Mayyafariqin

Mayyafariqin, later called Silvan, lies east of Diyarbakır in upper Mesopotamia. It was a capital of the Kurdish Marwanid dynasty until the late eleventh century. The Artukids took it in 1118; their ruler Husam al-Din Timurtash built the nearby Malabadi Bridge, celebrated for its large span. In 1260 a Mongol army captured the city after a siege and massacred its inhabitants, bringing a violent end to its Ayyubid ruler al-Kamil Muhammad's defence. The city's walls and monuments recall a long history under successive dynasties before the period of Ottoman rule.