Balawat is a village in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, 25 km (15 miles) southeast from the city of Mosul. It is the site of the ancient Assyrian city of Imgur-Enlil. The Kurds are an ethnic group inhabiting northern and northeastern Mesopotamia, which includes parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey (a region commonly referred to as Kurdistan). ... Mosul (36°22′N 43°07′E; Arabic: , Kurdish: Mûsil, Syriac: ܢܝܢܘܐ Nîněwâ) is a city in northern Iraq. ... Assyrian may refer to: List of Assyrian settlements Anything from Assyria, an ancient empire in Mesopotamia Anything from Assyria (Roman province), a province of the Roman Empire Assyrian people, a present-day Middle Eastern ethnic group Several Christian denominations: Assyrian Church of the East Assyrian Church of the Easts...

The city of Imgur-Enlil

The city of Imgur-Enlil was founded by the Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal II (884-859 BC). It laid 13 km (8 miles) upstream the Derrah river from river Tigris, where the city of Kalhu (see Nimrud) was situated. Imgur-Enlil laid between the city of Nineveh and the province of Arrapha in the southeast along the royal Assyrian road. Ashurnasirpal II had already transferred the capital from Assur to Kalhu, and the foundation of Imgur-Enlil may have been a further step to knit up the Assyrian empire. The city existed for two centuries but was like all Assyrian cities sacked and destroyed by the Medes and Chaldeans at the fall of the Assyrian empire 614-612 BC. Ashurnasirpal II, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California Ashurnasirpal II was king of Assyria from 884 BC-859 BC. Ashurnasirpal succeeded his father, Tukulti-Ninurta II, in 884 BC. He conquered Mesopotamia and the territory of what is now the Lebanon, adding them to the growing Assyrian empire. ... Tigris River in Mosul, Iraq The Tigris (Kurdish: Tîj / Tûj / Tîr , Old Persian: Tigrā-, Pahlavi: Tigr, Syriac: ܕܩܠܬ; Deqlath, Arabic: دجلة; Dijla, Turkish: Dicle, Hebrew: חדקל; ḥiddeqel) is the eastern member of the pair of great rivers that define Mesopotamia, along with the Euphrates, which flows from the mountains of... Nimrud is an ancient Assyrian city located south of Nineveh on the river Tigris. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Arrapha (Arabic: )A name used in ancient times to describe the city of Kirkuk. ... Ashurnasirpal II, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California Ashurnasirpal II was king of Assyria from 884 BC-859 BC. Ashurnasirpal succeeded his father, Tukulti-Ninurta II, in 884 BC. He conquered Mesopotamia and the territory of what is now the Lebanon, adding them to the growing Assyrian empire. ... Assur, also spelled Ashur, from Assyrian Aššur, was the capital of ancient Assyria. ... The Medes(ancient Kurdistan) were an Iranian people, who lived in the north, western, and northwestern portions of present-day Iran, and roughly the areas of present day Tehran, Hamedan, Azarbaijan, north of Esfahan, Zanjan, and Kurdistan. ... Map showing the location of Tel Kaif, Iraq and the neighboring areas. ...

Discovery of the Balawat gates

The city was discovered in 1876 by the Iraqi explorer Hormuzd Rassam. Except from temples and palace buildings, the most important artefacts discovered there were the so-called Balawat gates. These were made up of 13 pieces of bronze bands attached through nails to two wooden gates of the palace. The bronze bands depict a sacrifice and war scenes from the campaigns of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III(859-824 BC). The Balawat gates are now on display in the British Museum, London. Hormuzd Rassam (1826-1910) was an Assyriologist and traveller, born at Mosul of Christian parents. ... Shalmaneser III (Šulmānu-ašarēdu, the god Shulmanu is pre-eminent) was king of Assyria (859 BC-824 BC), and son of the previous ruler, Ashurnasirpal II. His long reign was a constant series of campaigns against the eastern tribes, the Babylonians, the nations of Mesopotamia and Syria... The main entrance to the British Museum. ... The Houses of Parliament and the clock tower containing Big Ben Part of the London skyline viewed from the South Bank London is the capital of the United Kingdom and England. ...