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Samarra[sAmAr´rA] Pronunciation Key, town, N central Iraq, on the Tigris River. It is on the site of an ancient settlement and has given its name to a type of Neolithic pottery of the 5th millennium B.C. The present town was founded (836) by the Abbasid caliphs. The 17th-century mosque with its golden dome is sacred to Shiite Muslims. There are notable ruins of many palaces, mosques, and other buildings, including the 9th-century great mosque with its spiral minaret.
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