Mardin

Mardin climbs the steep slopes below a formidable citadel, overlooking the plains of upper Mesopotamia. For nearly three centuries it was the capital of an Artuqid dynasty, whose rulers endowed the city with mosques, madrasas, tombs and markets built of finely worked stone. Its position between the mountains of Tur Abdin and the open plain gave it both a strong defence and command of the roads to Nusaybin and the Tigris.

The Artuqid rulers survived Timur's campaigns, but pressure from the Aq Qoyunlu forced their last prince to surrender Mardin to the rival Kara Qoyunlu in 1409. The city's defences were repaired, yet its hinterland remained exposed to raids. In 1432 the Aq Qoyunlu took the town and citadel; their rule was followed by the Safavids, who captured Mardin in 1507. The Ottomans gained the city after their campaigns against the Safavids and Mamluks, bringing it into their empire in 1517.

Under the Ottomans Mardin remained the centre of a district that included Savur and Nusaybin. Muslim and Christian communities lived amid the stone buildings inherited from the city's earlier dynasties, whose carved façades and courtyards expressed a distinctive local building tradition. The skyline of the terraced town, its minarets and its high fortress continued to mark the northern edge of the Mesopotamian plain.