Editing Samarra (section)

==History==
{{More citations needed section|date=April 2023}}{{main|Timeline of Samarra}}

===Prehistoric Samarra===
{{main|Samarra culture}}

The remains of [[prehistoric]] Samarra were first excavated between 1911 and 1914 by the German archaeologist [[Ernst Herzfeld]]. Samarra became the [[type site]] for the [[Samarra culture]]. Since 1946, the notebooks, letters, unpublished excavation reports and photographs have been in the [[Freer Gallery of Art]] in Washington, D.C.

The civilization flourished alongside the [[Ubaid period]], as one of the first town states in the [[Near East]]. It lasted from 5,500 BCE and eventually collapsed in 3,900 BCE.

=== Neo-Assyrian period ===
A city of '''Sur-marrati''' (refounded by [[Sennacherib]] in 690 BC according to a [[stele]] in the [[Walters Art Museum]]) is insecurely identified with a fortified [[Assyria]]n site at al-Huwaysh on the Tigris opposite modern Samarra. The State Archives of Assyria Online identifies ''Surimarrat'' as the modern site of Samarra.<ref>[http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/cbd/qpn/qpn.x030705.html SAAO]</ref>

Ancient place names for Samarra noted by the Samarra Archaeological Survey are Greek ''Souma'' ([[Ptolemy]] V.19, [[Zosimus (historian)|Zosimus]] III, 30), Latin ''Sumere'', a fort mentioned during the [[Battle of Samarra|retreat of the army of Julian]] in 363 AD ([[Ammianus Marcellinus]] XXV, 6, 4), and Syriac ''Sumra'' (Hoffmann, ''Auszüge'', 188; [[Michael the Syrian]], III, 88), described as a village.

The possibility of a larger population was offered by the opening of the Qatul al-Kisrawi, the northern extension of the [[Nahrawan Canal]] which drew water from the [[Tigris]] in the region of Samarra, attributed by [[Yaqut al-Hamawi]] (''Muʿjam'', see under "Qatul") to [[Khosrau I]] (531–578). To celebrate the completion of this project, a commemorative tower (modern Burj al-Qa'im) was built at the southern inlet south of Samarra, and a palace with a "paradise" or walled hunting park was constructed at the northern inlet (modern Nahr ar-Rasasi) near [[ad-Dawr]].  A supplementary canal, the Qatul Abi al-Jund, excavated by the [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid Caliph]] [[Harun al-Rashid]], was commemorated by a planned city laid out in the form of a regular octagon (modern Husn al-Qadisiyya), called al-Mubarak and abandoned unfinished in 796.

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
Image:Female Statuette Halaf Culture 6000-5100 BCE.jpg|Female statuette, Samarra, 6000 BC
File:Samarra bowl.jpg|The Samarra bowl at the [[Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin|Vorderasiatisches Museum]], Berlin. The [[swastika]] in the center of the design is a reconstruction.<ref>Stanley A. Freed, "Research Pitfalls as a Result of the Restoration of Museum Specimens", ''Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences'', Volume 376, The Research Potential of Anthropological Museum Collections, pages 229–245, December 1981. {{doi|10.1111/j.1749-6632.1981.tb28170.x}}.</ref>
File:Chinese sancai sherd 9th 10th century found in Samarra.jpg|Chinese-made [[sancai]] pottery shard, 9th–10th century, found in Samarra, an example of [[Chinese influences on Islamic pottery]]. [[British Museum]].
</gallery>

===Abbasid capital===
{{Main|Abbasid Samarra}}
[[File:Dirhem of al-Muntasir, AH 247-248.jpg|thumb|[[Dirham]] of [[Al-Muntasir]] minted in Samarra, 861/862 AD|left]]
In 836 [[Common Era|CE]], the [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid]] [[Caliph]] [[Al-Mu'tasim]] founded a new capital at the banks of the Tigris. Here he built extensive palace complexes surrounded by garrison settlements for his guards, mostly drawn from [[Central Asia]] and [[Iran]] (most famously the [[Turkic peoples|Turks]], as well as the [[Iranian peoples|Iranian]] [[Khurasan]]i ''[[Ishtakhaniyya]]'', ''[[Faraghina]]'' and ''[[Ushrusaniyya]]'' regiments) or North Africa (like the ''[[Maghariba (Abbasid troops)|Maghariba]]''). Although quite often called [[Mamluk]] slave soldiers, their status was quite elevated; some of their commanders bore Sogdian titles of nobility.<ref name="Babaie">{{cite book | title=Slaves of the Shah | url=https://archive.org/details/slavesshahneweli00baba | url-access=limited | publisher=I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd | author=Babaie, Sussan | year=2004 | location=New York | pages=[https://archive.org/details/slavesshahneweli00baba/page/n18 4]–5 | isbn=1-86064-721-9}}</ref>

[[File:قصر البركة في سامراء.jpg|thumb|260x260px|Remains of a circular pool surrounded by reception halls in the ''Dar al-Khilafa'' palace, built by [[Al-Mu'tasim|Al-Mu῾tasim]] ([[Reign|r.]] 833–842)<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Blair |first1=Sheila S. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-mhIgewDtNkC&pg=PP3 |title=The Art and Architecture of Islam 1250-1800 |last2=Bloom |first2=Jonathan M. |publisher=Yale University Press |year=1995 |isbn=9780300064650 |location= |pages= |chapter=Samarra}}</ref>]]
The city was further developed under Caliph [[al-Mutawakkil]], who sponsored the construction of lavish palace complexes, such as al-Mutawakkiliyya, and the [[Great Mosque of Samarra]] with its famous spiral [[minaret]] or Malwiya, built-in 847.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rice |first1=David Talbot |title=Islamic Art |date=1965 |publisher=Praeger |location=New York |page=35}}</ref> For his son [[al-Mu'tazz]] he built the large palace Bulkuwara.

[[File:قصر العاشق مدينه سامراء.jpg|thumb|[[Qasr al-'Ashiq]], an Abbasid-era palace near Samarra]]
The Nestorian patriarch [[Sargis (Nestorian Patriarch)|Sargis]] (860–72) moved the patriarchal seat of the [[Church of the East]] from Baghdad to Samarra, and one or two of his immediate successors may also have sat in Samarra so as to be close to the seat of power.<ref>Mari, 80–1 (Arabic), 71–2 (Latin)</ref>

Samarra remained the residence of the caliph until 892, when [[al-Mu'tadid]] returned the capital to Baghdad.<ref name=":1" /> Historical sources report that the city was looted around this time. Its population probably decreased and the city declined, but it remained an important market center.<ref name=":1">{{EI2|volume=8|article=Sāmarrā'|last=Northedge|first=Alastair|pages=1039–1041}}</ref>

From the tenth century onward it turned into an important pilgrimage site. During the 12th and 13th centuries, the river's course to the south of the city shifted further east. As a result, the main road between Baghdad and Mosul was moved to the west bank and Samarra lost its importance as a trading town.<ref name=":1" />

===Modern era===
In the eighteenth century, one of the most violent battles of the 1730–1735 [[Ottoman–Persian War (1730–35)|Ottoman–Persian War]], the [[Battle of Samarra (1733)|Battle of Samarra]], took place, where over 50,000 Turks and Persians became casualties. The engagement decided the fate of [[Ottoman Iraq]] and kept it under [[Istanbul]]'s suzerainty until the [[First World War]].

During the 1950s, Samarra gained new importance when a permanent lake, [[Lake Tharthar]], was created through the construction of the [[Samarra Barrage]], which was built in order to prevent the frequent flooding of Baghdad. Many local people were displaced by the dam, resulting in an increase in Samarra's population.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Hann |first1=Geoff |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-9RNCgAAQBAJ&dq=samarra+barrage+displacement+population&pg=PA188 |title=Iraq: The ancient sites and Iraqi Kurdistan |last2=Dabrowska |first2=Karen |last3=Townsend-Greaves |first3=Tina |date=2015-08-07 |publisher=Bradt Travel Guides |isbn=978-1-84162-488-4 |language=en}}</ref><!-- Because this information was already present on this Wikipedia article prior to this travel guide's publication, there is a chance that this could be a circular reference. Ideally, a more scholarly reference or older source might be more reliable verification. -->
[[File:Samarra City 1.jpg|thumb|[[Al-Askari Shrine]]]]
Samarra is a key city in Saladin Governorate, a major part of the so-called [[Sunni Triangle]] where insurgents were active during the [[Iraq War]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bazzaz |first=Sahar |title=Imperial Geographies in Byzantine and Ottoman Space |publisher=Center for Hellenic Studies |year=2013 |editor-last=Bazzaz |editor-first=Sahar |series=Hellenic Studies Series |location=Washington, DC |language=en |chapter=The Discursive Mapping of Sectarianism in Iraq: The “Sunni Triangle” in the Pages of The New York Times |editor-last2=Batsaki |editor-first2=Yota |editor-last3=Angelov |editor-first3=Dimiter |chapter-url=https://chs.harvard.edu/chapter/11-the-discursive-mapping-of-sectarianism-in-iraq-the-sunni-triangle-in-the-pages-of-the-new-york-times-sahar-bazzaz/}}</ref> Though Samarra is famous for its Shi'i holy sites, including the tombs of several Shi'i Imams, the town was traditionally and until very recently, dominated by [[Sunni Islam|Sunni]] [[Arab]]s. Tensions arose between Sunnis and the Shi'a during the Iraq War. On February 22, 2006, the golden dome of the [[al-Askari Mosque]] was [[2006 al-Askari Shrine bombing|bombed]] by [[Al-Qaeda in Iraq]], setting off a period of rioting and reprisal attacks across the country which claimed hundreds of lives. No organization claimed responsibility for the bombing. On June 13, 2007, Sunni insurgents [[2007 al-Askari Mosque bombing|attacked the mosque]] again and destroyed the two [[minaret]]s that flanked the dome's ruins.<ref name="Ricks2010">{{cite book|author=Thomas E. Ricks|title=The Gamble: General Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gHMJCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT3|date=6 January 2010|publisher=Penguin Publishing Group|isbn=978-1-101-19206-1|page=228}}</ref> On July 12, 2007, the clock tower was blown up. No fatalities were reported. Shiʿi cleric [[Muqtada al-Sadr]] called for peaceful demonstrations and three days of mourning.<ref name="rfer_Expl">{{Cite web | title = Explosion Topples Minarets At Iraqi Shi'ite Shrine | work = RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty | date = 2007-06-13 | access-date = 2015-08-22 | url = http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1077098.html }}</ref> He stated that he believed no Sunni Arab could have been behind the attack, though according to the ''New York Times'' the attackers were probably Sunni militants linked to [[Al-Qaeda]].<ref name="nyti_Seve">{{Cite web | title = Several Mosques Attacked, but Iraq Is Mostly Calm - New York Times | author1 = John F. Burns | author2 = Jon Elsen | work = [[The New York Times]] | date = 2007-06-14 | access-date = 2015-08-22 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/14/world/middleeast/14cnd-iraq.html?pagewanted=all }}</ref> The mosque compound was closed after the 2006 bombing and a indefinite curfew was placed on the city by the Iraqi police at the time.<ref>{{cite news|author= Qassim Abdul-Zahra|agency=Associated Press |date=June 13, 2007|url=https://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070613/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq|title=Iraqi police say famous shrine attacked}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6747419.stm |title=Blast hits key Iraq Shia shrine|publisher=BBC |date=2007-06-13 |access-date=2012-04-21}}</ref> In 2009, the mosque reopened while restoration was ongoing.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Chulov |first=Martin |date=2009-04-16 |title=Bombed Iraq shrine reopens to visitors |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/apr/16/samarra-shia-shrine-restored |access-date=2023-09-26 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

Ever since the end of Iraqi civil war in 2007, the Shia population of the holy city has increased exponentially. However, violence has continued, with bombings taking place in [[2011 Samarra bombing|2011]] and [[20 September Samarra attack|2013]]. In June 2014, the city was attacked by the [[Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant]] (ISIL) as part of their [[Northern Iraq offensive (June 2014)|Northern Iraq offensive]].  ISIL forces captured the municipality building and university, but were later repulsed by the [[Iraqi Ground Forces|Iraqi army]] and SWAT forces after capturing the city and holding it for two days.<ref name="autogenerated3">{{cite web|last=Hassan |first=Ghazwan |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iraq-security-idUSKBN0EG1RG20140605 |title=Iraq dislodges insurgents from city of Samarra with airstrikes |work=Reuters |date=5 June 2014 |access-date=27 June 2014}}</ref> The nearby [[Imam Dur Mausoleum]], a historic mausoleum dedicated to [[Muslim ibn Quraysh]], a Shi'i ruler, was destroyed by ISIL in 2014.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Archnet > Site > Qubba Imam al-Dur |url=https://www.archnet.org/sites/3838 |access-date=2023-04-14 |website=www.archnet.org}}</ref>