Anbar (town) - History

History

Anbar was originally called Firuz Shapur (Firuz Shabur; Aramaic: פירוז שבור‎), or Perisapora and was founded c. 350 by Shapur II, Sassanid king of Persia. Perisapora was captured and destroyed by Emperor Julian in 363, but speedily rebuilt. The town became a refuge for the Arab, Christian, and Jewish colonies of that region. According to medieval Arabic sources, most of the inhabitants of the town migrated north to find the city of Hdatta south of Mosul.


Anbar was adjacent or identical to the Babylonian Jewish center of Nehardea (Aramaic: נהרדעא‎), and lies a short distance from the present-day town of Fallujah, formerly the Babylonian Jewish center of Pumbeditha (Aramaic: פומבדיתא‎).

The name of the town was then changed to Anbar ("granaries"). Abu al-Abbas as-Saffah, the founder of the Abbasid caliphate, made it his capital, and such it remained until the founding of Baghdad in 762. It continued to be a place of much importance throughout the Abbasid period.

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