Table of contents Introduction ........................................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined. Table of contents .................................................................................................................. 4 Time Table ............................................................................................................................ 10 History .................................................................................................................................... 12 Ancient Time ........................................................................................................................ 12 The Name ............................................................................................................................... 12 Location ................................................................................................................................. 13 Designation ........................................................................................................................... 14 Geography ............................................................................................................................. 15 Country of Asia .................................................................................................................... 15 Kurdistan ............................................................................................................................... 16 Erbil ......................................................................................................................................... 18 Ancient history of Erbil ..................................................................................................... 19 History of the Jews in Kurdistan .................................................................................... 20 Medieval history of Erbil .................................................................................................. 20 Modern history of Erbil .................................................................................................... 21 Kurdish Jews in modern times ....................................................................................... 21 Kirkuk ..................................................................................................................................... 22 Mesopotamia Geography ................................................................................................. 24 Mesopotamia ancient history ......................................................................................... 25 Writings of Mesopotamia ................................................................................................. 26 Sumer ...................................................................................................................................... 27 Babylonian history ............................................................................................................. 28 Biblical history .................................................................................................................... 29 Biblical Babylon .................................................................................................................. 30 The Assyrian ......................................................................................................................... 31 The Jewish exile to Babylon ............................................................................................ 32 Jews of Babylon ................................................................................................................... 33 4 Archeological excarvations ((Greek Period and before)) ................................... 34 Mosul, Ninveh ....................................................................................................................... 35 The Specificity of Mosul .................................................................................................... 36 Statistics ................................................................................................................................. 38 Alexander the great ........................................................................................................... 38 Parthian period ................................................................................................................... 39 Jews in the Sassanid period ............................................................................................. 40 Jews of Babylon ................................................................................................................... 41 Jews out of the cities .......................................................................................................... 42 Judaism - the first One God Religion ............................................................................ 43 Babylonia as center of Judaism ...................................................................................... 43 Academies of Babylon ....................................................................................................... 44 Nehardea, Sura, Pumbedita ............................................................................................. 44 Nehardea ............................................................................................................................... 46 Sura ......................................................................................................................................... 47 Pumbedita ............................................................................................................................. 47 The title Gaon and the Geonic period .......................................................................... 49 The Geonim ........................................................................................................................... 49 Geonim and the Academies ............................................................................................. 50 Appointment as Gaon ........................................................................................................ 51 The Babylonian Talmud / Talmud Bavli .................................................................... 52 The structure of the Talmud ........................................................................................... 54 Sassanid period ................................................................................................................... 55 Arab conquest and early Islamic period ..................................................................... 55 Basra ....................................................................................................................................... 56 Theosophists in Basra ....................................................................................................... 58 The Farhud in Basra, 1941 .............................................................................................. 58 Anti-Jewish and anti-Zionism in Basra ........................................................................ 59 Non-Muslim population of Basra .................................................................................. 60 Islamic period and the Jews ............................................................................................ 61 The Umayyads ..................................................................................................................... 62 The Umayyads and the Jews ........................................................................................... 62 5 The Abbasid Caliphate ...................................................................................................... 63 Baghdad ................................................................................................................................. 65 Jews of Baghdad .................................................................................................................. 67 1258- the ruin of Baghdad ............................................................................................... 68 The Ottomans ....................................................................................................................... 69 Statistics: ............................................................................................................................... 70 Jewish housing in Baghdad ............................................................................................. 70 Brits in Baghdad .................................................................................................................. 71 The Farhud in Baghdad .................................................................................................... 72 The bombing in Baghdad ................................................................................................. 73 Jews of Islam ......................................................................................................................... 75 Crisis in Iraq at the 10th century .................................................................................. 76 The Buyids ............................................................................................................................ 77 Iraq from 1055 to 1534 ...................................................................................................