TravelTill

History of Diyarbakir


JuteVilla
The area around Diyarbakır has been inhabited by humans from the stone age with tools from that period having been discovered in the nearby Hilar cave complex. The pre-pottery neolothic B settlement of Çayönü dates to over 10,000 years ago and its excavated remains are on display at the Diyarbakır Museum. Another important site is Girikihaciyan Tumulus in Egil.

The first major civilization to establish themselves in what is now Diyarbakır were the Hurriankingdom of the Mitanni who made it their military and trade capital. The city was then ruled by a succession of nearly every polity that controlled Upper Mesopotamia such as the Assyrians, Urartu,Medes, Selucids and Parthians. The Roman Empire gained control of the city in 66 BC by when it was named "Amida".

In 359, Shapur II of Persia captured Amida after a siege of 73 days which is vividly described by the Roman historian AmmianusMarcellinus
JuteVilla