Ctesiphon
The capital of the Parthian and Sasanian empires on the Tigris, home to the famed Taq Kasra arch, captured by the Muslim Arabs in 637 CE.
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- Role
- Parthian & Sasanian capital
- Key monument
- Taq Kasra (Arch of Ctesiphon)
- Conquest
- By Arab Muslims, 637 CE
Detail
Ctesiphon (Middle Persian; near modern Baghdad in Iraq) was the winter capital and political center of the Parthian and then Sasanian empires, and for centuries ranked among the world's largest and most splendid cities. Its most prominent surviving monument, the Taq Kasra (Arch of Ctesiphon), is the largest unreinforced brick arch of the ancient world and a symbol of the apogee of Sasanian architecture. Ctesiphon was the center of Sasanian Iran's culture, commerce, and administration, and at times the scene of confrontation with the Roman Empire. The city fell to the Arab Muslim army in 637 CE and declined after the founding of Baghdad. Its ruins, especially the Taq Kasra, remain a symbol of Sasanian grandeur.
Also appears in
Sources
- Encyclopaedia Iranica — 'Ctesiphon'
- Britannica — 'Ctesiphon'
- Britannica — 'Ṭāq Kisrā'