Place · Parthian & Sassanian imperial capital · Iraq
Ctesiphon
Also known as Tisfun, Taq-i Kisra
Ctesiphon on the Tigris, founded by the Parthians in the 1st century BCE and expanded as the Sassanian capital from 226 CE, was the Persian imperial seat the Arab armies took in 637 CE. The great Taq-i Kisra arch of Khosrow I’s palace (6th century) is the largest single-span brick vault in the pre-modern world and still stands. Ctesiphon was the destination of the Chalukya king Pulakeśin II’s embassy to Khosrow II in 625 CE and the departure point for Burzōe’s mission to India to collect the Pañcatantra and Indian medical texts. Mani preached a syncretic Zoroastrian-Buddhist-Christian religion at Shapur I’s Ctesiphon court before being executed in 274 CE under Bahram I.
- Function
- Authority & administration
- Patron dynasty
- Parthian / Sassanian
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 33.091, 44.581
Connections (2)
- Ruled fromKhosrow I Anushirvan
Khosrow I Anushirvan ruled the Sassanian empire from Ctesiphon between 531 and 579 CE and ran its most consequential cultural programme — the expansion of Jundishpur, Burzōe’s mission to India, the translation of the Pañcatantra and the arrival of Chaturanga.
- Court associationPulakeshin II
Pulakeśin II sent a formal embassy to the Sassanian emperor Khosrow II (Parvīz) at Ctesiphon around 625 CE and received a return Persian embassy at Vatapi; the reception of the Persian embassy is traditionally identified with the painted procession of foreign dignitaries in Cave 1 at Ajanta.
Sources
Standard reference.
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