Kashkar, also known as Kaskar, (), was a city in southern

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...

. Its name appears to originate from Syriac ' meaning "citadel" or "town". Other sources connect it to ' "farming". It was originally built on the

Tigris The Tigris ( ; see #Etymology, below) is the eastern 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 Desert, Syrian and Arabia ...

, across the river from the later medieval city of Wasit. The city was originally a significant

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 ...

city built on the west bank of the

where Greek speaking deportees from north-western Syria were settled by

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 ...

in the mid third century A.D. According to Syriac tradition, Mar Mari is said to have preached and performed miracles and converted many of its inhabitants to Christianity. Kashkar became an important centre of Christianity in lower Mesopotamia and had its own diocese which lay under the jurisdiction of the

Patriarchal Province of Seleucia-Ctesiphon The Patriarchal Province of Seleucia-Ctesiphon was an Dioceses of the Church of the East, ecclesiastical province of the Church of the East, with see in Al-Mada'in, Seleucia-Ctesiphon. It was attested between the fifth and thirteenth centuries. A ...

. During a flood the Tigris burst its banks leaving Kashkar on its east bank. The medieval city of Wasit was built on the west bank of the new channel by

al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf Abu Muhammad al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf ibn al-Hakam ibn Abi Aqil al-Thaqafi (; ), known simply as al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf (), was the most notable governor who served the Umayyad Caliphate. He began his service under Caliph Abd al-Malik (), who successiv ...

, who drew off the population of Kashkar, which eventually turned it to a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

. By the middle of the twelfth century Kashkar ceased to exist as a bishopric see.

References

See also