page_title: Ctesiphon
section_title: Location
hierarchical_section_title: Ctesiphon / Location
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph of the remains of the White Palace at Ctesiphon, Iraq, with the famous Arch of Ctesiphon, taken in 1864, before the collapse of the right-hand facade العربية: بقايا القصر الأبيض في كتيسيفون في العراق، مع قوس طاق كسرى الشهير، والصورة التقطت في 1864، قبل انهيار الواجهة اليمنى
context_page_description: Ctesiphon was an ancient city, located on the eastern bank of the Tigris, and about 35 kilometres southeast of present-day Baghdad. Ctesiphon served as a royal capital of the Iranian empire in the Parthian and Sasanian eras for over eight hundred years. Ctesiphon remained the capital of the Sasanian Empire until the Muslim conquest of Persia in 651 AD.
  Ctesiphon developed into a rich commercial metropolis, merging with the surrounding cities along both shores of the river, including the Hellenistic city of Seleucia. Ctesiphon and its environs were therefore sometimes referred to as "The Cities". In the late sixth and early seventh century, it was listed as the largest city in the world by some accounts.
  During the Roman–Parthian Wars, Ctesiphon fell three times to the Romans, and later fell twice during Sasanian rule. It was also the site of the Battle of Ctesiphon in 363 AD. After the Muslim invasion the city fell into decay and was depopulated by the end of the eighth century, its place as a political and economic center taken by the Abbasid capital at Baghdad. The most conspicuous structure remaining today is the Taq Kasra, sometimes called the Archway of Ctesiphon.
context_section_description: Ctesiphon is located approximately at Al-Mada'in, 32 km (20 mi) southeast of the modern city of Baghdad, Iraq, along the river Tigris. Ctesiphon measured 30 square kilometers, more than twice the surface of 13.7-square-kilometer fourth-century imperial Rome.
  The archway of Chosroes (Taq Kasra) was once a part of the royal palace in Ctesiphon and is estimated to date between the 3rd and 6th centuries AD. It is located in what is now the Iraqi town of Salman Pak.
caption: Taq Kasra or Ctesiphon palace ruin, with the arch in the centre, 1864
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