Ctesiphon

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Ctesiphon was one of the great cities of ancient Persia, and was located on the east bank of the Tigris.

Ctesiphon was an imperial capital of the Arsacids and of their successors, the Sassanids. For more than 800 years, Mesopotamia was known as the Ancient Iranian provinces of Khvarvaran. Today, the ruins of Ctesiphon lie in Iraq, approximately 35 km south of the city of Baghdad. Ctesiphon is first mentioned in the Book of Ezra of the Old Testament as Kasfia/Casphia (a derivative of the ethnic name, Cas, and a cognate of Caspian and Qazvin). In the 6th century, Ctesiphon was the largest city in the world.

The Latin name 'Ctesiphon' or 'Ctesifon' derives from Greek 'T(h)esifon' or 'Et(h)esifon', continuing in later Greek as 'Ktesiphon'. In Iranian sources of the Sassanid period it is attested in Manichean Parthian, in Sassanid Middle Persian and in Christian Sogdian as Pahlavi tyspwn, continuing in New Persian as 'Tisfun' (تيسفون). In medieval Arabic texts the name is usually 'Taysafun' (طيسفون) or 'Qataysfun' (قطيسفون), in Modern Arabic 'Madain', 'Maden' or 'Al-Mada'in ' (المدائن). "According to Yaqut [...], quoting Hamza, the original form was Tusfun or Tusfun, which was arabicized as Taysafun."

Location

Ctesiphon is located approximately at Al-Mada'in, 20 miles southeast of the modern city of Baghdad, Iraq, along the river Tigris. Ctesiphon measured 30 square kilometers (cf. the 13.7 square kilometers of 4th century imperial Rome). The only visible remain is the great arch Taq-i Kisra located in what is now the Iraqi town of Salman Pak.

History

Ctesiphon rose to prominence during the Parthian Empire in the first century BC, and was the seat of government for most of its rulers. The city was located nearby Seleucia, the Hellenistic capital. Strabo abundantly describes its foundation:

Because of its importance, Ctesiphon was a major military objective for the leaders of the Roman Empire in its eastern wars. The city was captured by Rome or by its successor state, the Byzantine Empire, five times in its history, three times in the second century alone. The emperor Trajan captured Ctesiphon in 116, whose actions may also be "interpreted to some extent in the light" of Han Chinese military excursions to the Caspian Sea during their campaigns against the Xiongnu/Huns who were harrassing the trade routes we know today as the Silk Road. Pacorus II of Parthia apparently made a pact with the Han Chinese under general Ban Chao that allowed them to establish forts within the Parthian Kingdom for period of a few years to police the trade routes. After Trajan occupied Ctesiphon for a year, his successor Hadrian decided to willingly return Ctesiphon in 117 as part of a peace settlement. The Roman general Avidius Cassius captured Ctesiphon during another Parthian war in 164, but abandoned it when peace was concluded. In 197, the emperor Septimius Severus sacked Ctesiphon and carried off thousands of its inhabitants, whom he sold into slavery.

Late in the third century, after the Parthians had been supplanted by the Sassanids, the city again became a source of conflict with Rome. In 295, Galerius was defeated by the Persians outside the city. Humiliated, he returned a year later and won a tremendous victory which ended in the fourth and final capture of the city by a Roman army. He returned it to the Persian king Narses in exchange for Armenia. About 325 and again in 410 the city, or the Greek colony directly across the river, was the site of church councils for the Church of the East.

Emperor Julian was killed outside of the city walls in 363 during his war against Shapur II. Finally, in 627, the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius surrounded the city, the capital of the Sassanid Empire, leaving it after the Persians accepted his peace terms.

Ctesiphon fell to the Muslims during the Islamic conquest of Persia in 637 under the military command of Sa'ad Ibn Abi Waqqas during the caliphate of Umar. However, the general population was not harmed. Still, as political and economic fortune had passed elsewhere, the city went into a rapid decline, especially after the founding of the Abbasid capital at Baghdad in the 8th century and soon became a ghost town. It is believed to be the basis for the city of Isbanir in the Thousand and One Nights.

The ruins of Ctesiphon were the site of a major battle of World War I in November of 1915. The Ottoman Empire defeated troops of Britain attempting to capture Baghdad, and drove them back some 40 miles before trapping the British force and compelling it to surrender.

Palaces of Ctesiphon

Main article: Taq-i Kisra

References

External links