Ktesiphon

Abstract

For nearly a thousand years, Ktesiphon (name in Latin/Greek; Parthian/Pahlavi: tyspwn ; Aramaic Talmud: (') qṭyspwn ; Syriac: qṭyspwn ; Arabic: Ṭaysafūn) was one of the most important cities in the Near East and beyond. From the later second century BCE until 637 CE , Ktesiphon served as the capital of the Arsacid and Sasanian empires ( see Sasanians). It was thus the equivalent of Rome, or later Constantinople in the east.

Philological and Historical Commentary on Ammianus Marcellinus XXIX

“…There are notes on Ctesiphon, the capital of the Sasanian Persians until the Arabs conquered the city in 637, ad 17.14.1 (p. 398) and 23.6.23 (p. 157). See further Hauser, 1999 andHeller, 2010. For the Syrian capital Antioch, where Valens resided for the next seven winters, see ad 22.9.14 (p. 176), 25.10.1 (p. 309) and 26.6.20 (p. 174) and for imperator in Amm.…”