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Hatra

Hatra
الحضر
Hatra ruins.jpg
The ruins of Hatra circa 1988
Hatra is located in Iraq
Hatra
Shown within Iraq
Location Hatra District, Ninawa Governorate, Iraq
Region Mesopotamia
Coordinates 35°35′17″N 42°43′6″E / 35.58806°N 42.71833°E / 35.58806; 42.71833Coordinates: 35°35′17″N 42°43′6″E / 35.58806°N 42.71833°E / 35.58806; 42.71833
History
Founded 3rd or 2nd century BC
Abandoned 241 AD
Site notes
Condition "Leveled" (status undetermined)
Public access Inaccessible (in a war zone)
Official name Hatra
Type Cultural
Criteria ii, iii, iv, vi
Designated 1985 (9th session)
Reference no. 277
Region Arab States

Hatra (Arabic: الحضر‎‎ al-Ḥaḍr) was an ancient city in the Ninawa Governorate and al-Jazira region of Iraq. It was known as al-Hadr, a name which appears once in ancient inscriptions, and it was in the ancient Persian province of Khvarvaran. The city lies 290 km (180 mi) northwest of Baghdad and 110 km (68 mi) southwest of Mosul.

On 7 March 2015, various sources including Iraqi officials reported that the militant group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) had begun demolishing the ruins of Hatra. Video released by ISIL the next month showed destruction of the monuments.

Hatra was probably built in the 3rd or 2nd century BC by the Seleucid Empire. After its capture by the Parthian Empire, it flourished during the 1st and 2nd centuries AD as a religious and trading center. Later on, the city became the capital of possibly the first Arab Kingdom in the chain of Arab cities running from Hatra, in the northeast, via Palmyra, Baalbek and Petra, in the southwest. The region controlled from Hatra was the Kingdom of Araba, a semi-autonomous buffer kingdom on the western limits of the Parthian Empire, governed by Arabian princes.

Hatra became an important fortified frontier city and withstood repeated attacks by the Roman Empire, and played an important role in the Second Parthian War. It repulsed the sieges of both Trajan (116/117) and Septimius Severus (198/199). Hatra defeated the Iranians at the battle of Shahrazoor in 238, but fell to the Iranian Sassanid Empire of Shapur I in 241 and was destroyed. The traditional stories of the fall of Hatra tell of an-Nadira, daughter of the King of Araba, who betrayed the city into the hands of Shapur. The story tells of how Shapur killed the king and married an-Nadira, but later had her killed also.


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