Anbar (town)

ANBAR, originally called FIRUZ SHAPUR, or PERISAPORA, a

town founded about A.D. 350 by Shapur (Sapor) II. Sassanid,

king of Persia, on the east bank of the Euphrates, just

south of the Nahr Isa, or Sakhlawieh canal, the northernmost

of the canals connecting that river with the Tigris, in

lat. 33 deg. 22' N., long. 43 deg. 49' E.

It was captured and

destroyed by the emperor Julian in A.D. 363, but speedily

rebuilt. It became a refuge for the Christian and Jewish

colonies of that region, and there are said to have been

90,000 Jews in the place at the time of its capture by Ali

in 657. The Arabs changed the name of the town to Anbar

(``granaries).

Abu,l-'Abbas as-Saffah, the founder

of the Abbasid caliphate, made it his capital, and such it

remained until the founding of Bagdad in 762. It continued

to be a place of much importance throughout the Abbasid

period. It is now entirely deserted. The site is occupied

only by ruin mounds. Their great extent

indicates the former importance of the city.

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Initial text from 1911 encyclopedia