AL - Hatar Monuments
AL - Hatar Monuments
AL - Hatar Monuments
Stage : Second – A
Subject : English Report
Grope Names :
منهل عمار محمد
سيف جمال مدين
بالل عبد الكريم بالل
AL – Hatar Monuments
The ruins of Hatra circa 1988
Hatra was a strongly fortified caravan city and capital of the small
Kingdom of Araba, located between the Roman and Parthian/Persian
empires. Hatra flourished in the 2nd century, and was destroyed and
deserted in the 3rd century. Its impressive ruins were discovered in the
19th century.
History
Some believe Hatra may have been built by the Assyrians or possibly
in the 3rd or 2nd century BC under the influence of the Seleucid
Empire, but there is no reliable information on the city before the
Parthian period. Hatra flourished under the Parthians, during the 1st
and 2nd centuries AD, as a religious and trading center. Later on, the
city became the capital of possibly the first Arab Kingdom in the chain
of Arab cities running from Hatra, in the northeast, via Palmyra, Baalbek
and Petra, in the southwest. The region controlled from Hatra was the
Kingdom of Araba, a semi-autonomous buffer kingdom on the western
limits of the Parthian Empire, governed by Arabian princes.
Art of Hatra
According to John M. Rosenfield, the statuary of Hatra belong to the
Parthian cultural sphere, with numerous similarities in terms of
clothing, decorative elements or posture, which tend to be massive and
frontal, with feet often splayed. The architecture of Hatra itself is
generally seen as an example of Parthian architecture. Similarities can
be seen with the Art of the Kushans as well, due either to direct cultural
exchanges between the area of Mesopotamia and the Kushan Empire
at that time, or from a common Parthian artistic background leading to
similar types of representation.
Hatra was used as the setting for the opening scene in the 1973 film
The Exorcist, and since 1985 has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Destruction by ISIL
Actions by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which occupied
the area in mid-2014, have been a major threat to Hatra. In early 2015
they announced their intention to destroy many artifacts, claiming that
such "graven images" were un-Islamic, encouraged shirk (or
polytheism), and could not be permitted to exist, despite the
preservation of the site for 1,400 years by various Islamic regimes. ISIL
militants pledged to destroy the remaining artifacts. Shortly thereafter,
they released a video showing the destruction of some artifacts from
Hatra. After the bulldozing of Nimrud on March 5, 2015, "Hatra of
course will be next" said Abdulamir Hamdani, an Iraqi archaeologist
from Stony Brook University. On March 7, Kurdish and Iraqi official
sources reported ISIS had begun the demolishing the ruins of Hatra. A
video released by ISIL during the next month showed the destruction of
the monuments.
UNESCO and ISESCO issued a joint statement saying "With this latest
act of barbarism against Hatra, (the IS group) shows the contempt in
which it holds the history and heritage of Arab people."
The pro-Iraqi government Popular Mobilization Forces captured the
city on 26 April 2017. A spokeswoman for the militias stated that ISIL
had destroyed the sculptures and engraved images of the site, but its
walls and towers were still standing though contained holes and
scratches received from ISIL bullets. PMF units also stated that the
group had mined the site's eastern gates, thus temporarily preventing
any assessment of damage by archaeologists. It was reported on 1 May
that the site had suffered less damage than feared earlier. A journalist
of EFE had earlier reported finding many destroyed statues, burnt
buildings as well as signs of looting. Layla Salih, head of antiquities for
Nineveh Governorate, stated that most of the buildings were intact and
the destruction didn't compare with that of other archaeological sites
of Iraq. A PMF commander also stated that the damage was relatively
minor.