# Eski Mosul

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{{short description|Populated place in Iraq}}
{{about|the place west of Mosul|the old town of Mosul, which translates to "Eski Mosul" in Turkish|Mosul|and|Nineveh}}
{{Infobox settlement
| name               = Eski Mosul
| native_name        = أسكي موصل
| native_name_lang   = ar
| settlement_type    = 
| image_skyline      = Aski Mosul.png
| image_alt          = 
| image_caption      = Ruins at Eski Mosul
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| pushpin_map        = Iraq
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| coordinates        = {{coord|36.514|N|42.735|E|display=inline,title}}
| coor_pinpoint      = 
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| subdivision_type   = Country
| subdivision_name   = [Iraq](/source/Iraq)
| subdivision_type1  = [Governorate](/source/Governorates_of_Iraq)
| subdivision_name1  = [Ninawa](/source/Nineveh_Governorate)
| subdivision_type2  = [District](/source/Districts_of_Iraq)
| subdivision_name2  = [Mosul](/source/Mosul_District)
| subdivision_type3  = Subdistrict
| subdivision_name3  = [al-Muhamadath](/source/al-Muhamadath)
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'''Eski Mosul''' ({{langx|ar|أسكي موصل}}) is a village in [Mosul District](/source/Mosul_District), in present-day northern Iraq. Located just downstream from the [Mosul Dam](/source/Mosul_Dam), Eski Mosul is the site of the ancient and medieval city of '''Balad'''.

== Name ==
The name "Eski Mosul" means "Old [Mosul](/source/Mosul)" in [Turkish](/source/Turkish_language).<ref name="e-GEDSH">{{cite web |last1=Harrak |first1=Amir |title=Balad |url=https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Balad |website=Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage: Electronic Edition |access-date=9 April 2024}}</ref>

Eski Mosul is the site of ancient and medieval '''Balad''', which was known as ''Balaṭ'' in [Akkadian](/source/Akkadian_language) and either ''Balad'' or ''Balaṭ'' in [Syriac](/source/Syriac_language) and medieval Arabic.<ref name="e-GEDSH"/>

According to [Yaqut al-Hamawi](/source/Yaqut_al-Hamawi), Balad was known as ''Shahrābādh'' in Sasanian times.<!-- Le Strange 1905, p. 99 --> (He also mentioned that the name ''Balad'' was often written ''Balaṭ'', as mentioned above.)<!-- Le Strange 1905, p. 99 --><ref name="Le Strange 1905">{{cite book |last1=Le Strange |first1=Guy |title=The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate: Mesopotamia, Persia, and Central Asia, from the Moslem Conquest to the Time of Timur |date=1905 |publisher=Barnes & Noble, Inc. |location=New York |url=https://archive.org/details/landsoftheeaster028596mbp/page/98}}</ref>

== Geography ==
Eski Mosul is located about 40&nbsp;km northwest of Mosul, near the west bank of the [Tigris](/source/Tigris).<ref name="e-GEDSH"/> It is located on a smaller stream called the Wadi al-Murr, just above its confluence with the Tigris.<ref name="Reitlinger 1938">{{cite journal |last1=Reitlinger |first1=Gerald |title=Medieval Antiquities West of Mosul |journal=Iraq |date=1938 |volume=5 |pages=143-56 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4241630 |access-date=9 April 2024}}</ref>{{rp|145}} It is located opposite from the village of [Wanah](/source/Wanah%2C_Iraq).<ref name="Fiey 1975">{{cite book |last1=Fiey |first1=J. M. |title=Assyrie Chrétienne, Vol. I: contribution a l'étude de l'histoire et de la géographie ecclésiastiques et monastiques du nord de l'Iraq |date=1975 |publisher=Imprimerie Catholique |location=Beirut |url=https://archive.org/details/assyriechretienn0000jmfi}}</ref>{{rp|283}}

Administratively, Eski Mosul is in the [al-Muhamadath](/source/al-Muhamadath) subdistrict of [Mosul District](/source/Mosul_District) in [Ninawa Governorate](/source/Nineveh_Governorate).<ref name="OCHA Iraq">{{cite web |title=Iraq - Populated Places (Cities, Villages, Towns) |url=https://data.humdata.org/dataset/iraq-populated-places-2021? |website=The Humanitarian Data Exchange |publisher=UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Iraq |access-date=10 April 2024 |date=2021}}</ref>

== History ==
The village of Eski Mosul is located atop a prehistoric mound, over 100 feet tall.<!-- Reitlinger 1938, p. 145 --> This is the site of ancient and medieval Balad, although the site is much older — archaeological finds here date back as far as the [Bronze Age](/source/Bronze_Age) [Painted Pottery culture](/source/Painted_Pottery_culture).<!-- Reitlinger 1938, p. 145 --><ref name="Reitlinger 1938"/>{{rp|145}} Ancient Balad is first attested in the inscriptions of the Assyrian king [Sennacherib](/source/Sennacherib) ({{circa}} 700 BCE).<!-- e-GEDSH --> It later became a Christian diocese of the [East Syriac Rite](/source/East_Syriac_Rite), first attested in 497 CE.<!-- e-GEDSH --> The [Syrian Orthodox](/source/Syrian_Orthodox) bishop of [Beth Arabaye](/source/Beth_Arabaye) was also based at Balad.<!-- e-GEDSH --><ref name="e-GEDSH"/>

The 10th-century geographers [Ibn Hawqal](/source/Ibn_Hawqal) and [al-Muqaddasi](/source/al-Muqaddasi) both left descriptions of Balad in their works.<!-- Le Strange 1905, p. 99 --> Ibn Hawqal described it as a large city, while al-Muqaddasi wrote that Balad had well-built stone houses, good markets, and a [congregational mosque](/source/congregational_mosque) at the center of town.<!-- Le Strange 1905, p. 99 --><ref name="Le Strange 1905"/>{{rp|99}} Gerald Reitlinger suggested a possible identification of this mosque with "a fragment of wall built of fine squared granite blocks" on the western side of the mound at Eski Mosul.<!-- Reitlinger 1938, p. 146 --> Reitlinger identified this fragment as part of a monumental [iwan](/source/iwan), with a [Kufic](/source/Kufic) inscription on it.<!-- Reitlinger 1938, p. 146 --> He wrote that the exposed part of the inscription, at the bottom right corner, consisted of the ''[basmala](/source/basmala)''.<!-- Reitlinger 1938, p. 146 --><ref name="Reitlinger 1938"/>{{rp|146}}

thumb|Remains of Jisr Eski Mosul, a medieval bridge west of Eski Mosul
The 13th-century writer Yaqut al-Hamawi repeated some of al-Muqaddasi's observations and also described Balad as a crossroads between Mosul, [Nisibin](/source/Nisibin), and [Sinjar](/source/Sinjar).<!-- Reitlinger 1938, p. 145 --> The remains of two bridges, at Kisik Kuprü and Jisr Eski Mosul, mark the old routes.<!-- Reitlinger 1938, p. 145-6 --> Jisr Eski Mosul, a monumental stone bridge on the Wadi al-Murr two miles west of Eski Mosul, is disproportionately large for the small stream it crosses.<!-- Reitlinger 1938, p. 146 --> Only the middle part of the bridge survives; the access ramps were removed at some point before the 20th century.<!-- Reitlinger 1938, p. 146 --> An inscription identifies the bridge as having been built in 1213-14 (611 [AH](/source/Hijri_year)) — during Yaqut's lifetime — by an architect named Muḥammad al-Ḥuzrī.<!-- Reitlinger 1938, p. 147 --> This bridge would have connected medieval Balad with [Faysh Khabur](/source/Faysh_Khabur) and Jazīrat Ibn 'Umar (present-day [Cizre](/source/Cizre)).<!-- Reitlinger 1938, p. 145 --> As for the bridge at Kisik Kuprü, it probably dates from the early Islamic period and was rebuilt at a later date — likely also around the 1200s, under the [Zengid](/source/Zengid)s, who built several bridges in Upper Mesopotamia (including Jisr Eski Mosul).<!-- Reitlinger 1938, p. 144 --> Kisik Kuprü would have carried the route from Balad to [Tall A'far](/source/Tall_A'far) and then on to Nisibin.<!-- Reitlinger 1938, p. 145 --><ref name="Reitlinger 1938"/>{{rp|144-7}}

At some unknown point after Yaqut's lifetime, Balad became abandoned.<!-- Reitlinger 1938, p. 146 --><ref name="Reitlinger 1938"/>{{rp|146}} [Afram Barsoum](/source/Afram_Barsoum) suggested a 14th century date for Balad's abandonment because the last Syriac Orthodox bishop of Beth Arbaye (early 1300s) was called the "bishop of Sinjar" instead.<!-- e-GEDSH --><ref name="e-GEDSH"/>

Sometime after Balad's abandonment, a fortified ''[khan](/source/khan_(caravanserai))'' was built on top of the old mound.<!-- Reitlinger 1938, p. 145-6 --> With [curtain wall](/source/curtain_wall_(fortification))s replacing some of the rooms on one side, the khan was effectively a small fortress; locals referred to it as "the ''[qasr](/source/Glossary_of_Arabic_toponyms)''" instead of "the khan".<!-- Reitlinger 1938, p. 145 --> The modern village of Eski Mosul was built within the walls of the qasr/khan.<!-- Reitlinger 1938, p. 145 --> By the early 1900s, though, there were only a few houses still within the walls — most of the local families had built new homes outside the walls, and the khan was mainly used to shelter livestock instead of as a fortification.<!-- Reitlinger 1938, p. 145 --><ref name="Reitlinger 1938"/>{{rp|145-6}}

In the 1980s, the [Mosul Dam](/source/Mosul_Dam) was built on the Tigris just upstream from Eski Mosul.<!-- Sconzo and Simi 2020, p. 1 --> The dam was originally called the Eski Mosul Dam, but later became known as just the Mosul Dam.<!-- Sconzo and Simi 2020, p. 1 --><ref name="Sconzo and Simi 2020">{{cite journal |last1=Sconzo |first1=Paola |last2=Simi |first2=Francesca |title=Settlement Dynamics on the Banks of the Upper Tigris, Iraq: The Mosul Dam Reservoir Survey (1980) |journal=[Journal of Open Archaeology Data](/source/Journal_of_Open_Archaeology_Data) |date=2020 |volume=8 |url=https://openarchaeologydata.metajnl.com/articles/10.5334/joad.63 |access-date=12 April 2024}}</ref>{{rp|1}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
*ʻAbd Allāh Amīn Aghā (1974). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=Tk3guIBbW5EC بلد "أسكي موصل": تاريخها و آثارها]''. Balad: Maṭābiʻ al-Jumhūr. In Arabic.
*Fiey, J. M. (1964). "[https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/c6fd49b0-3f76-3035-b903-cef173d59e1a?component=7d05e0c2-ae71-3837-b7e2-82df7463ba11 Balad et Beth ‘Arabaye irakien]". ''L'Orient Syrien'', vol. 9 (1964), pp. 189-232. In French.

Category:Populated places on the Tigris River
Category:Populated places in Nineveh Governorate
Category:Archaeological sites in Iraq
Category:Ancient Assyrian cities
Category:History of Mosul

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Eski Mosul](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eski_Mosul) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eski_Mosul?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.