Ctesiphon was the imperial capital of the Parthian Empire and the Sasanian Empire. It
was one of the great cities of late ancient Mesopotamia.
It was situated across the Tigris from where the Greek city of Seleucia stood and northeast
of ancient Babylon. Today, the remains of the city lie in Baghdad Governorate, Iraq,
approximately 35 km south of the city of Baghdad.
Ctesiphon was the largest city in the world from 570 AD, until its fall in 637 AD, during
the Muslim conquests.
Names The Latin name Ctesiphon or Ctesifon derives
from Ancient Greek Ktēsiphôn, a Hellenized form of a local name that has been reconstructed
as Tosfōn or Tosbōn. 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 tīsfūn. Syriac sources mention it as Qṭēsfōn, and in medieval
Arabic texts the name is usually Ṭaysafūn or Qaṭaysfūn in Modern Arabic al-Mada'in.
"According to Yāqūt [...], quoting Ḥamza, the original form was Ṭūsfūn or Tūsfūn,
which was arabicized as Ṭaysafūn." The Armenian name of the city was Tizbon). Ctesiphon
is first mentioned in the Book of Ezra of the Old Testament as Kasfia/Casphia.
Location
Ctesiphon is located approximately at Al-Mada'in, 32 km southeast of the modern city of Baghdad,
Iraq, along the river Tigris. Ctesiphon measured 30 square kilometers. The only visible remains
are the great arch Taq-i Kisra or Tagh-e Kasra located in what is now the Iraqi town of Salman
Pak. History
Ctesiphon rose to prominence during the Parthian Empire in the 1st century BC, and was the
seat of government for most of its rulers. The city was located near Seleucia, the old
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 their eastern wars. The city was captured by Rome five times in its
history – three times in the 2nd century alone. The emperor Trajan captured Ctesiphon
in 116, but his successor, Hadrian, decided to willingly return Ctesiphon in 117 as part
of a peace settlement. The Roman general Avidius Cassius captured Ctesiphon in 164 during another
Parthian war, 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 3rd century, after the Parthians had been supplanted by the Sassanids, the
city again became a source of conflict with Rome. In 283, emperor Carus sacked the city
uncontested during a period of civil upheaval. In 295, emperor Galerius was defeated outside
the city. However, he returned a year later with a vengeance and won a victory which ended
in the fifth and final capture of the city by the Romans in 299. He returned it to the
Persian king Narses in exchange for Armenia and western Mesopotamia. In c.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. After the conquest of Antioch in 541, Khosrau
I built a new city near Ctesiphon for the inhabitants he captured. He called this new
city Weh Antiok Khusrau or literally, “better than Antioch Khosrau built this.” Local
inhabitants of the area called the new city Rumagan, meaning “town of the Romans”
and Arabs called the city al-Rumiyya. Along with Weh Antiok, Khosrau built a number of
fortified cities. Khosrau I deported 292,000 citizens, slaves, and conquered people to
the new city of Ctesiphon in 542 C.E. Emperor Julian was killed following a battle
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. 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 One Thousand and
One Nights. The ruins of Ctesiphon were the site of a
major battle of World War I in November 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. Archaeology
A German Oriental Society and University of Pennsylvania team led by Oscar Reuther excavated
at Ctesiphon in 1928–29 and 1931–32, mainly at Qasr bint al-Qadi on the western part of
the site. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, an Italian
team from the University of Turin directed by Antonio Invernizzi and Giorgio Gullini
worked at the site, mainly doing restoration at the palace of Khosrau II. In 2013 the Iraqi
government contracted to restore the Arch of Ctesiphon as a tourist attraction.
See also Cities of the ancient Near East
Rachae Notes
References M. Streck, Die alte Landschaft Babylonien
nach den arabischen Geographen, 2 vols.. M. Streck, "Seleucia und Ktesiphon," Der Alte
Orient, 16, 1–64. A. Invernizzi, "Ten Years Research in the
al-Madain Area, Seleucia and Ctesiphon," Sumer, 32,, 167–175.
Luise Abramowski, "Der Bischof von Seleukia-Ktesiphon als Katholikos und Patriarch der Kirche des
Ostens," in Dmitrij Bumazhnov u. Hans R. Seeliger, Syrien im 1.-7. Jahrhundert nach Christus.
Akten der 1. Tübinger Tagung zum Christlichen Orient.,
External links Ctesiphon and Taq-i Kisra photo gallery
Livius.org: Ctesiphon