A city on the Tigris remembered as the birthplace of Saladin.
Tikrit is a city on the Tigris in northern Mesopotamia associated with the family of Saladin. Saladin was born there around 1137 while his father Najm ad-Din Ayyub served as its governor.
The city sits on an important river crossing and was part of the contested frontier zone between Abbasid and Seljuk spheres of control in the twelfth century.
Saladin's family — the Ayyubids — were Kurdish military commanders who rose through Zengid service. His father and uncle Shirkuh both served Imad ad-Din Zengi and Nur ad-Din before Saladin's own rise to prominence in Egypt.
Tikrit represents the provincial military world of the Jazira (Upper Mesopotamia) that produced the commanders who eventually countered crusader power in the late twelfth century.