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SITE ID - NAME :	C1	Ctesiphon
ANCIENT NAME :	Taq-i-Kasra
OTHER NAME :	Salman Pak, Taq Kisra, includes the sites Ma' aridh, Al, Zaatir, Umm al, Dhaha
LOCATION :	Central Iraq, Baghdad
CHRONOLOGY :	Late Historic
PERIOD CODE :	16 17 18
DESCRIPTION :	This magnificent site, not far from Baghdad, was one of the great cities of ancient Mesopotamia and the capital of the Iranian Parthian empire (Arsacid dynasty) and its successor, the Sassanid Persian empire, for more than 600 years. Under king Mithradates (ca. 171-138 BC) Mesopotamia was conquered and ruled by the dynasty for more than three centuries. At its heyday the site measured 30 km_. The city was captured five times by Roman or Byzantine forces. Eventually, the city fell to the Islamic Saracens in AD 637 and thereafter went into a rapid decline. The enormous vaulted arch (Taq Kisra; the main portico of the audience hall of the Sassanians) is now all that remains of the city.
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