Ar Raqqah
Encyclopedia
Ar-Raqqah also spelled Rakka, is a city in north central Syria
located on the north bank of the Euphrates
, about 160 km east of Aleppo
. It is the capital of the Ar-Raqqah Governorate and one of the main cities of the historical Diyār Muḍar, the western part of the Jazīra
. The modern population is about 191,784 (2008 estimate).
Seleukos II Kallinikos
(reigned 246–225 BC) founded ar-Raqqah as the eponymous city of Kallinikos (Latinized as Callinicum). In the Byzantine period
, the city was briefly named Leontoupolis by the emperor Leo I
(reigned 457–474 AD), but the name Kallinikos prevailed. In 542, the city was destroyed by the invasion of the Persian Sasanid
Shahanshah Khusrau I Anushirvan (reigned 531–579), but was subsequently rebuilt by the Byzantine emperor Justinian I
(reigned 527–565).
In the 6th century, Kallinikos became a center of Syriac monasticism
. Deir Mār Zakkā, or the Saint Zacchaeus
Monastery, situated on the tell
just north of the city, today's Tall al-Bi'a
, became renowned. A mosaic inscription there is dated to the year 509, presumably from the period of the foundation of the monastery. Deir Mār Zakkā is mentioned by various sources up to the 10th century. The second important monastery in the area was the Bīzūnā monastery or 'Dairā d-Esţunā', the 'monastery of the column'. In the 9th century, when ar-Raqqah served as capital of the western half of the Abbasid Caliphate, this monastery became the seat of the Syriac Patriarch of Antioch.
used to live in ar-Raqqah. The Battle of Siffin
took place here and thus the tombs of Ammar ibn Yasir
and Uwais al-Qarni
are located in ar-Raqqah.
The strategic importance of ar-Raqqah grew during the wars at the end of the Umayyad period and the beginning of the Abbasid regime. Ar-Raqqah lay on the crossroads between Syria and Iraq
and the road between Damascus
, Palmyra
, the temporary caliphal residence Resafa
, ar-Ruha' and the Byzantine and Caucasian theaters of raids and wars.
In 771–772 the Abbasid caliph
al-Mansur
built a garrison city about 200 metres to the west of ar-Raqqah for a detachment of his Khorasanian Persian army. It was named ar-Rāfiqah, "the companion". The strength of the Abbasid imperial military is still visible in the impressive city wall of ar-Rāfiqah.
Ar-Raqqah and ar-Rāfiqah merged into one urban complex, together larger than the former Umayyad capital Damascus. In 796, the caliph Harun al-Rashid
decided for ar-Raqqah/ar-Rafiqah as his imperial residence. For about thirteen years ar-Raqqah was the capital of the Abbasid empire stretching from Northern Africa to Central Asia, while the main administrative body remained in Baghdad
. The palace area of ar-Raqqah covered an area of about 10 square kilometres (3.9 sq mi) north of the twin cities. One of the founding fathers of the Hanafi
school of law, Muḥammad ash-Shaibānī, was chief qadi
(judge) in ar-Raqqah. The splendour of the court in ar-Raqqah is documented in several poems, collected by Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahāni in his "Book of Songs" (Kitāb al-Aghāni
). Only the small, restored so called Eastern Palace at the fringes of the palace district gives an impression of Abbasid architecture.
Approximately 8 kilometres (5 mi) west of ar-Raqqah lay the unfinished victory monument called Heraqla from the period of Harun al-Rashid. It is said to commemorate the conquest of the Byzantine city Herakleia in Asia Minor. Other theories connect it with cosmological events. The monument is preserved in a substructure of a square building in the centre of a circular walled enclosure, 500 metres (1,640.4 ft) in diameter. However, the upper part was never finished, because of the sudden death of Harun al-Rashid in Khorasan
.
After the return of the court to Baghdad in 809, ar-Raqqah remained the capital of the western part of the empire including Egypt
.
and then with the Shii movement of the Qarmatians
. During the period of the Hamdānids in the 940s the city declined rapidly. At the end of the 10th century until the beginning of the 12th century, al-Raqqah was controlled by Bedouin dynasties. The Banu Numayr had their pasture in the Diyār Muḍar and the 'Uqailids had their center in Qal'at Ja'bar
.
and Ayyubid
period in the 12th and first half of the 13th century. Most famous is the blue-glazed so-called Raqqa ware. The still visible Bāb Baghdād (Baghdad Gate) and the so called Qasr al-Banāt (Castle of the Ladies) are splendid witnesses for this period. The famous ruler 'Imād ad-Dīn Zangī who was killed in 1146 was buried here initially. Ar-Raqqah was destroyed during the Mongol wars in the 1260s. There is a report about the killing of the last inhabitants of the urban ruin in 1288.
In the 16th century, ar-Raqqah again entered the historical record as an Ottoman
customs post on the Euphrates. The eyalet of ar-Raqqah (Ottoman form sometimes spelled as Rakka) was created. However, the capital of this eyalet and seat of the vali
was not ar-Raqqah but ar-Ruhā' about 200 kilometres (124.3 mi) north of ar-Raqqah. In the 17th century the famous Ottoman traveller and author Evliya Çelebi
only noticed Arab and Turkoman nomad tents in the vicinity of the ruins. The citadel was partially restored in 1683 and again housed a Janissary
detachment; over the next decades the province of ar-Raqqah became the centre of the Ottoman Empire's tribal settlement (iskân) policy.
The city of ar-Raqqah was resettled from 1864 onwards, first as a military outpost, then as a settlement for former Bedouin
Arabs and for Chechens, who came as refugees from the Caucasian war theaters in the middle of the 19th century.
In the 1950s, in the wake of the Korean war
, the worldwide cotton boom stimulated an unpreceded growth of the city, and the recultivation of this part of the middle Euphrates area. Cotton is still the main agricultural product of the region.
The growth of the city meant on the other hand a removal of the archaeological remains of the city's great past. The palace area is now almost covered with settlements, as well as the former area of the ancient ar-Raqqa (today Mishlab) and the former Abbasid industrial district (today al-Mukhtalţa). Only parts were archaeologically explored. The 12th-century citadel was removed in the 1950s (today Dawwār as-Sā'a, the clock-tower circle). In the 1980s rescue excavations in the palace area began as well as the conservation of the Abbasid city walls with the Bāb Baghdād and the two main monuments intra muros, the Abbasid mosque and the Qasr al-Banāt.
There is a museum, known as the Ar-Raqqah Museum, housed in an administration-building erected during the French Mandate period.
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
located on the north bank of the Euphrates
Euphrates
The Euphrates is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia...
, about 160 km east of Aleppo
Aleppo
Aleppo is the largest city in Syria and the capital of Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. With an official population of 2,301,570 , expanding to over 2.5 million in the metropolitan area, it is also one of the largest cities in the Levant...
. It is the capital of the Ar-Raqqah Governorate and one of the main cities of the historical Diyār Muḍar, the western part of the Jazīra
Al-Jazira, Mesopotamia
Upper Mesopotamia is the name used for the uplands and great outwash plain of northwestern Iraq and northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey which is known by the traditional Arabic name of Al-Jazira , variously transliterated into Roman script as Djazirah, Djezirah and Jazirah...
. The modern population is about 191,784 (2008 estimate).
Hellenistic and Byzantine Kallinikos
The Seleucid kingSeleucid Empire
The Seleucid Empire was a Greek-Macedonian state that was created out of the eastern conquests of Alexander the Great. At the height of its power, it included central Anatolia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Persia, today's Turkmenistan, Pamir and parts of Pakistan.The Seleucid Empire was a major centre...
Seleukos II Kallinikos
Seleucus II Callinicus
Seleucus II Callinicus or Pogon , was a ruler of the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire, who reigned from 246 to 225 BC...
(reigned 246–225 BC) founded ar-Raqqah as the eponymous city of Kallinikos (Latinized as Callinicum). In the Byzantine period
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
, the city was briefly named Leontoupolis by the emperor Leo I
Leo I (emperor)
Leo I was Byzantine Emperor from 457 to 474. A native of Dacia Aureliana near historic Thrace, he was known as Leo the Thracian ....
(reigned 457–474 AD), but the name Kallinikos prevailed. In 542, the city was destroyed by the invasion of the Persian Sasanid
Sassanid Empire
The Sassanid Empire , known to its inhabitants as Ērānshahr and Ērān in Middle Persian and resulting in the New Persian terms Iranshahr and Iran , was the last pre-Islamic Persian Empire, ruled by the Sasanian Dynasty from 224 to 651...
Shahanshah Khusrau I Anushirvan (reigned 531–579), but was subsequently rebuilt by the Byzantine emperor Justinian I
Justinian I
Justinian I ; , ; 483– 13 or 14 November 565), commonly known as Justinian the Great, was Byzantine Emperor from 527 to 565. During his reign, Justinian sought to revive the Empire's greatness and reconquer the lost western half of the classical Roman Empire.One of the most important figures of...
(reigned 527–565).
In the 6th century, Kallinikos became a center of Syriac monasticism
Syriac Christianity
Syriac or Syrian Christianity , the Syriac-speaking Christians of Mesopotamia, comprises multiple Christian traditions of Eastern Christianity. With a history going back to the 1st Century AD, in modern times it is represented by denominations primarily in the Middle East and in Kerala, India....
. Deir Mār Zakkā, or the Saint Zacchaeus
Zacchaeus
Zacchaeus , according to chapter 19 of the gospel of Luke, was a superintendent of customs; a chief tax-gatherer at Jericho...
Monastery, situated on the tell
Tell
A tell or tel, is a type of archaeological mound created by human occupation and abandonment of a geographical site over many centuries. A classic tell looks like a low, truncated cone with a flat top and sloping sides.-Archaeology:A tell is a hill created by different civilizations living and...
just north of the city, today's Tall al-Bi'a
Tuttul
The Bronze Age town of Tuttul is identified with the archaeological site of Tell Bi'a in Ar-Raqqah Governorate, northern Syria. Tell Bi'a is located near the modern city of Ar-Raqqah and the confluence of the rivers Balikh and Euphrates. During the Middle Bronze Age , Tuttul was city sacred to the...
, became renowned. A mosaic inscription there is dated to the year 509, presumably from the period of the foundation of the monastery. Deir Mār Zakkā is mentioned by various sources up to the 10th century. The second important monastery in the area was the Bīzūnā monastery or 'Dairā d-Esţunā', the 'monastery of the column'. In the 9th century, when ar-Raqqah served as capital of the western half of the Abbasid Caliphate, this monastery became the seat of the Syriac Patriarch of Antioch.
Early Islamic period
In the year 18/639, the Muslim conqueror 'Iyāḍ ibn Ghanm took the Christian city Kallinikos by contract. Since then, it figured in Arabic sources as ar-Raqqah, but still in Syriac sources the name of Kallinikos remained. In 20/640–1, the earliest congregational mosque in the Jazira was built in the predominantly Christian city. many companions of the Prophet MuhammadMuhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
used to live in ar-Raqqah. The Battle of Siffin
Battle of Siffin
The Battle of Siffin occurred during the First Fitna, or first Muslim civil war, with the main engagement taking place from July 26 to July 28. It was fought between Ali ibn Abi Talib and Muawiyah I, on the banks of the Euphrates river, in what is now Ar-Raqqah, Syria...
took place here and thus the tombs of Ammar ibn Yasir
Ammar ibn Yasir
ʻAmmār ibn Yāsir al-Ansi was one of the companions of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He was one of the Muhajirun, and referred to as by Shia Muslims as one of the Four Companions....
and Uwais al-Qarni
Uwais al-Qarni
Uwais Qarni, known also as Saint Uwais Qarni was a Muslim mystic, martyr and philosopher of Yemen who lived during the lifetime of Muhammad, but never met Muhammad personally. As reported by the renowned historical scholar Ibn Battuta, Uwais' tomb is found in Ar-Raqqah, Syria, where he was killed...
are located in ar-Raqqah.
The strategic importance of ar-Raqqah grew during the wars at the end of the Umayyad period and the beginning of the Abbasid regime. Ar-Raqqah lay on the crossroads between Syria and Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
and the road between Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
, Palmyra
Palmyra
Palmyra was an ancient city in Syria. In the age of antiquity, it was an important city of central Syria, located in an oasis 215 km northeast of Damascus and 180 km southwest of the Euphrates at Deir ez-Zor. It had long been a vital caravan city for travellers crossing the Syrian desert...
, the temporary caliphal residence Resafa
Resafa
Resafa , known in Roman times as Sergiopolis, was a city located in what is now modern-day Syria. It is an archaeological site situated south-west of the city of Ar Raqqah and the Euphrates.-History:...
, ar-Ruha' and the Byzantine and Caucasian theaters of raids and wars.
In 771–772 the Abbasid caliph
Caliph
The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word which means "successor" or "representative"...
al-Mansur
Al-Mansur
Al-Mansur, Almanzor or Abu Ja'far Abdallah ibn Muhammad al-Mansur was the second Abbasid Caliph from 136 AH to 158 AH .-Biography:...
built a garrison city about 200 metres to the west of ar-Raqqah for a detachment of his Khorasanian Persian army. It was named ar-Rāfiqah, "the companion". The strength of the Abbasid imperial military is still visible in the impressive city wall of ar-Rāfiqah.
Ar-Raqqah and ar-Rāfiqah merged into one urban complex, together larger than the former Umayyad capital Damascus. In 796, the caliph Harun al-Rashid
Harun al-Rashid
Hārūn al-Rashīd was the fifth Arab Abbasid Caliph in Iraq. He was born in Rey, Iran, close to modern Tehran. His birth date remains a point of discussion, though, as various sources give the dates from 763 to 766)....
decided for ar-Raqqah/ar-Rafiqah as his imperial residence. For about thirteen years ar-Raqqah was the capital of the Abbasid empire stretching from Northern Africa to Central Asia, while the main administrative body remained in Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
. The palace area of ar-Raqqah covered an area of about 10 square kilometres (3.9 sq mi) north of the twin cities. One of the founding fathers of the Hanafi
Hanafi
The Hanafi school is one of the four Madhhab in jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. The Hanafi madhhab is named after the Persian scholar Abu Hanifa an-Nu‘man ibn Thābit , a Tabi‘i whose legal views were preserved primarily by his two most important disciples, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad al-Shaybani...
school of law, Muḥammad ash-Shaibānī, was chief qadi
Qadi
Qadi is a judge ruling in accordance with Islamic religious law appointed by the ruler of a Muslim country. Because Islam makes no distinction between religious and secular domains, qadis traditionally have jurisdiction over all legal matters involving Muslims...
(judge) in ar-Raqqah. The splendour of the court in ar-Raqqah is documented in several poems, collected by Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahāni in his "Book of Songs" (Kitāb al-Aghāni
Kitab al-Aghani
Kitab al-aghani , is an encyclopedic collection of poems and songs that runs to over 20 volumes in modern editions by the 8th/9th-century litterateur Abu l-Faraj al-Isfahani . Abu l-Faraj claimed to have taken 50 years in writing the work, which ran to over 10 000 pages...
). Only the small, restored so called Eastern Palace at the fringes of the palace district gives an impression of Abbasid architecture.
Approximately 8 kilometres (5 mi) west of ar-Raqqah lay the unfinished victory monument called Heraqla from the period of Harun al-Rashid. It is said to commemorate the conquest of the Byzantine city Herakleia in Asia Minor. Other theories connect it with cosmological events. The monument is preserved in a substructure of a square building in the centre of a circular walled enclosure, 500 metres (1,640.4 ft) in diameter. However, the upper part was never finished, because of the sudden death of Harun al-Rashid in Khorasan
Razavi Khorasan Province
Razavi Khorasan Province is a province located in northeastern Iran. Mashhad is the centre and capital of the province.Other cities and townships are Ghouchan, Dargaz, Chenaran, Sarakhs, Fariman, Torbat-e Heydarieh, Torbat-e Jam, Taybad, Khaf, Roshtkhar, Kashmar, Bardaskan, Nishapur, Sabzevar,...
.
After the return of the court to Baghdad in 809, ar-Raqqah remained the capital of the western part of the empire including Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
.
Decline and period of Bedouin domination
Ar-Raqqah's fate declined in the late 9th century because of the continuous warfare between the Abbasids and the TulunidsTulunids
The Tulunids were the first independent dynasty in Islamic Egypt , when they broke away from the central authority of the Abbasid dynasty that ruled the Islamic Caliphate during that time...
and then with the Shii movement of the Qarmatians
Qarmatians
The Qarmatians were a Shi'a Ismaili group centered in eastern Arabia, where they attempted to established a utopian republic in 899 CE. They are most famed for their revolt against the Abbasid Caliphate...
. During the period of the Hamdānids in the 940s the city declined rapidly. At the end of the 10th century until the beginning of the 12th century, al-Raqqah was controlled by Bedouin dynasties. The Banu Numayr had their pasture in the Diyār Muḍar and the 'Uqailids had their center in Qal'at Ja'bar
Qal'at Ja'bar
Qal'at Ja'bar is a castle on the left bank of Lake Assad in Ar-Raqqah Governorate, Syria. Its site, formerly a prominent hill-top overlooking the Euphrates Valley, is now an island in Lake Assad that can only be reached by an artificial causeway...
.
Second Blossoming
Ar-Raqqah experienced a second blossoming, based on agriculture and industrial production, during the ZangidZengid dynasty
The Zengid dynasty was a Muslim dynasty of Turkic origin, which ruled parts of Syria and northern Iraq on behalf of the Seljuk Empire.-History:...
and Ayyubid
Ayyubid dynasty
The Ayyubid dynasty was a Muslim dynasty of Kurdish origin, founded by Saladin and centered in Egypt. The dynasty ruled much of the Middle East during the 12th and 13th centuries CE. The Ayyubid family, under the brothers Ayyub and Shirkuh, originally served as soldiers for the Zengids until they...
period in the 12th and first half of the 13th century. Most famous is the blue-glazed so-called Raqqa ware. The still visible Bāb Baghdād (Baghdad Gate) and the so called Qasr al-Banāt (Castle of the Ladies) are splendid witnesses for this period. The famous ruler 'Imād ad-Dīn Zangī who was killed in 1146 was buried here initially. Ar-Raqqah was destroyed during the Mongol wars in the 1260s. There is a report about the killing of the last inhabitants of the urban ruin in 1288.
Ottoman and Modern period
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
customs post on the Euphrates. The eyalet of ar-Raqqah (Ottoman form sometimes spelled as Rakka) was created. However, the capital of this eyalet and seat of the vali
Wali
Walī , is an Arabic word meaning "custodian", "protector", "sponsor", or authority as denoted by its definition "crown". "Wali" is someone who has "Walayah" over somebody else. For example, in Fiqh the father is wali of his children. In Islam, the phrase ولي الله walīyu 'llāh...
was not ar-Raqqah but ar-Ruhā' about 200 kilometres (124.3 mi) north of ar-Raqqah. In the 17th century the famous Ottoman traveller and author Evliya Çelebi
Evliya Çelebi
Evliya Çelebi was an Ottoman traveler who journeyed through the territory of the Ottoman Empire and neighboring lands over a period of forty years.- Life :...
only noticed Arab and Turkoman nomad tents in the vicinity of the ruins. The citadel was partially restored in 1683 and again housed a Janissary
Janissary
The Janissaries were infantry units that formed the Ottoman sultan's household troops and bodyguards...
detachment; over the next decades the province of ar-Raqqah became the centre of the Ottoman Empire's tribal settlement (iskân) policy.
The city of ar-Raqqah was resettled from 1864 onwards, first as a military outpost, then as a settlement for former Bedouin
Bedouin
The Bedouin are a part of a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group traditionally divided into tribes or clans, known in Arabic as ..-Etymology:...
Arabs and for Chechens, who came as refugees from the Caucasian war theaters in the middle of the 19th century.
In the 1950s, in the wake of the Korean war
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
, the worldwide cotton boom stimulated an unpreceded growth of the city, and the recultivation of this part of the middle Euphrates area. Cotton is still the main agricultural product of the region.
The growth of the city meant on the other hand a removal of the archaeological remains of the city's great past. The palace area is now almost covered with settlements, as well as the former area of the ancient ar-Raqqa (today Mishlab) and the former Abbasid industrial district (today al-Mukhtalţa). Only parts were archaeologically explored. The 12th-century citadel was removed in the 1950s (today Dawwār as-Sā'a, the clock-tower circle). In the 1980s rescue excavations in the palace area began as well as the conservation of the Abbasid city walls with the Bāb Baghdād and the two main monuments intra muros, the Abbasid mosque and the Qasr al-Banāt.
There is a museum, known as the Ar-Raqqah Museum, housed in an administration-building erected during the French Mandate period.
Current news and events
- eraqqa Website for news relating to ar-Raqqah