by Peter Darman
Haytham’s eyes lit up. ‘The combined armies of Gordyene, Hatra and Dura will crush the Armenians easily, father.’
‘Our army will not be present,’ growled Spartacus.
His two sons and Spadines stared at him in disbelief.
‘I do not understand, lord,’ said Spadines for a second time.
Spartacus looked at his trusted ally and then his two sons.
‘We will be busy killing everything that moves in Pontus.’
Historical notes
Irbil, variously called Erbil, Arbil or Arbela, is the largest city in northern Iraq, with a population of over 800,000. It is very different from two millennia ago, but its most striking feature is remarkably similar to the stronghold portrayed in ‘The Slave King’. Today, Irbil’s citadel is a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural) world heritage site, having been formerly a Sumerian, Assyrian, Parthian, Sassanid, Mongol, Christian and Ottoman stronghold. There are currently three ramps leading up to the citadel, on the northern, eastern and southern sides, though in ancient times only the southern ramp existed, which led to a huge, arched gatehouse. This gave access to four main paths within the walled stronghold, which branched out in all directions.
Over centuries the mud-brick buildings gave way to brick and then stone structures and by the 1920s there were 500 houses in the citadel, which had dropped to 247 dwellings and 1600 inhabitants by 1995. By this date most of the buildings in the citadel, having been abandoned, were in a state of great disrepair, leading to a major restoration project being implemented beginning in 2007. The site was cleared of residents so renovation could begin, though one family was allowed to stay in the citadel so as not to break some 8000 years of continuous inhabitation.
Today the citadel gives the appearance of being surrounded by a wall, but in fact the exterior ‘wall’ is made up of 19th-century house facades built against each other to give a fortified appearance. Inside the citadel the homes of royalty were not expansive due to the confined spaces but usually had two storeys and a basement, the walls being adorned with beautiful paintings and ornate waterfalls found in most backyards. By the 1930s most of the houses in the citadel were of the traditional courtyard type, with 30 being larger palace-like homes.
Irbil and the surrounding area are rich in history. For example, Alexander the Great defeated the Persian ruler Darius on the plain of Gaugamela in 331BC to the west of the city, after which Darius fled east to first Irbil and then the Zagros Mountains but was eventually killed by his own soldiers. Thereafter Alexander assumed the leadership of the Persian Empire, according to legend beginning at a ceremony in the Temple of Ishtar in Irbil’s citadel.
Around 35 miles northeast of the sprawling city of Irbil is the Diyana Plain, in the middle of which is the earth mound of Gird-I Dasht, the scene of the battle between Pacorus and the forces of the rebel Atrax and the Armenians in ‘The Slave King’. The plain looks almost exactly the same today as it did 2000 years ago when the King of Dura cast his gaze on the massed ranks of the enemy army before giving battle to Prince Atrax and King Artaxias.