Nadirov I.I. Hatra: the Arabs between Parthia and Rome [Хатра. Арабы между Парфией и Римом]. St Petersburg: Gumanitarnaya Akademiya Publishers 2009. 480 pp.: ill. (Studia classica).
The monograph looks into events in Hatra through the evidence of inscriptions found there.
The studies made during about the whole of the 20th century in the history and cultural history of Hatra are of serious interest for the kingdom of Hatra was one of the earliest pre-Islamic Arabic city-states between two great monarchies.
It has played a significant role in the formation of the Arabic state and, moreover, the Arabic civilization in Northern Mesopotamia. Due to its geographical situation Hatra was particularly well suited to be a bridge between the polar world of Iran and that of mighty Rome. It is suffice to mention that, like in neighboring Palmyra and Dura-Europos, here the arrival of Hellenism sparked off an immense new religious movement — the syncretism of Greek and Oriental deities. As direct descendents of ancient nations of Beth-Arameya, some of tribes that helped with forming the nucleus of North Arab nation, inherited cults and beliefs closely akin to those of the Assyrians, Babylonians and Aramaeans, as well as the Arabs...
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