Hatra

Hatra rose in the Jazira desert as a caravan capital that answered to no empire fully: its Parthian-era rulers built a walled round city whose central temple precinct fused the ancient world's vocabularies - Roman columns, Persian iwans, Arabian deities - into limestone facades of singular grandeur, dedicated above all to Shamash, the sun. UNESCO inscribed it early among Iraq's treasures, and restoration work in recent years has re-secured sculptures and stabilised the great iwans. Visits run as arranged expeditions with local operators; the reward is walking a city the classical historians called unconquerable, in a silence the desert keeps.

What you actually see

• The great iwans - the vaulted temple facades of the precinct.
• The fusion sculpture - Rome, Persia and Arabia in one stone language.
• The round city walls - the caravan capital's circuit.
• The desert setting - the Jazira's horizons around the stones.

When to go

October to April, when the desert is bearable. Access depends on current conditions and is arranged through local operators, so confirm before making plans around it.

Honest expectations

Visits here are only possible through local operators who know the current situation, and their advice should decide whether and when to go. On the ground there is no shade and almost no facilities; the archaeology is what carries the visit.

Nearby

The Jazira plain and the Tigris cities eastward.