A rain shrine linked to a water goddess has been found in an ancient mountain fortress that archaeologists believe could be the long-lost city of Natuonia.
Little is known of Natuonia apart from its mention on seven bronze coins from the first century BC that describe a city found in modern-day Iraqi Kurdistan along with a strip of land on the Lower Zab River, known as Kapros in ancient times.
According to research by Dr. Michael Brown from the Heidelberg University in Germany, along with colleagues from the Directorate of Antiquities in the Iraqi city of Sulaymaniyah, the 2000-year-old Rabana-Merquly fortress may be the lost city of Natuonia and was a regional center of the Parthian Empire, an important political force in ancient Iran from 247 BC to 224 AD that stretched from the Mediterranean to India and China.
