Arrapha

Arrapha or Arrapkha (Akkadian: Arrapḫa, Syriac: ܐܪܦܗܐ, Arabic: أررابخا ,عرفة‎‎) was an ancient city in what today is northeastern Iraq, on the site of the modern city of Kirkuk. It began as a city of the Gutian people, became Hurrian, and was an Assyrian city during most of its occupation.

In 1948, Arrapha became the name of the residential area in Kirkuk which was built by the North Oil Company as a settlement for its workers.

The city was founded around 2000 B.C by the Assyrians who were known by lowland-dwellers of Southern Mesopotamia as Ashurians, Arapha is also mentioned in Sumero-Akkadian cuneiform records about 2400 BC, Arapha was part of the Assyrian Empire at its peak.

Subsequent to this it fell to the Neo-Sumerian Empire, the Old Assyrian Empire and Babylonian Empire, and was an important trading center in the 18th century BCE under Assyrian and Babylonian rule. However, during the 15th and early 14th century BC it was again a largely Hurrian city, the capital of the small Hurrian kingdom of Arrapkha, situated along the southeastern edge of the area under Mittani domination, until it was fully incorporated into Assyria during the Middle Assyrian Empire (1365-1050 BC) after the Assyrians overthrew the Hurri-Mitanni empire.

The city reached great prominence in the 11th and 10th centuries BC as a part of Assyria. In 615 BC, seeing the Assyrians occupied with the Babylonians and violent rebellions among themselves, the Median king Cyaxares successfully invaded Arrapha, which was one of the last strongholds of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. The region later became part of the Persian ruled province of Athura (Achaemenid Assyria).

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