Raqqa

It is a city located on the banks of the Euphrates River in eastern Syria. The city dates back to the Hellenistic period in the third century AD, when it was called Callinicus. In 772 AD, the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mansur built a summer capital for the Abbasid state near Raqqa, called Al-Rafiqa. The new city was built in a horseshoe shape in the architectural style of Baghdad and soon merged with the city of Raqqa. Raqqa became the capital of the Abbasid state between 796 and 809 AD during the reign of Caliph Harun al-Rashid.