Nimrud (/nɪmˈruːd/; Arabic: النمرود) is the later Arab name for an ancient Assyrian city located 30 kilometres (20 mi) south of the city of Mosul, and 5 kilometres (3 mi) south of the village of Selamiyah (Arabic: السلامية), in the Nineveh plains …
Hatra (Arabic: الحضر al-Ḥaḍr) was an ancient city in the Ninawa Governorate and al-Jazira region of Iraq. It was known as al-Hadr, a name which appears once in ancient inscriptions, and it was in the ancient Persian province of Khvarvaran.
Iraq (/ɪˈræk/, /ɪˈrɑːk/, or /aɪˈræk/; Arabic: العراق al-‘Irāq, Kurdish: Êraq), officially the Republic of Iraq (Arabic: جمهورية العراق Jumhūriyyat al-‘Irāq; Kurdish: كۆماری عێراق Komar-i ‘Êraq), is a country in Western Asia. The country borders T…
Babylon (/ˈbæbələn, -ˌlɒn/; Akkadian: Bābili(m); Sumerian logogram: KÁ.DINGIR.RAKI; Hebrew: בָּבֶל, Bavel; Ancient Greek: Βαβυλών Babylṓn; Old Persian: 𐎲𐎠𐎲𐎡𐎽𐎢 Bābiru; Kassite language: Karanduniash; Arabic: بابل, Bābil) was a significant city in an…
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and the only one whose location has not been definitely established.
Nineveh (English pronunciation: /ˈnɪn.ɪv.ə/; Akkadian: Ninua; Classical Syriac: ܢܸܢܘܵܐ; Arabic: نينوى Ninawa, Kurdish: نەینەوا, Hebrew: נִינְוֵה Nin'veih; Greek: Νινευή Nineuē; Naynuwa; Turkish: Ninova Persian: نینوا Latin: Nineve) is an ancient …
Tikrit (Arabic: تكريت Tikrīt, Classical Syriac: ܬܓܪܝܬ Tagriṯ) sometimes transliterated as Takrit or Tekrit, is a city in Iraq, located 140 kilometres (87 mi) northwest of Baghdad and 220 kilometres (140 mi) southeast of Mosul on the Tigris River. I…
Kurdistan or Greater Kurdistan ( (listen) "Land of the Kurds"; also formerly spelled Curdistan; ancient name: Corduene) is a roughly defined geo-cultural region wherein the Kurdish people form a prominent majority population, and Kurdish culture, l…
Baghdad (Arabic: بغداد Baġdād, Iraqi pronunciation: [bɐʁˈd̪ɑːd̪]; Kurdish بەغدا, Bexda) is the capital of the Republic of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Province. The population of Baghdad, as of 2011, is approximately 7,216,040, making i…
Mosul (/moʊˈsuːl/; Arabic: الموصل al-Mawṣil; Kurdish: مووسڵ Mûsil; North Mesopotamian Arabic: el-Mōṣul; Syriac: ܢܝܢܘܐ Nînwe,Turkish: Musul), is a city of over a million people in northern Iraq, some 400 km north of Baghdad. The original city stand…
The Parthian Empire (/ˈpɑrθiən/; 247 BC – 224 AD), also known as the Arsacid Empire /ˈɑrsəsɪd/, was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Iran. Its latter name comes from Arsaces I of Parthia who, as leader of the Parni tribe, foun…
Iraqi Kurdistan or Southern Kurdistan (Kurdish: باشووری کوردستان, Başûrê Kurdistanê), also known as the Kurdistan Region (Kurdish: هه‌رێمی کوردستان, Herêmî Kurdistan), is the autonomous region of Iraq. It borders the Kurdish regions of Iran to the…
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (Arabic: أبو مصعب الزرقاوي, pronunciation ’Abū Muṣ‘ab az-Zarqāwī, Abu Musab from Zarqa); October 30, 1966 – June 7, 2006), born Ahmad Fadeel al-Nazal al-Khalayleh (Arabic: أحمد فضيل النزال الخلايله, ’Aḥmad Faḍīl an-Nazāl al-…
The Akkadian Empire /əˈkeɪdiən/ was an ancient Semitic empire centered in the city of Akkad /ˈækæd/ and its surrounding region, also called Akkad in ancient Mesopotamia. The empire united all the indigenous Akkadian-speaking Semites and the Sumerian…
Ur (Sumerian: Urim; Sumerian Cuneiform: 𒋀𒀕𒆠 URIM2KI or 𒋀𒀊𒆠 URIM5KI; Akkadian: Uru; Arabic: أور) was an important Sumerian city-state in ancient Mesopotamia, located at the site of modern Tell el-Muqayyar (Arabic: تل المقير) in south Iraq's Dhi Qar…
Operation Opera (Hebrew: אופרה), also known as Operation Babylon, was a surprise Israeli air strike carried out on 7 June 1981, which destroyed an Iraqi nuclear reactor under construction 17 kilometers (10.5 miles) southeast of Baghdad. The operati…
Uruk (Cuneiform: 𒌷𒀔,URU UNUG; Sumerian: Unug; Akkadian: Uruk; Aramaic/Hebrew: אֶרֶךְ Erech; Ancient Greek: Ὀρχόη Orchoē, Ὠρύγεια Ōrugeia; Arabic: وركاء, Warkā') was an ancient city of Sumer and later Babylonia, situated east of the present bed of t…
The Second Battle of Fallujah—code-named Operation Al-Fajr (Arabic,الفجر "the dawn") and Operation Phantom Fury—was a joint American, Iraqi, and British offensive in November and December 2004, considered the highest point of conflict in Fallujah du…
The Ishtar Gate (Arabic: بوابة عشتار) was the eighth gate to the inner city of Babylon. It was constructed in about 575 BC by order of King Nebuchadnezzar II on the north side of the city.
Fallujah (Arabic: الفلوجة, al-Fallūjah Iraqi pronunciation: [el.fɐl.ˈluː.dʒɐ]) is a city in the Iraqi province of Al Anbar, located roughly 69 kilometers (43 mi) west of Baghdad on the Euphrates.
Basra, also written Basrah (Arabic: البصرة; BGN: Al Başrah), is the capital of Basra Governorate, located on the Shatt al-Arab river in southern Iraq between Kuwait and Iran.
The Battle of Gaugamela (/ˌɡɔːɡəˈmiːlə/; Greek: Γαυγάμηλα), also called the Battle of Arbela, was the decisive battle of Alexander the Great's invasion of the Persian Achaemenid Empire. In 331 BC Alexander's army of the Hellenic League met the Persi…
The Halabja chemical attack (Kurdish: Kîmyabarana Helebce کیمیابارانی ھەڵەبجە), also known as the Halabja Massacre or Bloody Friday, was a genocidal massacre against the Kurdish people that took place on March 16, 1988, during the closing days of th…
The House of Wisdom (Arabic: بيت الحكمة; Bayt al-Hikma) was a major intellectual center during the Islamic Golden Age. The House of Wisdom was founded by Caliph Harun al-Rashid (reigned 786–809) and culminated under his son al-Ma'mun (reigned 813–8…
The Mahmudiyah killings were the gang-rape and killing of 14-year-old Iraqi girl Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi by United States Army soldiers on March 12, 2006, and the murder of her family, in a house to the southwest of Yusufiyah, a village to the …
The Ubaid period (ca. 6500 to 3800 BC) is a prehistoric period of Mesopotamia.
Sāmarrā (Arabic: سامَرّاء) is a city in Iraq. It stands on the east bank of the Tigris in the Saladin Governorate, 125 kilometers (78 mi) north of Baghdad. In 2003 the city had an estimated population of 348,700. Samarra is in the Sunni Triangle.
…Ctesiphon (Persian: تيسفون, Tīsfūn) was the imperial capital of the Parthian Empire and the Sasanian Empire. It was one of the great cities of late ancient Mesopotamia.
The sixteenth series of BBC motoring programme Top Gear began airing on 21 December 2010, with the usual team of Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond, and The Stig.
Karbala (Arabic: كربلاء; Karbalā’; also referred to as Karbalā' al-Muqaddasah) is a city in Iraq, located about 100 km (62 mi) southwest of Baghdad.
Ramadi (Arabic: الرمادي; BGN: Ar Ramādī) is a city in central Iraq, about 110 kilometers (68 mi) west of Baghdad. It is the capital of Al Anbar Governorate.
The Battle of 73 Easting was a decisive tank battle fought on 26 February 1991, during the Gulf War, between United States armored forces of the 7th Corps and those of the Iraqi Republican Guard and its Tawakalna Division. It was named for a UTM nor…
The First Battle of Fallujah, also known as Operation Vigilant Resolve, was an operation to root out extremist elements of Fallujah and an act of retaliation to, as well as an attempt to apprehend the perpetrators of, the killing of four U.S.
Dur-Sharrukin ("Fortress of Sargon"; Arabic: دور شروكين), present day Khorsabad, was the Assyrian capital in the time of Sargon II of Assyria. Khorsabad is a village in northern Iraq, 15 km northeast of Mosul, which is still today inhabited by Assy…
The Ziggurat of Ur (sometimes called the "Great Ziggurat of Ur"; Sumerian E-temen-nigur(u) É.TEMEN.NÍ.GÙR(U).(RU) 𒂍𒋼𒉎𒅍(𒊒) meaning "house whose foundation creates terror") is a Neo-Sumerian ziggurat in what was the city of Ur near Nasiriyah, in prese…
The Baghdad Central Prison (Arabic: سجن بغداد المركزي), formerly known as Abu Ghraib prison (Arabic: سجن أبو غريب Sijn Abū Ghurayb; also Abu Ghuraib, lit. 'Father of Raven', or 'Place of Ravens') was a prison complex in Abu Ghraib, an Iraqi city 3…