Ctésiphon , Tîsfûn is an old city Parthian located vis-a-vis Séleucie of the Tiger on left bank of the Tigre to little distance to the south of Baghdad.

History

It was the capital of the Perses under the Sassanides. Julien II known as the apostate gained a decisive battle in there 363 but it was killed shortly after. In 637, Ctésiphon fell to the hands from the Arab which plundered materials of them to build Baghdad in 762. It takes then the name of Al-Madâ' in .

Structure

A brick vault 30 height m ( Iwan ) mark the site of the palate of Shahpur I {{er}}, the winner of the emperor Valérien in 260.

The right wing, collapsed at the beginning of the XXe century, was partly reconstituted these last years. A buttress was added on the remaining left wing.

Homonymy

Ctésiphon is an Athenian, who made decree with Démosthène a gold crown for price of his services. Eschine, jealous, brought a charge for this fact to him, and Démosthène was given the responsability to defend it: it is on this occasion that he pronounced the Pro Corona . Eschine lost the lawsuit and had to be exiled.