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Control over the Euphrates has always been an important interest
for all the different tribes and kingdoms in the region. A natural
border and an essential source for water so badly needed for
irrigation, motivated many to extend there control over the river.
It is therefore not surprising to find the remains of several old
cities in this area of which the most important ones are
Rasafeh and
Raqqa. In Rasafeh Diocletian established frontier fortress to meet
Sasanian threats.
It became an important centre for pilgrimage when Sergius, a Roman
soldier who converted to Christianity and refused to make a
sacrifice in the honour of Jupiter, was decapitated. Caliph Hisham
restored the town after the Persians destroyed it but after this the
city fell into decline. Raqqa was also an important fortress on the
front line between the Persian and the Christian empires but in 531
the Byzantines were defeated by the Persians. The city peacefully
surrendered to the Muslims and the Omayyad caliphs but especially
the Abbasid Caliph Haroun Ar-Rachid favoured this city and
reconstructed it according to the city plan of Baghdad, intending to
make it a symbol of Abbasid hegemony. After it was ravaged by the
Mongols, Raqqa fell into decline.
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