Ctesiphon developed into a rich commercial metropolis, merging with the surrounding cities along both shores of the river, including the Hellenistic city ofSeleucia. Ctesiphon and its environs were therefore sometimes referred to as "The Cities" (Mahuza,Arabic:المدائن,romanized: al-Mada'in). In the late 6th and early 7th century, it was listed as thelargest city in the world by some accounts.[5]
During theRoman–Parthian Wars, Ctesiphon fell three times to theRomans, and later fell once during Sasanian rule.[6] It was also the site of theBattle of Ctesiphon in 363 AD. After the Muslim invasion and conquest, the city fell into decline and was depopulated by the end of the 8th century, its place as a political and economic center being taken byBaghdad, theAbbasid capital. The most conspicuous structure remaining today is theTaq Kasra, sometimes called theArchway of Ctesiphon.[7]
The Latin nameCtesiphon derives fromAncient GreekKtēsiphôn (Κτησιφῶν). This is ostensibly a Greek toponym based on a personal name, although it may be a Hellenized form of a local name, reconstructed asTisfōn orTisbōn.[8] In Iranian-language texts of the Sasanian era, it is spelled asTyspwn, which can be read asTīsfōn,Tēsifōn, etc. inManichaeanParthian, inMiddle Persian𐭲𐭩𐭮𐭯𐭥𐭭 and in ChristianSogdian (inSyriac alphabet) languages. TheNew Persian form isTisfun (تیسفون).
In modern Arabic, the name is usuallyṬaysafūn (طيسفون) orQaṭaysfūn (قطيسفون) or asal-Mada'in (المدائن "The Cities", referring to Greater Ctesiphon). "According toYāqūt [...], quoting Ḥamza, the original form was Ṭūsfūn or Tūsfūn, which was arabicized as Ṭaysafūn."[9] The Armenian name of the city wasTizbon (Տիզբոն). Ctesiphon is first mentioned in theBook of Ezra[10] of theOld Testament as Kasfia/Casphia (a derivative of the ethnic nameCas, and a cognate ofCaspian andQazvin).[citation needed] It is also mentioned in theTalmud as Aktisfon.[11] In another Talmudic reference it is written as Akistfon, located across the Tigris River from the city of Ardashir.[12]
Ctesiphon is located approximately atAl-Mada'in, 35 km (22 mi) southeast of the modern city ofBaghdad,Iraq, along the river Tigris. Ctesiphon measured 30 square kilometers, more than twice the surface of a 13.7-square-kilometer fourth-century imperialRome.[13]
Thearchway of Chosroes (Taq Kasra) was once a part of the royal palace in Ctesiphon and is estimated to date between the 3rd and 6th centuries AD.[14] It is located in what is now the Iraqi town ofSalman Pak.[15]
Ctesiphon was founded in the late 120s BC. It was built on the site of a military camp established across from Seleucia byMithridates I of Parthia. The reign ofGotarzes I saw Ctesiphon reach a peak as a political and commercial center. The city became the Empire's capital circa 58 BC during the reign ofOrodes II. Gradually, the city merged with the oldHellenistic capital of Seleucia and other nearby settlements to form a cosmopolitan metropolis.[16]
The reason for this westward relocation of the capital could have been in part due to the proximity of the previous capitals (Mithradatkirt, andHecatompylos atHyrcania) to theScythian incursions.[16]
Strabo abundantly describes the foundation of Ctesiphon:
In ancient timesBabylon was the metropolis ofAssyria; but nowSeleucia is the metropolis, I mean theSeleucia on the Tigris, as it is called. Nearby is situated a village called Ctesiphon, a large village. This village the kings of the Parthians were wont to make their winter residence, thus sparing the Seleucians, in order that the Seleucians might not be oppressed by having theScythian folk or soldiery quartered amongst them. Because of the Parthian power, therefore, Ctesiphon is a city rather than a village; its size is such that it lodges a great number of people, and it has been equipped with buildings by the Parthians themselves; and it has been provided by the Parthians with wares for sale and with the arts that are pleasing to the Parthians; for the Parthian kings are accustomed to spend the winter there because of the salubrity of the air, but they summer atEcbatana and inHyrcania because of the prevalence of their ancient renown.[17]
Because of its importance, Ctesiphon was a major military objective for the leaders of theRoman Empire in their eastern wars. The city was captured by Rome four or five times in its history – three times in the 2nd century alone. The emperorTrajancaptured Ctesiphon in 116, but his successor,Hadrian, decided to willingly return Ctesiphon in 117 as part of a peace settlement. The Roman generalAvidius Cassius captured Ctesiphon in 164 duringanother Parthian war, but abandoned it when peace was concluded. In 197, the emperorSeptimius Severus sacked Ctesiphon and carried off thousands of its inhabitants, whom he sold into slavery.
Map of the southwestern Sasanian province ofAsoristan and its surroundings
By 226, Ctesiphon was in the hands of theSasanian Empire, who also made it their capital and had laid an end to the Parthian dynasty of Iran. Ctesiphon was greatly enlarged and flourished during their rule, thus turning into a metropolis, which was known by in Arabic asal-Mada'in, and inAramaic as Mahoze.[18] The oldest inhabited places of Ctesiphon were on its eastern side, which in IslamicArabic sources is called "the Old City" (مدينة العتيقةMadīnah al-'Atīqah), where the residence of the Sasanians, known as theWhite Palace (قصر الأبيض), was located. The southern side of Ctesiphon was known as Asbānbar or Aspānbar, which was known by its prominent halls, riches, games, stables, and baths.Taq Kasra was located in the latter.[18][19]
The western side was known asVeh-Ardashir (meaning "the good city of Ardashir" inMiddle Persian), known as Mahoza by theJews, Kokhe by the Christians, and Behrasir by the Arabs. Veh-Ardashir was populated by many wealthy Jews, and was the seat of the church of theNestorian patriarch. To the south of Veh-Ardashir wasValashabad.[18] Ctesiphon had several other districts which were named Hanbu Shapur, Darzanidan, Veh Jondiu-Khosrow, Nawinabad and Kardakadh.[18]
Severus Alexander advanced towards Ctesiphon in 233, but as corroborated byHerodian, his armies suffered a humiliating defeat againstArdashir I.[20] In 283, emperorCarus sacked the city uncontested during a period of civil upheaval. Some historians have claimed that Galerius marched on Ctesiphon and was able to capture it. However, this is never explicitly stated in any source and is still a matter of debate among scholars.[21]
After the conquest of Antioch in 541,Khosrow I built a new city near Ctesiphon for the inhabitants he captured. He called this new cityVeh-Antiok-Xusrō, or literally, "better than Antioch Khosrow built this".[22] Local inhabitants of the area called the new cityRumagan, meaning "town of the Romans" and Arabs called the cityal-Rumiyya. Along with Weh Antiok, Khosrow built a number of fortified cities.[23] After a campaign in 573,John of Ephesus wrote that no fewer than 292,000 persons had been deported fromDara,Apamia, and other Syrian towns to Veh-Antiokh. John would later cite a letter stating no more than 30,000 prisoners were deported. It's thought that the first number he gave is not to be taken literally.[24]
In 590, a member of theHouse of Mihran,Bahram Chobin repelled the newly ascended Sasanian rulerKhosrow II from Iraq, and conquered the region. One year later, Khosrow II, with aid from theByzantine Empire, reconquered his domains. During his reign, some of the great fame of al-Mada'in decreased, due to the popularity of Khosrow's new winter residence,Dastagerd.[25] In 627, the Byzantine EmperorHeraclius surrounded the city, the capital of the Sassanid Empire, leaving it after the Persians accepted his peace terms. In 628, a deadly plague hit Ctesiphon, al-Mada'in and the rest of the western part of the Sasanian Empire, which even killed Khosrow's son and successor,Kavad II.[25]
In 629, Ctesiphon was briefly under the control of Mihranid usurperShahrbaraz, but the latter was shortly assassinated by the supporters of Khosrow II's daughterBorandukht. Ctesiphon then continued to be involved in constant fighting between two factions of the Sasanian Empire, the Pahlav (Parthian) faction under theHouse of Ispahbudhan and the Parsig (Persian) faction underPiruz Khosrow.
Downfall of the Sasanians and the Islamic conquests
In the mid-630s, theMuslim Arabs, who had invaded the territories of the Sasanian Empire, defeated them during a great battle known as theBattle of al-Qādisiyyah.[18] The Arabs then attacked Ctesiphon, and occupied it inearly 637.
The Muslim military officerSa'd ibn Abi Waqqas quickly seizedValashabad and made a peace treaty with the inhabitants of Veh-Antiok-Xusrō andVeh-Ardashir. The terms of the treaty were that the inhabitants of Veh-Antiok-Xusrō were allowed to leave if they wanted to, but if they did not, they were forced to acknowledge Muslim authority, and also pay tribute (jizya). Later on, when the Muslims arrived at Ctesiphon, it was completely desolated, due to flight of theSasanian royal family,nobles, and troops. However, the Muslims had managed to take some of troops captive, and many riches were seized from the Sasanian treasury and were given to the Muslim troops.[18] Furthermore, the throne hall inTaq Kasra was briefly used as a mosque.[26]
Still, as political and economic fortune had passed elsewhere, the city went into a rapid decline, especially after the founding of theAbbasid capital atBaghdad in the 760s, and soon became aghost town.Caliph Al-Mansur took much of the required material for the construction of Baghdad from the ruins of Ctesiphon. He also attempted to demolish the palace and reuse its bricks for his own palace, but he desisted only when the undertaking proved too vast.[27] Al-Mansur also used theal-Rumiya town as the Abbasid capital city for a few months.[28]
Under Sasanian rule, the population of Ctesiphon was heavily mixed: it includedArameans,Persians,Greeks andAssyrians. Several religions were also practiced in the metropolis, which includedChristianity,Judaism andZoroastrianism. In 497, the first Nestorian patriarchMar Babai I, fixed his see at Seleucia-Ctesiphon, supervising their mission east, with theMerv metropolis as pivot. The population also includedManicheans, a dualist church, who continued to be mentioned in Ctesiphon duringUmayyad rule fixing their "patriarchate of Babylon" there.[18] Much of the population fled from Ctesiphon afterthe Arab capture of the metropolis. However, a portion of Persians remained there, and some important figures of these people are known to have providedAli with presents, which he, however, refused to take.[18] In the ninth century, the surviving Manicheans fled and displaced their patriarchate up the Silk Road, inSamarkand.[29]
AGerman Oriental Society expedition led by Oscar Reuther excavated at Ctesiphon in 1928–29 mainly at Qasr bint al-Qadi on the western part of the site.[30][31][32][33] In winter of 1931–1932 a joint expedition of the German State Museums (Staatliche Museen zu Berlin) and The Metropolitan Museum of Art continued excavations at the site, focusing on the areas of Ma'aridh, Tell Dheheb, the Taq-i Kisra, Selman Pak and Umm ez-Za'tir under the direction of Ernst Kühnel.[34]
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, an Italian team from theUniversity of Turin directed byAntonio Invernizzi andGiorgio Gullini [it] worked at the part of the site on the other side of the Tigris, which they identified as Veh Ardashir. Work mainly concentrated on restoration at the palace ofKhosrow II.[35][36][37][38][39][40] In 2013, the Iraqi government contracted to restore the Taq Kasra, as a tourist attraction.[41]
^Houtsma, M. Th. (1993).E. J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913–1936. BRILL. p. 76a.ISBN9789004097919.
^Farrokh, K. (2007). "The rise of Ctesiphon and the Silk Route". InShadows in the Desert: Ancient Persia at War, p. 185.
^Udo Hartmann The Tetrarchy,284–305, in: The Encyclopedia of Ancient Battles, Bd. 3, hrsg. v. Michael Whitby u. Harry Sidebottom, Chichester 2017, 1071–1081
^Christensen (1993).The Decline of Iranshahr: Irrigation and Environments in the History of the Middle East, 500 B.C. to A.D. 1500. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press.ISBN87-7289-259-5.
^Reade, Julian (1999). Scarre, Chris, ed.The Seventy Wonders of the Ancient World: The Great Monuments and How they were Built. Thames & Hudson. pp. 185–186.ISBN0-500-05096-1
^Bier, L. (1993). "The Sassanian Palaces and their Influence in Early Islam".Ars Orientalis, 23, 62–62.
^Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland (1895).Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland. Cambridge University Press for the Royal Asiatic Society. p. 40.
^John van Schaik,Ketters. Een geschiedenis van de Kerk, Leuven, 2016
^Schippmann, K. (1980). "Ktesiphon-Expedition im Winter 1928/29".Grundzüge der parthischen Geschichte (in German). Darmstadt.ISBN3-534-07064-X.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Meyer, E. (1929). "Seleukia und Ktesiphon".Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft zu Berlin.67:1–26.
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A. Invernizzi, "Ten Years Research in the al-Madain Area, Seleucia and Ctesiphon,"Sumer, 32, (1976), 167–175.
Luise Abramowski, "Der Bischof von Seleukia-Ktesiphon als Katholikos und Patriarch der Kirche des Ostens," in Dmitrij Bumazhnov u. Hans R. Seeliger (hg),Syrien im 1.-7. Jahrhundert nach Christus. Akten der 1. Tübinger Tagung zum Christlichen Orient (15.-16. Juni 2007). (Tübingen, Mohr Siebeck, 2011) (Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum / Studies and Texts in Antiquity and Christianity, 62),
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