It appears for the first time in historical sources in the Ebla tablets in modern Syria around 2000 BC, and gained particular importance during the Neo-Assyrian period.

During the 20th century, the urban structure was significantly modified, as a result of which a number of houses and public buildings were destroyed.

When it was fully occupied, the citadel was divided in three districts or mahallas: from east to west the Serai, the Takya and the Topkhana.

[5] At the end of the 3rd millennium BC, Erbil is mentioned in historical records of the Ur III period as Urbilum.

In the 18th century BC, Erbil appears in a list of cities that were conquered by Shamshi-Adad of Upper Mesopotamia and Dadusha of Eshnunna during their campaign against the land of Qabra.

Assurbanipal probably held court in Erbil during part of his reign and received there envoys from Rusa II of Urartu after the defeat of the Elamite ruler Teumman.

[8] Subsequently, after the partition of Alexander the Great's Empire by his generals (known as Diadochoi), the city was called Arabella or Arbela and it was part of the Hellenistic Seleucid Kingdom.

From the first half of the 12th century until 1233, Erbil was the seat of the Begteginids, a Turcoman dynasty that rose to prominence under the reign of Zengi, the atabeg of Mosul.

When Gökburi died in 1233 without an heir, control of Erbil shifted to the Abbasid Caliph al-Mustansir after he had besieged the city.

[13] After the fall of Baghdad to Hülegü and the Mongols in 1258, they returned to Erbil and were able to capture the citadel after a siege lasting six months.

As time passed, persecutions of kurdish christians, Jews and Buddhists throughout the Ilkhanate began in earnest in 1295 under Oïrat amir Nauruz.

Despite Mar Yahballaha's best efforts to avert the impending doom, the citadel was at last taken by Ilkhanate troops on 1 July 1310, and all the defenders were massacred, as were all the kurdish inhabitants of the lower town.

Around and beneath it to the south sprawl a maze of alleyways where the ancient commercial heart of the city beats strongly to this day.

Former resident Mahmoud Yasim, who grew up with his seven siblings in the 8000-year-old network of alleyways alongside some 830 other families, describes the community they enjoyed: 'Everyone used to know each other back then.

A great many of the inhabitants were sad to leave when the authorities relocated them in 1997 – largely to Qalai New (the 'New Citadel') – but it has afforded the opportunity to start work on rebuilding the crumbling structures, restoring wherever possible the intricate plasterwork and distinctively carved lintels.

The covered market, known as Qasariyah, still stands largely unchanged: A labyrinth of small alleyways protected from sun and rain by a latticework of corrugated iron.

Beneath these eaves are the numerous shopkeepers selling wares largely imported from the Far East interspersed with craftsmen plying a trade they inherited from their forefathers in the late nineteenth century when the bazaar was restored: Jewellers, cobblers, carpenters, tinsmiths and butchers.

Another highly prized tradition is the creation of Klash shoes – an ancient uniquely Kurdish craft when white cloth is beaten on small anvils to create hardwearing footwear.

[3] Three ramps, located on the northern, eastern and southern slopes of the mound, lead up to gates in the outer ring of houses.

[23] Until the opening-up of the main north–south thoroughfare, the streets on the citadel mound radiated outward from the southern gate like the branches of a tree.

Because they have been built on or near the steep slope of the citadel mound, many of these façades were strengthened by buttresses to prevent their collapse or subsidence.

Geophysical prospection was carried out in some areas of the citadel to detect traces of older architecture buried under the present houses.

The excavations took place in four seasons 2013-2014-2015 under the chairmanship of Dr. Abdullah Khurshid and many foreign consultants, including Dr. John McCains from Cambridge University in Britain.

[33] The cooperation between the Antiquities Service and the DAI was continued later that year with a further investigation of the tomb and with a small excavation nearby and geophysical survey of the surrounding area, in which also students from Salahaddin University participated.

These investigations revealed the presence of architecture probably dating to the Neo-Assyrian period, as well as more burials belonging to subsequent centuries.

[35] On 2 April 2019, NASA has described the historic citadel as possibly the oldest continuously occupied human settlement on Earth.

The submission states that "The Citadel is today one of the most dramatic and visually exciting cultural sites not only in the Middle East but also in the world.

"[1] Two further agreements between the HCECR and UNESCO were signed in March 2010, and it was disclosed that Arbil Governorate will finance the restoration project with US$13 million.

In January 2017, UNESCO indicated that the site could be removed from the list due to the slow progress being made in the restoration program.