Cizîra Botan
جزیرا بۆتان
Cizre · Seat of the Botan emirate. The island city of Botan — home of Mem û Zîn and the first robots.
- Region
- Bakur
- English name
- Cizre
- Kurdish name
- Cizîra Botan
- Sorani name
- جزیرا بۆتان
- Population
- ≈ 150,000 (2023, urban area)
- Elevation
- 377 m
- Founded/origin
- Founded in the 9th century as Jazīrat Ibn ʿUmar, 'the island of Ibn Umar', on a bend of the Tigris that once ringed the town with water.
Medieval Cizre was a river port and bridge town where Tigris rafts (kelek) set off for Mosul and Baghdad. At the Artuqid court here the engineer al-Jazarî wrote his Book of Ingenious Mechanical Devices (1206), describing programmable automata centuries ahead of their time. From the 14th century it was the seat of the Kurdish emirate of Botan, whose last great prince, Bedirxan Beg, ruled from Cizre until 1847 — the emirate's memory, and the love story of Mem and Zîn set at its court, made the town a wellspring of Kurdish identity.
Ehmedê Xanî chose the Cizre court romance of Mem û Zîn for the national epic he wrote in 1695, and pilgrims still visit the tomb identified with the two lovers below the old town. The Red Madrasa where Melayê Cizîrî taught and lies buried remains a working place of prayer; his dîwan is the cornerstone of classical Kurdish poetry.
Among the hottest towns of Bakur: Tigris-valley summers regularly pass 40 °C, while winters are short, green and mild.
Places in Cizîra Botan
- Medresa Sor — Brick-built madrasa and mosque complex where Melayê Cizîrî taught and is buried — its rose-coloured courtyard gives the school its Kurdish name.
- Mizgefta Mezin — Twelfth-century mosque with a leaning brick minaret; its celebrated door knockers of intertwined dragons — cast in al-Jazarî's lifetime — are now museum treasures.