m an older
palace, probably that of Tigranes II. The remains consist of the facades
of two palaces 400 ft. apart, each formed by a row of Corinthian columns
surmounted by an equal number of a Byzantine type. Kufic inscriptions
run across the fronts under the entablature. The court of the mosque is
entered by a gateway on which lions and other animals are sculptured.
The churches of greatest interest are those of SS. Cosmas and Damian
(Jacobite) and the church of St James (Greek). In the 19th century
Diarbekr was one of the largest and most flourishing cities of Asia, and
as a commercial centre it now stands at the meeting-point of several
important routes. It is at the head of the navigation of the Tigris,
which is traversed down stream by _keleks_ or rafts supported by
inflated skins. There is a good road to Aleppo and Alexandretta on the
Mediterranean, and to Samsun on the Black Sea by Kharput, Malatia and
Sivas. There are also routes to Mosul and Bitlis.

Diarbekr became a Roman colony in A.D. 230 under the name of Amida, and
received a Christian bishop in A.D. 325. It was enlarged and
strengthened by Constantius II., in whose reign it was taken after a
long siege by Shapur (Sapor) II., king of Persia. The historian Ammianus
Marcellinus, who took part in the defence, gives a detailed account of
it. In the later wars between the Persians and Romans it more than once
changed hands. Though ceded by Jovian to the Persians it again became
annexed to the Roman empire, and in the reign of Anastasius (A.D. 502)
was once more taken by the Persians, when 80,000 of its inhabitants were
slain. It was taken c. 638 by the Arabs, and afterwards passed into the
hands of the Seljuks and Persians, from whom it was finally captured by
Selim I. in 1515; and since that date it has remained under Ottoman
rule. About 2 m. below the town is a masonry bridge over the Tigris; the
older portion being probably Roman, and the western part, which bears a
Kufic inscription, being Arab.

The vilayet of Diarbekr extends south from Palu on the Euphrates to
Mardin and Nisibin on the edge of the Mesopotamian plain, and is divided
into three sanjaks--Arghana, Diarbekr and Mardin. The headwaters of the
main arm of the Tigris have their source in the vilayet.

Cereals, cotton, tobacco, rice and silk are produced, but most of the
fertile lands have been abandoned to semi-nomads, who raise large
quantities of live stock. The richest portion of the vilayet