Archaeology and the ancient names of the old cities under Sulaimani in the light of the cuneiform & Classical records and the archaeological evidence

Abstract

This paper deals with the ancient settlements in the plain where the city of Sulaimani found in 1874 A.D. In his book (Babylonian Problems) Lane (1923) proposes that modern Sulaimani built on the long-lost city of Celonae that was mentioned by the Roman historian Quintus Curtius Rufus (1st century A.D.) in his book "Histories of Alexander the Great.” Also, the Kurdish historian Amin Zeki in his book (The History of Sulaimani)1951, agrees with Lane, and he suggests that the name of modern Sulaimani’s name perhaps derived from the same name of Celonae. Many other historians and archaeologists repeat the same identification.

In this paper, we investigated this identification, and we found that the city of Celonae was mentioned only once by the Roman historian Quintus Curtius Rufus (1st century A.D.) in his book "Histories of Alexander the Great,” he refers to the journey of Alexander the Great from Susa to Ekbatana, according to Rufus, on his way, Alexander camped in Celonae.