Hilla (Ar. al-Ḥilla) is a city on the northern bank of the Euphrates River in Iraq. It was founded in 1102 near the ancient ruins of Babylon and sits astride the Muslim pilgrimage route midway between Baghdad and Kufa. The name Hilla appears to refer both to the city itself and to the surrounding rural districts. Today, Hilla is the capital of Iraq’s Babil governorate.

The city was an important transit hub for riverine commerce and hosted a large market. In the twelfth century,Benjamin of Tudela reported that Hilla had ten thousand Jews and four synagogues, but it is likely that…