The city of Erbil, which now claims to be one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world, lies on the rich alluvial plains at the foot of the piedmont of the Zagros mountains in a strategic position which made it a natural gateway between Iran and Mesopotamia. Within the context of ancient Mesopotamian civilisation there can be no doubt that it will have been one of the most important urban centres but archaeological research of the remains has been limited. Three recent archaeological assessments of the mound have sought to evaluate the significance of the remains within their historical context. This work is dedicated to the cuneiform sources of information.

There are a number of references to Erbil in Eblaite and Sumerian administrative texts of Akkadian (2334 - 2193 BC) and Ur III (2120 - 2004 BC) date and hundreds of references in Akkadian texts from the 2nd and 1st millennia; only two of which may actually come from Erbil. There are a handful of references in unpublished Elamite texts from Persepolis. In Old Persian the city only appears in the corresponding version of the inscription at Behistun belonging to the Achaemenid period (539-330 BC). There are no references in Hittite, Hurrian, Urartian or Ugaritic sources. The sources include a wide variety of administrative texts, royal and other inscriptions, letters, votives and lexical texts.

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Maps
• Foreword
• Preface
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
  • Cuneiform writing
    • Chronology
      • First Millennium
      • Late Second Millennium
      • Late Third Millennium/Early Second Millennium
    • Overview of the sources
      • Uruk Period (4000–3000 BC)
      • Early Dynastic Period (3000–2334 BC)
      • Akkadian Period (2334–2193 BC)
      • Gutian Period (2193–2120 BC)
      • Ur III (2120–2004 BC)
      • Old Assyrian/Old Babylonian (2004–1595 BC)
      • Middle Assyrian (1595–1000 BC)
      • Neo-Assyrian (1000–612 BC)
      • Neo-Babylonian Empire (612–539 BC)
      • Achaemenid (539–330 BC)
      • Hellenistic/Seleucid (330–126 BC)
      • Parthian (126 BC–224 AD)
    • The name of Erbil
• Historical Analysis
  • Erbil in the Gutian Period
  • Erbil in the Ur III Period
  • Erbil in the early second millennium
  • Erbil in the Middle Assyrian Period
  • Erbil in the Neo-Assyrian period
    • Ištar of Arbail
    • Milkia
  • Erbil in the Neo-Babylonian and Achaemenid Periods
  • Summary: from Erridu-Pizir to Alexander – Erbil in the Cuneiform Sources
    • Ištar of Arbail
    • Egašankalamma
    • Milkia
  • Conclusion
• The Sources
  • Third Millennium Sources
    • Ebla Texts
    • Gutian Sources
      • Erridu-Pizir
    • Ur III Sources
      • Year names
        • Year name for Shulgi year 45
        • Year name for Amar-Sin year 2
      • Votive Inscription
      • Administrative Texts
        • Texts from Girsu
        • Texts from Drehem
  • Early Second Millennium Sources
    • Stele of Šamši-Adad I
    • Stele of Dadusha
  • Middle Assyrian Sources
    • Historical sources
    • Votive inscription
    • Administrative texts
  • Neo-Assyrian Sources
    • Historical Texts
      • Chronicles
      • King Lists
      • Aššur-dan II (934–912 BC)
      • Ashurnasirpal II (883–859 BC)
      • Shalmaneser III (858–824 BC)
      • Šamši-Adad V (823–811 BC)
      • Sennacherib (704–681 BC)
      • Esarhaddon (680–669 BC)
      • Ashurbanipal (668–627 BC)
    • Epigraphs prepared for reliefs
    • Grants/edicts
    • Votive Inscription
    • Administrative texts
    • Oracular Pronouncements and Divination
      • Oracular Pronouncements
      • Divination
    • Hymns and Ritual texts
    • Ištar of Arbail
      • Royal inscriptions
      • Treaties
      • Letter formulae
      • Personal names
  • Neo-Babylonian and Achaemenid Sources
    • Historical texts
      • Neo-Babylonian Chronicle
      • Behistun
    • Administrative texts
      • Babylonian
      • Elamite
      • Aramaic
    • Astronomical Diary
• Bibliography