NIL,
IRAQ
![](636px-Gibson_-_Late_Abbasid_Map_of_Kish_Area.png)
Map
by McGuire Gibson showing an-Nil as well as other archaeological
sites in the area
an-Nil
was a city of medieval Iraq, located at the modern site of Niliyah.
It was founded by Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, the Umayyad governor of Iraq,
on the canal known as the Shatt en-Nil, which was named after the
Nile river. Both the canal and the city were built as part of a
land reclamation project intended to increase the population of
the area.
In
the late 10th century, the Christian bishopric of Nippur, 50 km
to the southeast, was relocated to Nil.
Nil
survived the Mongol conquest of Iraq in 1258 and continued to flourish
for nearly a century thereafter, even while most other settlements
in the area declined. It appears to have been abandoned around 1350.
The
ruins at Niliyah show that medieval Nil was a large city, with settlement
on both sides of the Shatt en-Nil for over 1 km. A bridge made of
baked bricks, identified as the Qantara al-Masi, joined the two
sides. To the southeast were a brick factory and a small square
tomb.
Source
:
https://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Nil,_Iraq