Charax Spasinu
Ancient Greek: Σπασίνου Χάραξ | |
Location | Iraq |
---|---|
Region | Basra Governorate (location is related to Maysan) |
Coordinates | 30°53′41″N 47°34′41″E / 30.894692°N 47.578031°E |
Charax Spasinu, also called Charax Spasinou, Charax Pasinu, Spasinu Charax (
Etymology
The name Charax, probably from
There is a theory that Charax derives from the
Location of Charax
Charax was located on a large mound known as Jabal Khuyabir at
According to Pliny the Elder:
The town of Charax is situated in the innermost recess of the Persian Gulf, from which projects the country called Arabia Felix. It stands on an artificial elevation between the Tigris on the right and the Karún on the left, at the point where these two rivers unite, and the site measures two [Roman] miles [3 km] in breadth... It was originally at a distance of 1¼ miles [1.9 km] from the coast, and had a harbour of its own, but when Juba [Juba II, c. 50 BC—c. AD 24] published his work it was 50 miles [74 km] inland; its present distance from the coast is stated by Arab envoys and our own traders who have come from the place to be 120 miles [178 km]. There is no part of the world where earth carried down by rivers has encroached on the sea further or more rapidly...[3]
The Description of Pliny matches the depiction on the Tabula Peutingeriana.
The Jabal Khuyabir tell is now 1km south of the confluence of the Eulaios/Karkheh and the Tigris; the river shifted course during a well-documented storm event in 1837.[4]
Naysān could be a colloquial Arabic corruption of Maysān, the name of Characene during the early Islamic era.[5] First excavations and research started in 2016.[6]
Archaeology
Excavations on the site
History
A history of the city of Charax can be distilled only from ancient texts and
The city was established by Alexander the Great in 324 BC, replacing a small Persian settlement, Durine.[8] This was one of Alexander's last cities before his death in 323 BC. Here he established a quarter (dēmē) of the port called Pella, named after Alexander's own town of birth, where he settled Macedonian veterans.[9] The city passed to the Seleucid Empire after Alexander's death, until it was destroyed at some point by flooding.[9]
The city was rebuilt c. 166 BC by order of
The political instability that followed the Parthian conquest of most of the Seleucid Empire allowed Hyspaosines to establish an independent state, Characene, in 127 BC. He renamed the city after himself.Charax remained the capital of the small state for 282 years, with the
In AD 221–222, an ethnic Persian,
Charax continued, under the name Maysan, with Persian texts making various mention of governors through the fifth century and there is mention of a
Charax was finally abandoned during the 9th century because of persistent flooding and a dramatic decrease in trade with the west.
Economy
The original Greek town was enlarged by an
Although it was nominally a
Charax was a rich port with ships arriving regularly from
Coins
Prior to the invasion of Trajan[19] Charax minted coins of a Hellenistic type while after the invasion the coinage was of a more Parthian character. Charax
Notable persons
It was visited in AD 97 by the Chinese envoy, Gan Ying 甘英, who referred to it as 干羅 (Pinyin: Gànluò; reconstructed ancient pronunciation *ka-ra), who was trying to reach the Roman Empire via Egypt but, after reaching the Persian Gulf was convinced to turn back by the Parthians.[20]
In AD 116, the
Isidore of Charax, a 1st-century geographer, came from Charax Spasinu.
See also
Footnotes
- ^ "JSONpedia - Charax Spasinu". jsonpedia.org.
- ^ Pliny VI 39
- ^ Pliny the Elder (AD 77). Natural History. Book VI. xxxi. 138-140. Translation by W. H. S. Jones, Loeb Classical Library, London/Cambridge, Mass. (1961).
- ^ Vanessa M.A. Heyvaert, Jan Walstra, Peter Verkinderen, Henk J.T. Weerts, Bart Ooghe, The role of human interference on the channel shifting of the Karkheh Riverin the Lower Khuzestan plain (Mesopotamia, SW Iran), Quaternary International 251 (2012) 52.
- ^ a b Characene and Charax,Characene and Charax Encyclopaedia Iranica
- ^ a b Moon, Jane; Campbell, Stuart; Killick, Robert (2016). Charax Spasinou: Alexander's Lost City in Iraq (PDF) (Report). University of Manchester.
- ^ O. Mørkholm, "A Greek coin hoard from Susiana", in Acta Archaeologica, 1965, vol. 36, p. 127-156.
- ^ Jona Lendering, Charax Archived 2012-10-19 at the Wayback Machine at Livius.org
- ^ a b Pliny, 6.31.138
- ^ Pliny, 6.31.139
- ^ Dio Cassius, 78.28
- Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari, Ṭabarī I
- Kitab mu'jam al-buldanIV and III
- ^ "Classical Gazetteer, page 106". Archived from the original on 2009-11-14. Retrieved 2006-10-28.
- ^ "Bibliography Page 37". www.parthia.com.
- ^ Strabo - Geography Book XV, Chapter 3
- ^ Pliny Nat. Hist.12:80
- ^ Isidore of Charax, The Parthian Stations.
- Dio Cassius, 78.28
- ^ Hill (2009), pp. 5, 23, 240-242.
References
- Casson, Lionel (1989) [1927]. The Periplus Maris Erythraei. Translated by Frisk, H. (with updates and improvements and detailed notes ed.). Princeton: Princeton University Press.
- Hill, John E. (2009). Through the Jade Gate to Rome: A Study of the Silk Routes during the Later Han Dynasty, 1st to 2nd Centuries CE. Charleston, South Carolina: John E. Hill. BookSurge. ISBN 978-1-4392-2134-1.
- Nodelman, S. A. (1960). "A preliminary history of Characene". Berytus. 13: 83–123. ISSN 0067-6195.
- Potts, D. J. (1988). "Arabia and the Kingdom of Characene". In Potts, D. T. (ed.). Araby the Blest: Studies in Arabian Archaeology. The Carsten Niebuhr Institute of Ancient Near Eastern Studies, University of Copenhagen. Museum Tusculanum Press. pp. 137–167.
- Mørkholm, O. (1965). "A Greek coin hoard from Susiana". Acta Archaeologica. 36: 127–156.
External links
- Media related to Charax Spasinu at Wikimedia Commons