Dara: a frozen echo of early Byzantium

Dara: a frozen echo of early Byzantium
30 km southeast of Mardin is the abandoned early Byzantine city of Dara, founded in 505 by Emperor Anastasius I, just 30 years after the fall of ancient Rome. It was called Anastasiopol, that is, in Greek, although the imperial nobility of that time still continued to speak Latin out of habit. Under Emperor Justian I the Great, Dara was rebuilt and noticeably expanded, and the city itself was renamed and began to be called in the old Roman manner of Justinian Nova . However, later it was the simple Greek name Dara (or Daras) that came into use.

This city is interesting because it was abandoned only 200 years after its foundation. Thanks to this, he retained the "transitional" features of early Byzantium, which in other places were gradually erased as the Eastern Roman Empire took on its own shape and character.

Anastasiopol was originally built as a well-fortified city with infrastructure developed by the standards of its time and played an important role in protecting the eastern borders of the empire. In 530, an important battle between the armies of the Byzantines and the Sassanids (Persian dynasty) took place under the walls of Dara.
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