BRILL . 978-90-04-19230-0 . 56 . en.
  4. Streck. M.. 1965. ʿAmādiya. Encyclopedia of Islam. Second Edition. 10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_0575.
  5. Brown . Michael G. . 2018-01-01 . Two Parthian Rock-Reliefs from Amādiya in Iraqi-Kurdistan . Zeitschrift für Orient-Archäologie.
  6. Szuchman. Jeffrey. 2009-11-01. Bit Zamani and Assyria. Syria. Archéologie, art et histoire. en. 86. 55–65. 10.4000/syria.511. 0039-7946. free.
  7. Book: Mieroop, Marc Van De. King Hammurabi of Babylon: A Biography. 2008. John Wiley & Sons. 978-0-470-69534-0. 51. en. King of Elam to King of Kurda in 1770s BCE: Keep Subartu under your control and don’t give troops to the prince of Babylon. Send a message to Zimri-Lim of Mari that also he should give none to the prince of Babylon..
  8. Book: Michael C. Astour.. Hisotory of Ebla, in "Eblaitica". Eisenbrauns. 1987. 9781575060606. 98. According to the renowned Assyriologists Charpin & Durand: for the Old Babylonian kings, Subartu is neither Assur nor Ekallatum but the agglomeration of the little city-kingdoms..
  9. Book: Samuel Alfred Browne Mercer & Frank Hudson Hallock. The Tell El-Amarna Tablets. (AMS Press, 1983), V.1. 341.
  10. Gadd. C. J.. 1940. Tablets from Chagar Bazar and Tall Brak, 1937-38. Iraq. 7. 22–66. 10.2307/4241663. 4241663. 162237376 . 0021-0889.
  11. Mallowan. M. E. L.. 1937. The Excavations at Tall Chagar Bazar and an Archaeological Survey of the Habur Region. Second Campaign, 1936. Iraq. 4. 2. 91–177. 10.2307/4241610. 4241610. 130109390 . 0021-0889.
  12. Book: Kazanjian, Garabet, "The Hurrians in the Ancient Near East", Dept. of History and Archaeology, A.U.B, 1969.. "Zubari undoubtedly means Mitanni, Subartu, or Hurri".
  13. Book: Luckenbill, Daniel David. Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia, Volume I: Historical Records Of Assyria From The Earliest Times To Sargon. 1989. Histories & Mysteries of Man. 140, 141, 184. en. "against the Nairi lands I marched. The city of Barzani their property, their goods, their oxen, their sheep (to tells and) ruins I turned. The head(s) of their fighters (I smashed), of the Nairi lands; horses, donkeys.. Barzani I burned with fire, I devastated, I destroyed, to mounds and ruins [I turned it]... From the pass of the mountain of Amadani I went forth unto the city of Barzanishtun. Unto the city of Damdammusa, the stronghold of Hani of Zamani, I drew nigh. I stormed the city; my warriors flew like birds against them. 600 of their fighting men I struck down with the sword, I cut off their heads. 400 men I took alive, 3,000 prisoners I brought out. That city I took for my own possession. The living men and the heads I carried to Amedi, his royal city, I made a pillar of heads in front of his city gate, the living men I impaled on stakes round about his city. I fought a battle within his city gate, I cut down his orchards. From the city of Amedi I departed. I entered the pass of the mountain of Kashiari (and) of the city of Ahabr &, wherein none among the kings, my fathers, had set foot, or had made an expedition thereto.".
  14. Book: Joseph, John. The Modern Assyrians of the Middle East: A History of Their Encounter with Western Christian Missions, Archaeologists, and Colonial Powers. 2000. BRILL. 978-90-04-11641-2. 8. en.
  15. Book: Mclachlan, Keith. The Boundaries of Modern Iran. 2016-11-10. Routledge. 978-1-315-39936-2. en.
  16. Book: Houtsma, M. Th. E. J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913-1936. 1993. BRILL. 978-90-04-09790-2. 1136. en.
  17. Book: Wright, George Newenham . A New and Comprehensive gazetteer, Volume 1 . T. Kelly . George Newenham Wright . 1834 . 2009-09-12.
  18. Web site: Jewish Encyclopedia. 1906. 2009-09-12.
  19. Book: Lenowitz, Harris. The Jewish Messiahs: From the Galilee to Crown Heights . 1906. 9780195348941. 2009-09-12.
  20. Web site: the Ancient Qobahan School General Directorate of Tourism / Duhok. 2021-02-06. duhoktourism.org.
  21. Alnumman, Raeed. (2017).. ROOTING OF QUBAHAN SCHOOL AN ANALYTICAL STUDY TO ARCHITECTURAL ITEMS (SPATIAL CONFIGURATION AND FORMALITY ELEMENT OF INTERIOR FACADES OF QUBAHAN SCHOOL).. The Journal of the University of Duhok. 20. 26-41. 10.26682/Sjuod.2017.20.1.4..
  22. https://kitabat.com/news/ذو-الكفل-يجمع-المسلمين-والمسيحيين/ “ذو الكفل” يجمع المسلمين والمسيحيين واليهود في العمادية العراقية
  23. Book: Filoni, Fernando. The Church in Iraq. 2017. CUA Press. 978-0-8132-2965-2. 64. en.
  24. Book: Borbone . Pier Giorgio . Mengozzi . Alessandro . Tosco . Mauro . Linguistic and oriental studies in honour of Fabrizio A. Pennacchietti . 2006 . Otto Harrassowitz Verlag . 978-3-447-05484-3 . 293 .
  25. Book: Bois, Thomas. The Kurds. 1966. Khayats. 79.
  26. Web site: 1907. Catholic Encyclopaedia. 2009-09-12. Appleton.

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