Ctesiphon
a Pleiades
place
resource
Creators: M. Roaf, St J. Simpson
Creators: M. Roaf, St J. Simpson
Contributors:
Enes Yılandiloğlu, Brady Kiesling, Sean Gillies, Johan Åhlfeldt, Jeffrey Becker, W. Röllig, Tom Elliott, H. Kopp, DARMC, Chris de Lisle, R. Talbert, B. Siewert-Mayer, Ingrid Luo, Francis Deblauwe, Eric Kansa
Copyright © The Contributors. Sharing and remixing permitted under terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License (cc-by).
Last modified
Mar 31, 2026 03:26 PM
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History
An imperial capital of the Arsacid and Sasanian empires, this large ancient city originated as early as the third century BCE and declined in the eighth century CE. It was located on the left bank of the Tigris River 35 km south of what would later become modern Baghdad in Iraq. It was part of a complex network of settlements in the area, among which Seleucia (modern Vēh Ardašīr) also featured prominently. It was attacked, and sometimes occupied, by Roman forces multiple times.
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https://pleiades.stoa.org/places/893976
33.094703, 44.5812226667
- Representative Locations:
- DARE Location (330 BC - AD 640) accuracy: +/- 10 meters.
- DARMC location 20201 (330 BC - AD 640) accuracy: +/- 10 meters.
- DARMC location 22463 (330 BC - AD 640) accuracy: +/- 10 meters.
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- Cesiphvn (Cesiphun: Latin, AD 300 - AD 640)
- Ctesiphon (330 BC - AD 640)
- Ctesiphon (Georgian, AD 300 - AD 640)
- Ktesiphon (AD 632 - AD 750)
- Κτησιφῶν (Ktēsiphōn: Ancient Greek, 540 BC - AD 2000)
- Medāʾin (Ottoman Turkish, AD 1500 - AD 1599)
- Qṭispon (Syriac, AD 300 - AD 640)
- Qṭispōn (AD 300 - AD 640)
- Salmān Pāk (Modern Persian, AD 1918 - AD 2000)
- Tisifōn (Middle Persian, AD 284 - AD 650)
- Tisifōn (Modern Persian, AD 284 - AD 650)
- al-Madāʾin (Modern Standard Arabic, AD 632 - AD 2000)
- Ṭāq-e Kesrā (Modern Persian, AD 1258 - AD 1725)
- Ṭāq-e Kisrā (AD 1258 - AD 1335)
- Ctesiphon capital of Parthian empire (200 BC - AD 224)
- Ctesiphon capital of Sasanian Empire (unspecified date range)
- Ctesiphon located on Tigris/Diglitus (river) (unspecified date range)
- Balictanor next place in route Ctesiphon (unspecified date range)
urban area, settlement
- Evidence:
- See Further:
- See Also:
- Related:
Barrington Atlas: BAtlas 91 F4 Ctesiphon
The Barrington Atlas Directory notes: al-Ma'aridh
M. Roaf, St J. Simpson, Enes Yılandiloğlu, Brady Kiesling, Sean Gillies, Johan Åhlfeldt, Jeffrey Becker, W. Röllig, Tom Elliott, H. Kopp, DARMC, Chris de Lisle, R. Talbert, B. Siewert-Mayer, Ingrid Luo, Francis Deblauwe, and Eric Kansa, 'Ctesiphon: a Pleiades place resource', Pleiades: A Gazetteer of Past Places, 2026 <https://pleiades.stoa.org/places/893976> [accessed: 15 July 2026]
{{cite web |url=https://pleiades.stoa.org/places/893976 |title=Places: 893976 (Ctesiphon) |author=Roaf, M., St J. Simpson |accessdate=July 15, 2026 7:17 pm |publisher=Pleiades}}