Ar Raqqah (الرقة, also spelled Rakka), city in north central Syria, capital of the Raqqah province, located on the north bank of the Euphrates River, about 160 km east of Aleppo.
In the 8th century, the town gained importance as Caliph Harun ar-Rashid used it as a headquarters against the Byzantine Empire and renamed it to ar-Rashid.
The arab astronomer Al-Battani made his observations in ar-Raqqah and in Antioch.
Ar-Raqqah was destroyed by the Mongols in the 13th century.
Modern population is around 120,000 (1995 estimate).
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