Siirt

Siirt stands among the hills and valleys east of the upper Tigris, where the mountain routes meet the northern Mesopotamian lowlands. The city passed through the hands of the Marwanids, Artuqids and Ayyubids, and became known for its schools and scholars. Its Great Mosque, repaired in 1129 and enlarged in 1260 with the addition of a madrasa, was distinguished by a brick minaret and a domed prayer space.

In the later Middle Ages Siirt shared the turbulent fortunes of the surrounding principalities. The Aq Qoyunlu and Safavids succeeded earlier rulers before Ottoman power reached the city after the battle of Chaldiran in 1514. When the local Ayyubid line ended in 1524, Siirt became an Ottoman district attached first to Diyarbakır and later to Van. Its mosques and schools continued to mark a city with a long tradition of Arabic and Islamic learning in a mountainous borderland.