Ctesiphon

History

Ctesiphon was an ancient city in modern Iraq. It sat on the eastern side of the Tigris River, about 35 kilometres southeast of Baghdad. For more than eight hundred years, it was a royal capital for Iranian empires during the Parthian and Sasanian times.

From 226 to 637 AD, Ctesiphon was the main city for the Sasanian Empire. It was taken over by Arab forces in that year.

The city became a busy place for trade. It joined with nearby cities along the river, including the city of Seleucia. People sometimes called these areas “The Cities” or Mahuza in Arabic, meaning al-Mada'in. At its strongest point in the late 500s and early 600s AD, Ctesiphon was one of the biggest cities in the world.

Ctesiphon had a difficult history. It was captured by the Romans three times during the Roman–Parthian Wars and once more during Sasanian rule. A big fight, the Battle of Ctesiphon in 363 AD, happened there too. After the Muslim conquest of Persia in 651 AD, the city started to shrink and was mostly empty by the end of the 700s. Today, the most well-known part left is the Taq Kasra, called the Arch of Ctesiphon.

Names

The name Ctesiphon comes from the Ancient Greek word Ktēsiphôn. It may be a Greek version of a local name that sounded like Tisfōn or Tisbōn.

During the Sasanian Empire, people wrote the city's name as Tyspwn in Iranian languages.

Today, in Arabic, the city is called Ṭaysafūn or al-Mada'in, meaning "The Cities" because it had many towns. The Armenian name for the city was Tizbon. The city is also mentioned in old books like the Book of Ezra and the Talmud.

Location

Ctesiphon is near Al-Mada'in, about 35 kilometers southeast of modern Baghdad in Iraq. It sat along the Tigris River and covered an area of 30 square kilometers, which is more than twice the size of the ancient city of Rome.

The Taq Kasra was part of the royal palace in Ctesiphon. It dates from between the 3rd and 6th centuries AD and can still be seen in the Iraqi town of Salman Pak.

History

Ctesiphon was started in the late 120s BC as a military camp across from the city of Seleucia. It became an important political and commercial center during the rule of the Parthian Empire, eventually becoming the capital around 58 BC. The city merged with nearby Seleucia and other settlements to form a large, diverse metropolis.

When the Sasanian Empire took over in 226, Ctesiphon became their capital as well. The city grew and thrived, known in Arabic as al-Mada'in. It had many districts, each with its own features, such as the "Old City" where the Sasanian kings lived, and Veh-Ardashir, which was home to many wealthy Jews and important religious leaders. Ctesiphon faced challenges from Roman leaders who tried to capture it several times. Later, in the mid-630s, Muslim forces from Arabia defeated the Sasanians and took control of Ctesiphon, leading to its decline. As new cities like Baghdad rose to prominence, Ctesiphon slowly turned into a ghost town. In World War I, the ruins of Ctesiphon were the site of a major battle.

Population and religion

Ctesiphon was a city with many different kinds of people. It was home to Arameans, Persians, Greeks, and Assyrians. People in Ctesiphon practiced several religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism.

In the year 497, an important Christian leader named Mar Babai I chose to live in Ctesiphon. There were also some Manicheans, a different kind of religious group, who lived in Ctesiphon. Later, in the ninth century, the remaining Manicheans moved their leaders to Samarkand.

Archaeology

A group from the German Oriental Society led by Oscar Reuther dug at Ctesiphon in 1928–29. They worked at a place called Qasr bint al-Qadi on the western side.

Later, in the winter of 1931–1932, another team from German State Museums and The Metropolitan Museum of Art kept digging at spots like Ma'aridh and Taq-i Kisra. Ernst Kühnel led this team.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, a team from the University of Turin worked on the other side of the Tigris River. They called this place Veh Ardashir and mostly worked on fixing up the palace of Khosrow II.

In 2013, the Iraqi government planned to restore the Taq Kasra to make it a place for tourists to visit.