'Diary of a Tour in the Persian Gulf and in Turkish Arabia December 1906, by Lieutenant-Colonel Malleson Assistant Quarter Master General, Intelligence Branch, Division of the Chief of the Staff.' [‎19v] (38/46)

32
The process of saying good-bye took a
couple of hours and involved considerable
liquid consumption. In the grey of the
morning we started on our voyage down the
Tigris, and Bagdad was soon lost to sight.
The return journey was fortunately so timed
that we saw just those objects of interest
which we had passed during the night on
our way up. First amongst these, and some
four hours’ journey down stream from
Bagdad, were the ruins of Seleucia and of
Ctesiphon, twin cities standing on opposite
banks of the Tigris. Here, fortunately, the
steamer stops for an hour on the down
voyage when there are twenty or more
pilgrims anxious to land, and we gladly
availed ourselves of this opportunity of
treading what is perhaps the most classic
ground in Mesopotamia. The object of the
pilgrims was somewhat different. Hard
by to the ruins of Ctesiphon there stands
a squat-domed structure which is reputed
to contain the mortal remains of the Pro
phet’s barber. It is consequently a place of
much veneration to the Faithful. We did
not visit the shrine but confined ourselves
to a hurried inspection to the nobler monu
ments of Ctesiphon. Facing us, across the
Tigris, were the mounds of dust and broken
brick, extending for miles, which mark the
site of the once famous capital Seleucia.
Founded by Seleucus Nicator soon after the
death of Alexander the Great, and built
largely out of Babylonian materials, it
eventually became the capital of the great
empire carved out by that monarch from
Alexandrian remains, an empire whose area
was more than a million square miles, and
whose territories extended from the Medi
terranean on the west, to India on the east,
and from the Euxine, the Caspian and Aral
seas on the north, to the Indian Ocean on
the south. In its palmy days Seleucia,
until eclipsed by Antioch, had more than
600,000 inhabitants. With the decline of
the Saleucide and the irruption of the Par-
thians the city fell into decay. It was
sacked by the Parthians in 140 B.C., cap
tured by the Emperor Trojan in 116 A.D.
and finally destroyed by Lucius Yerus in
162 A.D. At the time of the Emperor
Julian’s war against the Persian King, in the
middle of the fourth century, Seleucia had
already become the abandoned ruin which
it has ever since remained. Ctesiphon,
the rival and greater city which rose
during the period of its decay, has been
slightly more fortunate. Founded by the
Parthian invaders it became the winter
capital of the great Sassanian Kings, be
fore whom Rome herself had frequently
to make obeisance. The history of Ctesi
phon bristles with eminent names. Here
Seleucia.
Its rise,
importance,
and fall.
Ctesiphon.
Its early years,
history,