Editing Ctesiphon (section)

== History ==

===Parthian period===
Ctesiphon was founded in the late 120s BC. It was built on the site of a military camp established across from Seleucia by [[Mithridates I of Parthia]]. The reign of [[Gotarzes I]] saw Ctesiphon reach a peak as a political and commercial center. The city became the Empire's capital circa 58&nbsp;BC during the reign of [[Orodes II]]. Gradually, the city merged with the old [[Hellenistic]] capital of Seleucia and other nearby settlements to form a cosmopolitan metropolis.<ref name="Farrokh, K. 2007 p. 125">Farrokh, K. (2007). "The rise of Ctesiphon and the Silk Route". In ''Shadows in the Desert: Ancient Persia at War'', p. 125.</ref>

The reason for this westward relocation of the capital could have been in part due to the proximity of the previous capitals ([[Nisa, Turkmenistan|Mithradatkirt]], and [[Qumis, Iran|Hecatompylos]] at [[Hyrcania]]) to the [[Scythian]] incursions.<ref name="Farrokh, K. 2007 p. 125"/>

[[Strabo]] abundantly describes the foundation of Ctesiphon:

{{blockquote|In ancient times [[Babylon]] was the metropolis of [[Assyria]]; but now [[Seleucia]] is the metropolis, I mean the [[Seleucia 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 the [[Scythians|Scythian]] 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 at [[Ecbatana]] and in [[Hyrcania]] because of the prevalence of their ancient renown.<ref name="uchicago">{{cite web|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/16A*.html |title=LacusCurtius • Strabo's Geography — Book XVI Chapter 1, 16 |publisher=penelope.uchicago.edu|access-date=25 November 2015}}</ref>}}

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 four or five times in its history – three times in the 2nd century alone. The emperor [[Trajan]] [[Trajan's Parthian campaign#Mesopotamia|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 [[Roman–Parthian War of 161–166|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.

===Sasanian period===
{{See also|Sasanian civil war of 628–632}}
[[File:Sasanian Asoristan and its surroundings.svg|right|thumb|Map of the southwestern Sasanian province of [[Asoristan]] and its surroundings]]
By 226, Ctesiphon was in the hands of the [[Sasanian 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 as [[al-Mada'in]], and in [[Aramaic]] as Mahoze.{{sfn|Morony|2009}} The oldest inhabited places of Ctesiphon were on its eastern side, which in Islamic [[Arabic]] sources is called "the Old City" ({{lang|ar|مدينة العتيقة}} ''Madīnah al-'Atīqah''), where the residence of the Sasanians, known as the [[White Palace (Ctesiphon)|White Palace]] ({{lang|ar|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.{{sfn|Morony|2009}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Houtsma |first1=M. Th. |title=E. J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913–1936 |date=1993 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=9789004097919 |page=76a |language=en}}</ref>

The western side was known as [[Veh-Ardashir]] (meaning "the good city of Ardashir" in [[Middle Persian]]), known as Mahoza by the [[Jews]], 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 the [[List of patriarchs of the Church of the East|Nestorian patriarch]]. To the south of Veh-Ardashir was [[Valashabad]].{{sfn|Morony|2009}} Ctesiphon had several other districts which were named Hanbu Shapur, Darzanidan, Veh Jondiu-Khosrow, Nawinabad and Kardakadh.{{sfn|Morony|2009}}

[[Severus Alexander]] advanced towards Ctesiphon in 233, but as corroborated by [[Herodian]], his armies suffered a humiliating defeat against [[Ardashir I]].<ref>Farrokh, K. (2007). "The rise of Ctesiphon and the Silk Route". In ''Shadows in the Desert: Ancient Persia at War'', p. 185.</ref> In 283, emperor [[Carus]] 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.<ref name="Udo Hartmann The Tetrarchy">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</ref>

Hence that he returned it to the Persian king [[Narseh of Persia|Narses]] in exchange for [[Armenia]] and western Mesopotamia is also likely to have never happened. In {{Circa|325}} and again in 410, the city, or the Greek colony directly across the river, was the site of church councils for the [[Assyrian Church of the East|Church of the East]].{{citation needed|date=June 2013}}

[[File:Babylon&Seleuicia1(Peutinger Map).png|thumb|left|4th century Ctesiphon ([[Peutinger Map]])]]
After the conquest of Antioch in 541, [[Khosrow I]] built a new city near Ctesiphon for the inhabitants he captured. He called this new city [[Weh Antiok Khosrow|Veh-Antiok-Xusrō]], or literally, "better than Antioch Khosrow built this".{{sfn|Dignas|Winter|2007|p=109}} 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, Khosrow built a number of fortified cities.<ref name="frye">Frye 1993, 259</ref> After a campaign in 573, [[John of Ephesus]] wrote that no fewer than 292,000 persons had been deported from [[Dara (Mesopotamia)|Dara]], [[Apamea, Syria|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.<ref>{{cite book |last=Christensen |title=The Decline of Iranshahr: Irrigation and Environments in the History of the Middle East, 500 B.C. to A.D. 1500 |location=Copenhagen |publisher=Museum Tusculanum Press |year=1993 |isbn=87-7289-259-5 }}</ref>

In 590, a member of the [[House of Mihran]], [[Bahram Chobin]] repelled the newly ascended Sasanian ruler [[Khosrow II]] from Iraq, and conquered the region. One year later, Khosrow II, with aid from the [[Byzantine 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]].{{sfn|Shapur Shahbazi|2005}} In 627, the Byzantine Emperor [[Heraclius]] 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]].{{sfn|Shapur Shahbazi|2005}}

In 629, Ctesiphon was briefly under the control of Mihranid usurper [[Shahrbaraz]], but the latter was shortly assassinated by the supporters of Khosrow II's daughter [[Borandukht]]. Ctesiphon then continued to be involved in constant fighting between two factions of the Sasanian Empire, the Pahlav (Parthian) faction under the [[House of Ispahbudhan]] and the Parsig (Persian) faction under [[Piruz Khosrow]].

===Downfall of the Sasanians and the Islamic conquests===
{{Further|Siege of Ctesiphon (637)}}

In the mid-630s, the [[Muslim conquest of Persia|Muslim Arabs]], who had invaded the territories of the Sasanian Empire, defeated them during a great battle known as the [[Battle of al-Qādisiyyah]].{{sfn|Morony|2009}} The Arabs then attacked Ctesiphon, and occupied it in [[Siege of Ctesiphon (637)|early 637]].

The Muslim military officer [[Sa`d ibn Abi Waqqas]] quickly seized [[Valashabad]] and made a peace treaty with the inhabitants of Veh-Antiok-Xusrō and [[Veh-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 the [[Sasanian family tree|Sasanian royal family]], [[nobility|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.{{sfn|Morony|2009}} Furthermore, the throne hall in [[Taq Kasra]] was briefly used as a mosque.<ref>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. {{ISBN|0-500-05096-1}}</ref>

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 760s, and soon became a [[ghost town]]. [[al-Mansur|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.<ref>Bier, L. (1993). "The Sassanian Palaces and their Influence in Early Islam". ''Ars Orientalis'', 23, 62–62.</ref> Al-Mansur also used the [[al-Rumiya]] town as the Abbasid capital city for a few months.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland |title=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland |date=1895 |publisher=Cambridge University Press for the Royal Asiatic Society |page=40 |language=en}}</ref>

It is believed to be the basis for the city of [[Isbanir]] in ''[[One Thousand and One Nights]]''.{{By whom|date=February 2025}}

===Modern era===
The ruins of Ctesiphon were the site of [[Battle of Ctesiphon (1915)|a major battle of World War I]] in November 1915. The [[Ottoman Empire]] defeated troops of [[United Kingdom|Britain]] attempting to capture Baghdad, and drove them back some {{convert|40|mi|km}} before [[siege of Kut|trapping the British force and compelling it to surrender]].