A New Tourist Hub – The Ancient City of Dara.

The ancient garrison city of Dara was built to defend the Sassanids from the Eastern Roman Empire's borders. It is situated on the southern slope of the Tur Abdin Mountains in Mardin. Dara is the Ephesus of Mesopotamia and is now the administrative and military hub of Upper Mesopotamia. The city provides insight into the area's thousands of years of history as it witnessed the battle between Alexander the Great and the Persian Emperor Darius.

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The city's founding date is unknown; its previous name was Anastasiopolis. Some sources claim the Parthian King Tiridates I (246-215 BC), while others claim the Parthian King Arsakes I with founding it. Some sources say that Tiridates I and Arsakes I are the same person.

 

No other location is as beautiful and secure as this one; that much is certain. Because it was simple to defend the city surrounded by sturdy rocks. The town served as a storage facility for the goods produced on the rich grounds fed by the rivers.

 

The border of the Roman Empire was established here when the Persians defeated Nusaybin in 363. Emperor Anastasius fortified the city in the fifth century as a forwards frontier gate, and it later developed into the political and military hub of the Northern Mesopotamia Region. Between 577 and 591 and 606 and 620, Dara was ruled by Sassanid Empire, Eastern Roman Empire, Umayyads at the end of the 7th century, and finally, the Abbasids. Passing into the hands of the Seljuk State and the Eastern Roman Empire at the end of the 11th century, it briefly came under the control of the Eastern Romans in the 10th century. The Ottomans ruled it in the 15th century.

 

90% of the ancient city remains underground, with only 10% of it visible now. Even now, it is possible to view the remains of civil towns, including churches, arastas, palaces, bazaars, dungeons, armouries, and rock tombs. Additionally, the village is surrounded by cave dwellings from the Late Roman era.

 

Necropolis (Cemetery Area)

 

The graveyard area, which has been cut into the surrounding rock mass, is the most spectacular feature of the ancient city of Dara. This area has three types of graves: simple cist tombs, sarcophagus-style tombs, and rock tombs.

 

The god Mitra is said to have emerged from a rock in Mithraic and pagan traditions. The dead are buried in the rocks with the hope of reincarnation because of this.

 

A significant burial ground is carved into the rocks in the old city of Dara. When the Eastern Romans came home from exile in 591, they built it in memory of their ancestors, who the Sassanids had murdered during their invasion in 577.

 

The prophet Ezekiel, who brought the dead back to life, is depicted at the building's entrance in animated form. Since it was believed that they would be raised to life like in Ezekiel's miracle, it is thought that hundreds of human bones found on the building's lower floor were collected in this tomb.

 

Around a tomb and the graves of individuals who fled the Russian-Chechen War of 1870 and resided in the historic city of Dara before passing away from an epidemic are numerous Muslim graves.

 

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