Hatra

Hatra (; (); ) was an ancient city in Upper Mesopotamia located in present-day eastern Nineveh Governorate in northern Iraq. The ruins of the city lie northwest of Baghdad and southwest of Mosul. It is considered the richest archaeological site from the Parthian Empire known to date.

Hatra was a strongly fortified caravan city and capital of the small Kingdom of Hatra, located between the Roman and Parthian/Sasanian Empires. Hatra flourished in the 2nd century, and was destroyed by the Sassanid Empire and deserted in the 3rd century alongside other Neo-Assyrian populated states such as Assur, Adiabene, Osroene and Beth Nuhadra. Its ruins were discovered in the 19th century.

The temple of the local Assyrian god Shamash, was officially called Beit ʾElāhāʾ "House of God", in Mesopotamian Aramaic inscriptions The city was recorded as "Enclosure of Shamash" (ḥtrʾ d-šmš ) on a coin. Later on, the city became the capital of possibly the first Arab ruled Kingdom in the chain of largely Arab controlled cities running from Hatra, in the northeast, via Palmyra, Baalbek and Petra, in the southwest. The region controlled from Hatra was the Kingdom of Hatra, a semi-autonomous buffer kingdom on the western limits of the Parthian Empire, governed by Arabian princes.

thumb|left|bronze coin struck in Hatra circa 117–138 AD, obverse depicts radiate bust of Shamash

thumb|left|Plan of Hatra

Hatra became an important fortified frontier city and played an important role in the Second Parthian War, withstanding repeated attacks by the Roman Empire. During the 2nd century CE the city repulsed sieges by both Trajan (116/117) and Septimius Severus (198/199). Hatra's forces defeated the ascendant Sassanid Persians in 238 at the battle of Shahrazoor, but fell shortly after in 241 to the army of Sassanid king Shapur I and was destroyed.

Hatra was the best preserved and most informative example of ancient Arabian architecture. Its plan was circular, and was encircled by inner and outer walls nearly in diameter and supported by more than 160 towers. A temenos (τέμενος) surrounded the principal sacred buildings in the city's centre. The temples covered some 1.2 hectares and were dominated by the Great Temple, an enormous structure with vaults and columns that once rose to 30 metres. The city was famed for its fusion of Greek, Assyrian, Canaanite, Aramean and Arabian pantheons, known in Aramaic as ' ("House of God"). The city had temples to Nergal (Assyrian-Babylonian and Akkadian), Hermes (Greek), Atargatis (Syro-Aramaean), Allat, Shamiyyah (Arabian), and Shamash (the Mesopotamian sun god). The architecture of Hatra itself is generally seen as an example of Parthian architecture. and since 1985 has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The site was first surveyed by Walter Andrae of the German excavation team working in Assur from 1906 to 1911. But systematic excavations have been undertaken only from 1951 by Iraqi archeologists. From the 1980s, the Italian Archaeological Expedition, directed by R. Ricciardi Venco (University of Turin), made major discoveries at Hatra. The excavations were focused on an important house ("Building A"), located close to the Temenos, and on deep soundings in the Temenos central area. Now the Expedition is active in different projects regarding the preservation and development of the archaeological site. In 1990, a Polish expedition of the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology University of Warsaw recorded and studied the city's defense walls.

In 2004, The Daily Telegraph stated "Hatra's finely preserved columns and statues make it one of the most impressive of Iraq's archaeological sites"

Restoration by Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein saw the site's Mesopotamian history as reflecting glory on himself, and sought to restore the site, and others in Ninevah, Nimrud, Ashur and Babylon, as a symbol of Arab achievement, spending more than US$80 million in the first phase of restoration of Babylon. Saddam Hussein demanded that new bricks in the restoration use his name (in imitation of Nebuchadnezzar) and parts of one restored Hatra temple have Saddam's name.

Partial destruction and looting by ISIL

Actions by the forces of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which occupied the area in mid-2014, were a major threat to Hatra. In early 2015 they announced their intention to destroy many artifacts, claiming that such "graven images" were un-Islamic, encouraged shirk (or polytheism), and could not be permitted to exist, despite the preservation of the site for 1,400 years by various Islamic regimes. ISIL militants pledged to destroy the remaining artifacts. Shortly thereafter, they released a video showing the destruction of some artifacts from Hatra. After the bulldozing of Nimrud on March 5, 2015, "Hatra of course will be next" said Abdulamir Hamdani, an Iraqi archaeologist from Stony Brook University. On March 7, Iraqi official sources reported ISIS had begun the demolishing the ruins of Hatra. A video released by ISIL during the next month showed the destruction of the monuments.

UNESCO and ISESCO issued a joint statement saying "With this latest act of barbarism against Hatra, (the IS group) shows the contempt in which it holds the history and heritage of Arab people."

The pro-Iraqi government Popular Mobilization Forces captured the city on 26 April 2017. A spokeswoman for the militias stated that ISIL had destroyed the sculptures and engraved images of the site, but its walls and towers were still standing though they contained holes and scratches received from ISIL bullets. PMF units also stated that the group had mined the site's eastern gates, thus temporarily preventing any assessment of damage by archaeologists. It was reported on 1 May that the site had suffered less damage than feared earlier. A journalist of EFE had earlier reported finding many destroyed statues, burnt buildings as well as signs of looting. Layla Salih, head of antiquities for Nineveh Governorate, stated that most of the buildings were intact and the destruction didn't compare with that of other archaeological sites of Iraq. A PMF commander also stated that the damage was relatively minor.

Gallery

File:Hatra-1453.jpg|Remains of several temples and ancient walls (2004)

File:Hatra-71339.jpg|Elevated view of the site in 2007

File:Hatra-Ruins-2006-5.jpg|Temple facade (May 2006)

File:Hatra-Ruins-2006-6.jpg|Southern exposure of the temple (May 2006)

File:Hatra Ruins - 2008-07-20.jpg|July 2008

File:Hatra-Ruins-2008-8.jpg|Marn Temple (November 2008)

File:Hatra-Ruins-2008-9.jpg|November 2008

File:Hatra city.jpeg|Elevated view of the temple (September 2014)

File:Hatra-1454.jpg|Detail of a temple, showing Hellenistic, Mesopotamian and Iranian architecture

File:Hatra-109732.jpg|Decorated arch with faces

File:Hatra-109726.jpg|View of iwans

File:Hatra-109730.jpg|Closeup of an iwan

File:Hatra-109728.jpg|Facade of Temple

File:Hatra-109736.jpg|Arch of the temple

File:Hatra-109734.jpg|Protruded head on a wall

File:Hatra-Ruins-2006-7.jpg|Statue of the Goddess Shahiro

File:From left to right, an unidentified ruler, Hermes, a female deity, and Sanatruq I.From Hatra. Erbil Civilization Museum.jpg|From left to right, an unidentified ruler, Hermes, a female deity, and Sanatruq I.From Hatra. Erbil Civilization Museum

File:Door lintel from Hatra. 2nd-3rd century AD. Sulaymaniyah Museum, Iraqi Kurdistan.jpg|Door lintel from Hatra. 2nd-3rd century AD. Sulaymaniyah Museum, Iraqi Kurdistan

File:Hatra Arch.jpg|Monumental entrance arch from Hatra, now at the Iraqi National Museum

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Climate

Hatra has a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification BSh). Most rain falls in the winter. The average annual temperature in Hatra is . About of precipitation falls annually.

References

External links

Between Rome and Parthia: The Desert City of Hatra
bbc.co.uk Lost Kings of the Desert BBC Chronicle
Italian Archaeological Expedition at Hatra
Iraqi forces seize ancient UNESCO site of Hatra from Islamic State as jihadis execute Mosul civilians