TIKRIT

also spelled Takrit, or Tekrit town, north-central Iraq. It lies on the west bank of the Tigris River about 100 miles (160 km) northwest of Baghdad. In the 10th century Tikrit had a noted fortress and was home to a large Christian monastery. Its wealth at that time derived from its production of woolen fabrics. Saladin, the Muslim founder of the Ayyubid dynasty, was born at Tikrit about 1137. The town was devastated in the late 14th century in the course of Timur's Mesopotamian campaigns, and it remained a mere village until the 20th century, when it began to grow again. Modern Tikrit is best known as the birthplace (1937) of the Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.