Ar-Raqqah (Arabic: الرقة, also spelled Rakka), is a city in north central Syria located on the north bank of the Euphrates River, 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. Modern population is about 191,784 (2008 estimate).
The Seleucid king Seleucos II Kallinikos (reigned 246-225 BC) founded ar-Raqqah as the eponymous city...
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Ar-Raqqah (Arabic: الرقة, also spelled Rakka), is a city in north central Syria located on the north bank of the Euphrates River, 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. Modern population is about 191,784 (2008 estimate).
The Seleucid king Seleucos II Kallinikos (reigned 246-225 BC) founded ar-Raqqah as the eponymous city of Callinicum or Kallinikos. In the Byzantine period, the city was briefly named Leontupolis 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, sited on the tell just north of the city, today's...
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