Hatra

An ancient city between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in northern Iraq, founded as a military outpost by the Arsacids (Parthians) during the 1st century BC. It soon became the center of the small state of Araba and an important caravan city. Temples were built for the Sumero-Akkadian god Nergal, to Hermes (Greek), to Atargatis (Aramean), to al-Lat and Shamiya (Arabian), and to Shamash, a sun god. Hatra defied many Roman invasions. It was destroyed by Sassanians c 241 AD. Ruins include town walls gates, a large palace, houses and tombs, with striking stone statues and reliefs, and Aramaic inscriptions.

[present-day al-Hadr]. A north Mesopotamian desert oasis settlement some 80 km south of Mosul in Iraq. Hatra probably came into existence in Seleucid times (c300-100 bc) and then flourished as the capital of a little semi-independent Arab state within the Parthian orbit, close to the Roman border, ruled first by ‘lords’ and then from cl50 ad by kings. Three times (in ad 117 and 198-201) it withstood Roman sieges but was finally occupied from c233 ad until it was destroyed by Sassanian Persians in 241. Remarkable ruins survive and excavations in the 1970s by the Iraqis have revealed buildings of mud-brick and limestone: town walls, gates, a large palace, several great temples, houses and tombs, with striking stone statues and reliefs, and Aramaic inscriptions.