Karamlish

Karemlash ܟܪܡܠܫ
View of the southern side of the town.
Karemlash
Coordinates: 36°18′13″N 43°24′46″E / 36.30361°N 43.41278°E / 36.30361; 43.41278Coordinates: 36°18′13″N 43°24′46″E / 36.30361°N 43.41278°E / 36.30361; 43.41278
Country	Iraq
Governorate	Ninawa
Municipality	Al-Hamdaniya
Population (2015)
• Total	0
	10,000 prior to ISIS invasion
Time zone	GMT +3

Karemlash (Syriac: ܟܪܡܠܫ‎, Arabic: كرمليس‎‎; also spelled Karemles, Karemlish) is an Assyrian town in northern Iraq located less than 18 miles (29 km) south east of Mosul.

It is surrounded by many hills that along with it made up the historical Akkadian city of Kar-Mullissi (written URU.kar-^dNIN.LÍL), which means "the city of Mullissu" in Akkadian. Residents of the town fled for Iraqi Kurdistan following the invasion of the town by ISIS in August 2014. The town was liberated by Iraqi Security Forces from ISIS rule on October 24, 2016 as part of the larger Battle of Mosul.

Until the ISIS occupation, there were between 600 and 650 families in Karemlash. The vast majority of the population are Chaldeans. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, many became members of the Chaldean Catholic Church, but there are also members of the Syriac Orthodox Church and the Assyrian Church of the East.

Karemlash is believed to be among the first human settlements. Hence, it was visited by almost all Mesopotamian archaeologists searching for the ruins of old Assyria and Babylonia. The first person to excavate in the hills of Karemlash was the Englishman Austen Henry Layard in 1846. Many relief sculptures with cuneiform scripts were found in Tel Ghanim and Tel Barbara (two of the hill surrounding Karemlash). On them were found the names of Assyrian Kings of Sargon and Shalmensar. The remains of an Assyrian temple were found at Tel Barbara, and the remains of an Assyrian palace were found at Tel Ghanim.

Karemlash lost its important stature during the era of Shalmaneser III (859 – 824 BC), whose son Assur-danin-pal led a rebellion against his father along with another 27 cities. His father empowered his other brother, Shamshi-Adad V, the Governor of Kalah (Nimrud). The civil war lasted for four years, from 827 to 824 BC. With the end of the rebellion, however, Karemlash's neighbor Nimrud did not survive the ravages of the war. Karemlash was so impacted by that rebellion that its people left and it was given the name of "Oro-Karmash", meaning "The Ruined City". Karemlash is still referred to by its Assyrian neighbors as "Karmash". However, Karemlash was reinvigorated during the reigns of Kings Shalmaneser V (726 – 722 BC) and Sargon II (722 – 705 BC), who used it as his temporary capital.