Iran and Turkey are not Arab countries and their primary languages are Farsi and Turkish respectively. Arab countries have a rich diversity of ethnic, linguistic, and religious communities. These include Kurds, Armenians, Berbers and others. There are over 200 million Arabs.

In religious studies, an ethnic religion is a religion or belief associated with a particular ethnic group. Ethnic religions are often distinguished from universal religions, such as Christianity or Islam, which are not limited in ethnic, national or racial scope.

Ethnic religions relate closely to culture, ethnic heritage, and to the physical geography of a particular place. Ethnic religions do not attempt to appeal to all people, but only one group, maybe in one locale or within one ethnicity. Judaism and Hinduism are two prime examples of ethnic religions.

Islam is the largest religion in Turkey. More than 99 percent of the population is Muslim, mostly Sunni. Christianity (Oriental Orthodoxy, Greek Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic) and Judaism are the other religions in practice, but the non-Muslim population declined in the early 2000s.

The Kurdish population in Israel is small and is mainly composed of individuals and families, who fled Iraq and Turkey during the Iraqi–Kurdish and the Kurdish–Turkish conflicts during the 20th century, as well as temporal residents arriving in Israel for medical care.

Kurds. However, regardless of the language, the Hurrians were Kurds (or like other say “they were ancestors of the kurds”). The Hurrians were a tribe, NOT an ethnic group no matter what others have written about them.

Nearly all Iraqi Kurds consider themselves Sunni Muslims. In our survey, 98% of Kurds in Iraq identified themselves as Sunnis and only 2% identified as Shias. (A small minority of Iraqi Kurds, including Yazidis, are not Muslims.)

Hurrian language, extinct language spoken from the last centuries of the 3rd millennium bce until at least the latter years of the Hittite empire (c. 1400–c. 1190 bce); it is neither an Indo-European language nor a Semitic language.

Russian historian and linguist Vladimir Minorsky suggested that the Medes, who widely inhabited the land where currently the Kurds form a majority, might have been forefathers of the modern Kurds. He also states that the Medes who invaded the region in the eighth century BC, linguistically resembled the Kurds.

Darius the Great (Darius I Hystaspes), c. 550–486 BCE. This historically known Darius was the third Persian emperor, and an important figure for Jews in the early Persian period because of his role in the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem.

539 B.C.

The Persian Empire entered a period of decline after a failed invasion of Greece by Xerxes I in 480 BC. The costly defense of Persia’s lands depleted the empire’s funds, leading to heavier taxation among Persia’s subjects.

Darius was a member of the royal bodyguard of Cambyses II, the son and heir of Cyrus the Great who ruled for several years before dying mysteriously in 522. Later that same year, Darius took the throne after killing an alleged usurper he claimed had only pretended to be Cambyses’ brother Bardiya.

Iraq is making a new effort this year. Allen has been coming back to Babylon for nine years with the World Monuments Fund. His projects have stabilized walls, restored the statue of the Lion of Babylon, removed modern buildings built against the ancient walls and dismantled razor wire fences.

Starting in 1983, Saddam Hussein, imagining himself as heir to Nebuchadnezzar, ordered the rebuilding of Babylon. Like Nebuchadnezzar, Hussein had his name inscribed on the bricks, which were placed directly on top of the ruins, some 2,500 years old.

The city is also believed to be the site of the mythical Hanging Gardens — one of the “seven wonders of the world” — said to be a legacy of King Nebuchadnezzar, who ordered the complete reconstruction of the imperial grounds, including the 300-foot Etemenanki ziggurat (believed to be the legendary Tower of Babel), and …

Chapter 47 concerns the fall of Babylon, which is personified as a woman, “the virgin daughter of Babylon”, “daughter of the Chaldeans”, no longer to be called “the Lady of Kingdoms” or “a Lady for ever”….

Many Biblical scholars believe that “Babylon” is a metaphor for the pagan Roman Empire at the time it persecuted Christians, before the Edict of Milan in 313.

Iraq

26 fascinating lost cities you really can visit Nebuchadnezzar built the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, once one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, to dazzle the gods and as a testament to his own greatness. Large chunks of the city’s Ishtar Gate can be seen at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World were:

• the Great Pyramid of Giza, Egypt.
• the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
• the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, Greece.
• the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus.
• the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus.
• the Colossus of Rhodes.
• the Lighthouse of Alexandria, Egypt.

It was said to have been built in the ancient city of Babylon, near present-day Hillah, Babil province, in Iraq. The Hanging Gardens’ name is derived from the Greek word κρεμαστός (kremastós, lit.

Unfortunately, only one of the original 7 wonders of the ancient world exist today. The Great Pyramid of Giza is the largest of a trio of breath-taking pyramids that border the present-day region of El-Giza. In the midst of Egypt’s barren desert stand these majestic pyramids and feats of manmade engineering.

Taj Mahal

• Great Pyramid of Giza.
• Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
• Statue of Zeus at Olympia.
• Temple of Artemis.
• Mausoleum at Halicarnassus.
• Colossus of Rhodes.
• Lighthouse of Alexandria.