Balawat

Balawat (Syriac: ܒܝܬ ܠܒܬ‎, beṯ labat) is an archaeological site and modern village in Nineveh Province (Iraq). It lies 25 kilometres (16 mi) southeast from the city of Mosul and 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) to the south of the modern Assyrian town of Bakhdida.

Ancient name

Balawat is the site of the ancient Assyrian city of Imgur-Enlil. The meaning of Imgur-Enlil is "Enlil agreed". Note that there was also a wall in ancient Babylon named Imgur-Enlil.

History of archaeological research

The site was excavated in 1878 by archaeologist Hormuzd Rassam. The site was again excavated by Max Mallowan for the British School of Archaeology in Iraq in 1956. A surface survey was conducted by D. J. Tucker in 1989 for the British Museum. The town walls enclosed an area of around 64 hectares.

Occupation history

The city of Imgur-Enlil was founded by the Neo-Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal II (884-859 BC). It lay 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) up the Derrah river from the Tigris, where the city of Kalhu (Biblical Nimrud/Calah) was situated. Imgur-Enlil lay between the major Assyrian cities of Nineveh and Arrapha (modern Kirkuk) in the southeast along the royal Assyrian road. Ashurnasirpal II had already transferred the capital from Assur to Kalhu, and the foundation of Imgur-Enlil may have been a further step to knit up the Neo-Assyrian empire. Construction at the site continued under Ashurnasirpal II's son Shalmaneser III. The city existed for about two and a half centuries but was, like most Assyrian cities, sacked and destroyed by the Medes, Babylonians and Scythians during the fall of the Assyrian empire 614-605 BC.