Diyarbakir - Citadel

From the Peygamber Camii in Diyarbakir the Izzet Pasa Caddesi leads east to the citadel gate, flanked by two massive semi-circular towers. Three more gates pierce the 650m/700yd-long citadel wall, fortified with sixteen towers, on which Arabs, East Romans, Seljuks and Ottomans have all left their mark. The 40m/131ft-high artificial mound on which the citadel stands in the northeast corner of the Old Town, was very probably the site of the original settlement. The arrival in A.D. 363 of thousands of refugees fleeing from the Sassanids, caused the city's expansion westwards.