The fall of Hatra, capital of the Kingdom of Hatra under

Sanatruq II Sanatruq II ( Hatran Aramaic: 𐣮𐣭𐣨𐣣𐣥𐣲 snṭrwq) was the last king of Hatra (an ancient city in nowadays Iraq), ruling from about AD 205 to 240/41. He was the son of king Abdsamiya and is attested by nine inscriptions discovered a ...

, took place in the 3rd century after a lengthy siege by the

Sasanian The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranians"), was an Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, the length of the Sasanian dynasty's reign ...

king

Shapur I Shapur I (also spelled Shabuhr I; ) was the second Sasanian Empire, Sasanian King of Kings of Iran. The precise dating of his reign is disputed, but it is generally agreed that he ruled from 240 to 270, with his father Ardashir I as co-regent u ...

. Hatra was plundered and abandoned, and its kingdom dissolved.

Background

During the Roman-Persian Wars, the Kingdom of Hatra was a

buffer state A buffer state is a country geographically lying between two rival or potentially hostile great powers. Its existence can sometimes be thought to prevent conflict between them. A buffer state is sometimes a mutually agreed upon area lying between t ...

between the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

and the

Parthian Empire The Parthian Empire (), also known as the Arsacid Empire (), was a major Iranian political and cultural power centered in ancient Iran from 247 BC to 224 AD. Its latter name comes from its founder, Arsaces I, who led the Parni tribe ...

, and the dynasty was mostly under influence of the latter. Its capital city

Hatra Hatra (; (); ) was an ancient Arab city in Upper Mesopotamia located in present-day eastern Nineveh Governorate in northern Iraq. The ruins of the city lie northwest of Baghdad and southwest of Mosul. It is considered the richest archaeologi ...

was strongly fortified, and managed to repulse sieges by

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

emperors

Trajan Trajan ( ; born Marcus Ulpius Traianus, 18 September 53) was a Roman emperor from AD 98 to 117, remembered as the second of the Five Good Emperors of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. He was a philanthropic ruler and a successful soldier ...

(in 117 AD) and

Septimius Severus Lucius Septimius Severus (; ; 11 April 145 – 4 February 211) was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna (present-day Al-Khums, Libya) in the Roman province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through cursus honorum, the ...

(in 193 and 197 AD). During the reign of

, the kingdom expanded, and as the Parthian Empire was succeeded by the

Sasanian Empire The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranian peoples, Iranians"), was an List of monarchs of Iran, Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, th ...

, Hatra shifted its loyalty and became a vassal kingdom of the Romans. The Sasanian king

Ardashir I Ardashir I (), also known as Ardashir the Unifier (180–242 AD), was the founder of the Sasanian Empire, the last empire of ancient Iran. He was also Ardashir V of the Kings of Persis, until he founded the new empire. After defeating the last Par ...

unsuccessfully besieged the city in 220s. Latin dedications from the year 235 in Hatra's ruins suggest there was presence of

Roman army The Roman army () served ancient Rome and the Roman people, enduring through the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC), the Roman Republic (509–27 BC), and the Roman Empire (27 BC–AD 1453), including the Western Roman Empire (collapsed Fall of the W ...

in the city in that period.

Siege and aftermath

Modern sources put the date of Hatra's fall in 240–241 AD (or April 241 AD) per the newly discovered document Cologne Mani Codex (18.2-8), which is the year that

crowned his son

as the co-regent. Either of these may have conquered Hatra. The siege took one year, or two years, according to

al-Tabari Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr ibn Yazīd al-Ṭabarī (; 839–923 CE / 224–310 AH), commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Sunni Muslim scholar, polymath, historian, exegete, jurist, and theologian from Amol, Tabaristan, present- ...

. The siege was part of a "forgotten" Roman-Persian war at the second half of 230s. A small Roman garrison was probably stationed in the city, and was most likely destroyed. After the city's conquest, it was plundered, its fortifications were destroyed, the city was deserted and never resettled, and the Kingdom of Hatra was disestablished. In 363,

Ammianus Marcellinus Ammianus Marcellinus, occasionally anglicized as Ammian ( Greek: Αμμιανός Μαρκελλίνος; born , died 400), was a Greek and Roman soldier and historian who wrote the penultimate major historical account surviving from antiquit ...

passed by Hatra together with the Roman army and has described it as an "old city situated in an uninhabited area and deserted for a long time past". The fall of Hatra is described in medieval

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

and

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

traditions via stories that mix facts and fiction. The legend tells of the Hatrene princess al-Nadirah who betrayed the city to Shapur I after falling in love with him. The Sasanian capture of Hatra is thought to be the cause of the Persian war of

Gordian III Gordian III (; 20 January 225 – February 244) was Roman emperor from 238 to 244. At the age of 13, he became the youngest sole emperor of the united Roman Empire. Gordian was the son of Maecia Faustina and her husband Junius Balbus, who d ...

Background

Siege and aftermath

References

Further reading