08-04-2005, 07:57 PM
The earliest surviving references to Ctesiphon date back to the 4th century BC. The Parthians established it as one of a number of royal residences around 129 BC, and it ultimately became their winter capitol. It was first taken by Trajan in 116 AD, then by Marcus Aurelius’ general Avidius Cassius in 165 AD. Septimius Severus captured the city in 198. The Persian king Ardašir took the city in 226, and it became the Sassanian capitol. It was taken in 283 by the Emperor Carus, and not long after by the tetrarch Caesar Galerius in 296. Islamic Arab armies took the city one last time in 637, and it was finally abandoned with the establishment of Baghdad around 762.
I don’t have any of my primary sources at hand, but I think that’s pretty much it, though some of these dates may be a year of two off. I don’t think Odanthus ever captured the city, though he invested it twice. And I don’t think Heraclius did either.
Gregg
I don’t have any of my primary sources at hand, but I think that’s pretty much it, though some of these dates may be a year of two off. I don’t think Odanthus ever captured the city, though he invested it twice. And I don’t think Heraclius did either.
Gregg
