Editing Samarra (section)

=== 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.

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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]].
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