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Where in the world
Iraq
Ctesiphon
Persian (Achaemenid) · Iraq
Field notes
- civilizations
- Persian (Achaemenid)
- types
- City
- built
- 120 BCE
- occupied
- 120 BCE — 637 CE
- country
- Iraq
The site
Ctesiphon rose on the eastern bank of the Tigris in what is now Iraq, serving as a royal capital of the Parthian and Sasanian empires for over eight centuries. Founded around 120 BCE, this rich commercial metropolis was by some accounts the largest city in the world before falling to Arab conquest in 637 CE. Ctesiphon changed hands repeatedly in the Roman-Parthian Wars, a prize at the heart of ancient Persia.
