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.
Initial text from 1911 encyclopedia
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