Al Raqqa
:
This city, located on the Euphrates, is about 190 Km west
of Al Raqqa. It has a very rich history as it was first
founded and established by Alexander the Great in the 4th
Century BC. It later had quite an important role under the
Abbassid dynasty. This is where Haroun Al Rashid, the
famous caliph who sent exclusive gifts to Charlemagne, used
to spend his summers.
It was rebuilt in 772 AD by Caliph Mansour under the
original plan of the Abbassid capital, Baghdad. Some of the
Abbassid ruins are still preserved, although not much
remains. The Raqqa museum houses a lot of artifacts found
in palaces that surrounded the city of Al Raqqa.
The History of Al
Raqqa
Al Raqqa, is said to be founded by Alexander the Great of
Macedonia, although many say that it might be Seleucus
Nicator, Alexander's famous general. It was settled by the
Romans and was given the name Callincium.
In the Byzantine era it was considered a very important
town, as it was on the border between Byzantium and Persia.
It fell into Muslim hands in 639 AD and the Umayyads built
two palaces there under Caliph Hisham Bin Abdul Malik.
However nothing remains of these palaces.
The Abbassids rebuilt Al Raqqa 10 years after Baghdad, it
was considered a second capital and was built by Caliph
Mansour in the same horseshoe plan as that of Baghdad. It
was surrounded by a semi-circular wall, which was extremely
thick and was guarded by many towers. Nearly half a century
later Caliph Haroun Al Rashid built a second and newer
Raqqa next to the old one as a sort of companion. It soon
was integrated into the older one.
Under the Ayyubids and the Zengids, the town of Al Raqqa
remained of great importance as they had strong links with
the Northern Mesopotamian city of Mosul. It became famous
in the 12th century for glazed ceramic industry, which was
started by Saladin the Ayyubid leader.
In 1258 it was ransacked by the Mongols, and for a long
time Al Raqqa was abandoned to sit quietly on the shores of
the Euphrates. In 1960, Al Raqqa regained its important
role with the building of Al Thawra Dam and the Assad
reservoir. Al Thawra Dam generates a large percentage of
Syria's electricity
Copyright © Syrian embassy-London 2005