Kingdom of Araba
The Kingdom of Araba was a 2nd-century CE Arab kingdom located between the Roman Empire and the Parthian Empire, mostly under Parthian influence, located in modern-day northern Iraq.
The city of Hatra was probably founded in the 3rd or 2nd century BCE, under the Seleucid kingdom. Arabs were common in Mesopotamia at the time of the Seleucids. In the 1st and 2nd century, Hatra was ruled by a dynasty of Arabian princes. It rose to prominence as the capital of Araba and became an important religious center as a result of its strategic position along caravan trade routes.
Araba is one of the first Arab states to be established outside of Arabia, preceded by the Kingdom of Osroene and the Kingdom of Emesa, and followed by the Ghassanids and the Lakhmids, buffer states of the Roman and Sassanid Empires, respectively.
Hatra had withstood sieges by Roman emperors Trajan and Septimius Severus and the Sasanian king Ardashir I. The kingdom finally fell after the capture of Hatra by the Sasanians under Shapur I, who destroyed the city.
