An-Nu'mānīyah ( ar, النعمانية, an-Nuʿmānīyah) is a city on the

Tigris The Tigris () is the easternmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, and empties into the ...

river in

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

, located roughly southeast of

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

in the Wasit Province. It is the site of one of four national training centers for the

Iraqi Army The Iraqi Ground Forces (Arabic: القوات البرية العراقية), or the Iraqi Army (Arabic: الجيش العراقي), is the ground force component of the Iraqi Armed Forces. It was known as the Royal Iraqi Army up until the coup ...

. It is also the site of a base that was built by the Hussein regime and constructed by

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...

n contractors Mostogradnja. Following the beginning of the Iraq War, it changed its purpose September 1, 2004 to operate as a training base for new recruits and serve as the home station for three battalions of the

Iraqi Intervention Force The 1st Division (IFF) is a motorized infantry division of the Iraqi Army headquartered in Camp Fallujah. The division, along with much of the Iraqi Army, is equipped with American supplied weapons, equipment, and vehicles. The division suffere ...

– the Iraqi army's counterinsurgency wing.

History

An-Nu'maniyah is named after

al-Nu'man III ibn al-Mundhir Al-Nuʿmān III ibn al-Mundhir ( ar, النعمان بن المنذر), also transcribed Naʿaman, Nuʿaman and Noman and often known by the patronymic Abu Qabus (), was the last Lakhmid king of al-Hirah (582 – ) and a Nestorian Christian Ara ...

who ruled the region. The city hosts the tomb of

Al-Mutanabbi Abū al-Ṭayyib Aḥmad ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Mutanabbī al-Kindī ( ar, أبو الطيب أحمد بن الحسين المتنبّي الكندي; – 23 September 965 AD) from Kufa, Abbasid Caliphate, was a famous Abbasid-era Arab poet at th ...

. Nu'maniyah was an important town during the middle ages. It lay on the western bank of the Tigris, across from the town of

Jabbul Jabbul ( ar, جبول), is a depopulated former Palestinian Arab village located 7 km north of Baysan. During Operation Gideon, the village was occupied by the Golani Brigade. Location Jabbul stood on a hill on the edge of the Baysan V ...

, and was the capital of the Upper Zab district. It had a

Friday mosque A congregational mosque or Friday mosque (, ''masjid jāmi‘'', or simply: , ''jāmi‘''; ), or sometimes great mosque or grand mosque (, ''jāmi‘ kabir''; ), is a mosque for hosting the Friday noon prayers known as ''jumu'ah''.* * * * * * * ...

in its marketplace.

Ibn Rustah Ahmad ibn Rustah Isfahani ( fa, احمد ابن رسته اصفهانی ''Aḥmad ibn Rusta Iṣfahānī''), more commonly known as Ibn Rustah (, also spelled ''Ibn Rusta'' and ''Ibn Ruste''), was a tenth-century Persian explorer and geographer ...

commented that Nu'maniyah was renowned for its

carpets A carpet is a textile floor covering typically consisting of an upper layer of pile attached to a backing. The pile was traditionally made from wool, but since the 20th century synthetic fibers such as polypropylene, nylon, or polyester have ...

, which resembled those made at

al-Hirah Al-Hirah ( ar, الحيرة, translit=al-Ḥīra Middle Persian: ''Hērt'' ) was an ancient city in Mesopotamia located south of what is now Kufa in south-central Iraq. History Kingdom of the Lakhmids Al-Hirah was a significant city in pre ...

. In the 1300s,

Hamdallah Mustawfi Hamdallah Mustawfi Qazvini ( fa, حمدالله مستوفى قزوینی, Ḥamdallāh Mustawfī Qazvīnī; 1281 – after 1339/40) was a Persian official, historian, geographer and poet. He lived during the last era of the Mongol Ilkhanate, a ...

described Nu'maniyah as a prosperous town surrounded by

date palm ''Phoenix dactylifera'', commonly known as date or date palm, is a flowering plant species in the palm family, Arecaceae, cultivated for its edible sweet fruit called dates. The species is widely cultivated across northern Africa, the Middle Eas ...

groves. Near the town, there was a monastery called Dayr Hizqil, where the monks looked after the mentally ill.

An-Numaniyah Airfield

According to Globalsecurity.org,An Numaniyah Airfield
- Globalsecurity.org "An Numaniyah Airbase is located in Southern Iraq approximately 294 kilometres South of Baghdad. The airfield is served by a single long runway. An Numaniyah Airbase occupies a 17 square kilometre site and is protected by a 18 kilometres security perimeter."

References

Sources

* Numaniyah Numaniyah {{iraq-geo-stub