Ctesiphon (Parthian: Tyspwn as well as Tisfun) is one of the great cities of ancient Mesopotamia and the capital of the Iranian Parthian Empire and its successor, the Sassanid Empire, for more than 800 years located in ancient Iranian province of Khvarvaran. The Iranian languages are a part of the Indo-European language family with estimated 150-200 million native speakers. ... Mesopotamia (Greek: Μεσοποταμία, translated from Old Persian Miyanrudan the fertile cresent; Aramaic name being Beth-Nahrain House of Two Rivers) is a region of Southwest Asia. ... Jump to: navigation, search Parthian Empire at its greatest extent, c60 BC. The Parthian Empire was the dominating force on the Iranian plateau beginning in the late 3rd century BCE, and intermittently controlled Mesopotamia between ca 190 BCE and 224 CE. Parthia was the arch-enemy of the Roman Empire... Head of king Shapur II (Sasanian dynasty A.D. 4th century). ... Jump to: navigation, search Khvārvarān, (Modern Iraq)From the Fall of Sasanian Dynasty to the Arab Occupations and Umayyads In CE 600 the country which in our modern time known as Iraq was a province of the Iranian Empire, to which it had belonged to Iran since Cyrus...

Located approximately 20 miles southeast of the modern city of Baghdad, along the river Tigris, it rose to prominence along with the Parthian Empire in the first century BC, and was the seat of government for most of its rulers. Ctesiphon measured 30 square kilometers (cf. the 13,7 square kilometers of imperial Rome). Jump to: navigation, search Image:Baghdad City. ... Tigris River in Mosul, Iraq The Tigris (Old Persian: Tigr, Aramaic Assyrian: Deqlath, Arabic: دجلة, Dijla, Turkish: Dicle; Hebrew: חידקל; biblical Hiddekel) is the eastern member of the pair of great rivers that define Mesopotamia, along with the Euphrates, which flows from the mountains of Anatolia through Iraq. ...

Because of its importance, Ctesiphon was a major military objective for the leaders of the Roman Empire in its eastern wars. The city was captured by Roman or Byzantine forces five times in its history, three times in the second century alone. The emperor Trajan captured Ctesiphon in 116, after one year of occupation his successor Hadrian has no choice to returned it in 117 as part of a peace settlement. The Roman general Avidius Cassius captured Ctesiphon during another Parthian war in 164, but abandoned it when peace was concluded. In 197, the emperor Septimius Severus sacked Ctesiphon and carried off thousands of its inhabitants, possibly as many as 100,000, whom he sold into slavery. Jump to: navigation, search The Roman Empire is the term conventionally used to describe the Ancient Roman polity in the centuries following its reorganization under the leadership of Octavian (better known as Caesar Augustus). ... // Events Roman Empire governed by the Five Good Emperors (96–180) – Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius. ... Emperor Trajan Marcus Ulpius Nerva Traianus (September 18, 53-August 9, 117), Roman Emperor (98-117), commonly called Trajan, was the second of the so-called Five Good Emperors of the Roman Empire. ... Events Roman Emperor Trajan completes his invasion of Parthia by capturing the cities of Seleucia, Ctesiphon and Susa, marking the high-water mark of the Roman Empires eastern expansion. ... Jump to: navigation, search Emperor Hadrian Publius Aelius Traianus Hadrianus (January 24, 76-July 10, 138), known as Hadrian in English, was Roman emperor from 117-138, and a member of the gens Aelia. ... Events Emperor Trajan dies. ... Gaius Avidius Cassius (ca. ... Events Ctesiphon is captured by the Romans, but returned to the Parthians after the end of the war. ... Events Roman Emperor Septimius Severus sacks Ctesiphon and captures an enormous number of its inhabitants as slaves. ... Emperor Septimius Severus Lucius Septimius Severus, (April 11, 146-February 4, 211) was Roman emperor from April 9, 193 to 211. ...

Ruins of Ctesiphon depicted on a 1923 postage stamp of Iraq

Late in the third century, after the Parthians had been supplanted by the Sassanids, the city again became a source of conflict with Rome. In 295, Galerius was defeated by the Persians outside the city. Humiliated, he returned a year later and won a tremendous victory which ended in the fourth and final capture of the city by a Roman army. He returned it to the Persian king Narses in exchange for Armenia. Image File history File links Stamp_Iraq_1923_3a. ... Image File history File links Stamp_Iraq_1923_3a. ... // Events The Sassanid dynasty of Persia launches a war to reconquer lost lands in the Roman east. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Sassanid Empire at its greatest extent Official language Pahlavi (Middle Persian) State Religion Zoroastrianism Capital Ctesiphon Sovereigns Shahanshah of the Iran (Eranshahr) First Ruler Ardashir I Last Ruler Yazdegerd III Establishment 224 AD Dissolution 651 AD Part of the History of Iran The Sassanid dynasty... Events Galerius is defeated in combat by the Persians outside Ctesiphon Tuoba Yi Tuo becomes a chieftain of the Chinese Tuoba tribe. ... Galerius on a coin Galerius Maximianus (c. ... Narseh (whose name is also sometimes written as Narses or Narseus) was a Sassanian King of Persia (292 - 303), and son of Shapur I. He rose as pretender to the throne against his grand-nephew Bahram III in AD 292, and soon became sole king. ...

Finally, in 627, the eastern Roman emperor Heraclius took the city, then capital of the Sassanid empire, leaving it after the Persians accepted his peace terms. Events April 11 - Paulinus, a Roman missionary, baptizes King Edwin of Deira December 12 - Battle of Nineveh: Byzantine Emperor Heraclius defeats the Persians Births Deaths November 10 - Justus, Archbishop of Canterbury Categories: 627 ... Flavius Heraclius Augustus (c. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Sassanid Empire at its greatest extent Official language Pahlavi (Middle Persian) State Religion Zoroastrianism Capital Ctesiphon Sovereigns Shahanshah of the Iran (Eranshahr) First Ruler Ardashir I Last Ruler Yazdegerd III Establishment 224 AD Dissolution 651 AD Part of the History of Iran The Sassanid dynasty...

Ctesiphon fell to the Islamic Saracens in 637 and went into a rapid decline, especially after the founding of Baghdad not long after. It is believed to be the basis for the city of Isbanir in the Thousand and One Nights. Jump to: navigation, search Islam [â–¶] (Arabic: الإسلام al-islām) the submission to God is a monotheistic faith, one of the Abrahamic religions, the worlds second-largest religion, and the fastest growing religion in the world. ... For the rugby club Saracens see Saracens (rugby club) The term Saracen comes from Greek sarakenoi. ... Events Arabs take Jerusalem Arabs take Aleppo Battle of al-Qadisiyah: Arabs defeat Persian army, take Persian capital of Ctesiphon Battle of Mag Rath: Dalriada influence in Ulster greatly reduced Births Deaths Categories: 637 ... Jump to: navigation, search Image:Baghdad City. ... Isbanir is a city referred to in the Arabian Nights as the home of Fakir Taj. ... The Book of One Thousand and One Nights (كتاب ألف ليلة و ليلة in Arabic or هزار و یک شب in Persian), also known as The book of a Thousand Nights and a Night, 1001 Arabian Nights, or simply the Arabian Nights, is a piece of classic Arabic literature in...

The ruins of Ctesiphon were the site of a major battle of World War I in November of 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. Jump to: navigation, search World War I was primarily a European conflict with many facets: immense human sacrifice, stalemate trench warfare, and the use of new, devastating weapons - tanks, aircraft, machineguns, and poison gas. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1915 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Jump to: navigation, search Imperial motto (Ottoman Turkish) Devlet-i Ebed-müddet (the Eternal State) The Ottoman Empire at the height of its power Official language Ottoman Turkish Capital Bursa (1335 - 1365), Edirne (1365-1453), İstanbul (Constantinople) (1453-1922) Imperial anthem Ottoman imperial anthem Sovereigns Padishah of the Osmanli...

Ctesiphon (Tâgh-i Kasrâ). Drawn 1824 by Captain Hart.

The splendor of Khosrau's palace (Shâhigân-ǐ Sepid = the white palace, later Taq-i Kasra) at Ctesiphon is legendary. The Throne room was more than 110 ft high. The massive barrel vault covered an area 80ft wide by 160 ft long. Palace in Ctesiphon File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Palace in Ctesiphon File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Khosrau, Khusrau, Khosru and also Khusraw (Kasrâ in Arabic; Osroes or Chosroes in Greek) was the name of a mythical Persian leader, in the Avesta known as Kavi Haosravah, with the meaning with good reputation. A number of rulers of Persia and the Middle East were known by this name. ...

The arch of Ctesiphon, or Taq-e Kasra, is now all that remains of a city that was, for seven centuries, the main capital of the successor dynasties of the Achaemenids, Parthians and Sassanians. The structure left today was the main portico of the audience hall of the Sassanians who maintained the same site chosen by the Parthians and for the same reason, namely proximity to the Roman Empire whose expansionist aims could be better contained at the point of contact. Achaemenid Empire The Achaemenid Dynasty was a dynasty in the ancient Persian Empire, including Cyrus II the Great, Darius I and Xerxes I. At the height of their power, the Achaemenid rulers of Persia ruled over territories roughly emcompassing some parts of todays Iraq, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon... Reproduction of a Parthian warrior as depicted on Trajans Column The Parthian Empire was the dominating force on the Iranian plateau beginning in the late 3rd century BCE, and intermittently controlled Mesopotamia between ca 190 BCE and 224 CE. Origins Bust of Parthian soldier, Esgh-abad Museum, Turkmenia. ... Head of king Shapur II (Sasanian dynasty A.D. 4th century). ...

Taq-e Kasra (Vault of Khosrow/Khosrau) in the today's Iraqi city of Mada'en (also referred to as Iwan-e Mada'en and, in earlier times by Europeans, as Madayn) near the capital Baghdad is on the verge of collapse. The world-famous monument known as the largest and most unique vault ever constructed in Persia, during the reign of Sassanid dynasty, has been greatly neglected in recent times.

External Link

• /CTESIPHON (TISFUN): The Imperial Capital of Parthian & Sasanian Dynasties