Photo ID: GA0021
Site: Ctesiphon
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Description: The large round city , situated on the left bank of the Tigris, across the river from the Hellenistic city of Seleucia, has been identified as the great Parthian and Sasanian capital city of Tisfun, known to the Romans as Ctesiphon , the Al-Madain (“the cities”), of Arabic sources. Situated about 35 km south of the later city of Baghdad, in present-day Iraq, Ctesipon was the first Sasanian foundation in this urban zone, named Veh-Ardashir, “the beautiful (good) city of Ardashir,” after its founder, the Sasanian king Ardashir I (AD 224-241). Ctesipon was the royal residence, imperial and administrative center, and a commercial and agricultural hub of the empire in the densely populated Sasanian province of Babylonia/Asoristan. Although Ctesiphon served only as a winter residence for Sasanian kings who spent summers in the cooler highlands of the Persian plateau, it remained the capital and coronation city of the Sasanian empire from its foundation by Ardashir I until its conquest by Muslim armies in AD 637.
Photo Source: K. Schippmann slides
See Sasanian Sites for collection summary.
Sasanian Projects at UC Berkeley
Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative
URL: ECAI.orgWebsite
Maintained by:Information
Systems and Services,
International and Area Studies,
UC Berkeley
Last updated: November 8, 2001:jlz