The first written information about Midyat, a town of Mardin and an open air museum, dates back to the 9th century BC. In Assyrian king tablets II. Ashurbanipal BC “Matiate” is an Aramaic (Syriac) name and means “my land” or “my homeland”. King of Assyria II., Ashurbanipal TurAbidin, wrote it down in the tablets, after taking control of the Aramis. The first Assyrian Christians in Midyat also lived in caves. Midyat has been surrounded and plundered many times throughout history. Finally, during the dark days of World War I, two-thirds of the inhabitants of the town lost their lives. However from 1930 on, the town begun to revive. Churches, houses and some places were repaired. After that, the layout of the settlement began to settle over time. The altitude from sea level is 1070 meters. It is one of the widest and most populous cities of Mardin province.
The previous history of the Assyrians before Christ, is the history of the nations who lived in ancient Mesopotamia. The roots of Assyrian people descend to the oldest historical period of ancient Mesopotamia.
From past to present, the local people ofMidyat made livelihood from farming, animal breeding and handicrafts. Midyat’s traditional handicrafts stone processing, silver working (Telkari), winemaking, copper work, kilim weaving, fabric painting, pottery, jewelry maintain their importance nowadays.