Dara (Mesopotamia)
ancient city in Mardin Province, Turkey
Dara or Daras (Turkish: Dara Antik Kenti; Greek: Δάρας; Syriac: ܕܪܐ) was an important East Roman fortress city in northern Mesopotamia on the border with the Sassanid Empire. Because of its great strategic importance, it featured prominently in the Roman-Persian conflicts (in 530, 540, 544, 573, and 604). The former archbishopric remains a multiple Catholic titular see. Today, the village of Dara in the Mardin Province occupies its location.
History
Foundation by Anastasius
During the Anastasian War in 502–506, the Roman armies fared poorly against the Sassanid Persians. According to the Syriac Chronicle of Zacharias of Mytilene, the Roman generals blamed their difficulties on the lack of a strong base in the area, as opposed to the Persians, who held the great city of Nisibis (which until its cession in 363 had served the same purpose for the Romans).
Therefore, in 505, while the Persian King Kavadh I was distracted in the East, Emperor Anastasius I decided to rebuild the village of Dara, only 18 kilometres westwards from Nisibis and just 5 km from the actual border with Persia, to be "a refuge for the army in which they might rest, and for the preparation of weapons, and to guard the country of the Arabs from the inroads of the Persians and Saracens". Masons and workers from all over Mesopotamia were gathered and worked with great haste. The new city was built on three hills, on the highest of which stood the citadel, and endowed with great storehouses, a public bath and water cisterns. It took the name Anastasiopolis (Greek: Ἀναστασιούπολις) and became the seat of the Roman dux Mesopotamiae.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Dara (Mesopotamia)” is ancient city in Mardin Province, Turkey. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Dara, Mesopotamia and ancient, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “ancient city in Mardin Province, Turkey” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q585145. Authority coordinates are 37.183, 40.933. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
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Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Dara (Mesopotamia)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.