'DIARY OF A TOUR IN THE PERSIAN GULF AND IN TURKISH ARABIA, DECEMBER, 1906 (WITH MAP)' [‎20r] (39/106)

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grandeur,
Mark Antony led the Roman legions. Sep-
timius Severus captured it and inflicted
great slaughter on the inhabitants. The
Emperor Julian in 363 A.D. gained under
its walls the victory which immediately
preceded his death. There can be no
doubt that for a period, say from 530 to
630 A.D., Ctesiphon was the greatest and
most important city of the world. The
capital of the mightiest empire, the seat of
the monarch before whom the degenerate
successors of the Caesars trembled, Ctesi
prosperity,
phon, in the heyday of her prosperity,
eclipsed even Imperial Rome, then sunk to
the status of a provincial capital and
ravished by barbarians. It is stated that in
the days of Chosroes I and II no less than
90 % of Mesopotamia was under irrigation
and that the land tax alone realized some
and ruins.
£35,000,000 of our money. Of the Ctesi
phon of those days there remains but one
tremendous arch, with an adjoining facade.
All around lie heaps of broken brick and
paounds indicating the enormous extent of
the ancient city. The arch of Ctesiphon
must be almost the biggest thing of its kind
in the world. More than a hundred feet
high, 82 feet wide, and 164 feet long, it is
reputed to have been the “ Hall of Kings,”
w herein the Sassanian Monarchs were wont
Destruction by the Arabs :
to receive their subsidiary princes. The
photograph in the collection gives some
idea of its proportions. Local experts are
of opinion that this majestic ruin cannot
635 A.D. much longer stand. The Arabs who,
in the first fanatical frenzy which attended
the birth of the Muhammadan religion, des
troyed the parent city, have ever since used
Ctesiphon as a quarry for the building and
repair of Bagdad, and though this Vandal
ism is reputed to have been stopped of re
cent years, there is only too much reason
to suppose that the majestic arch, w r hich is
now^ sole monument of the former grandeur
of the place, w r ill not much longer with
stand the ravages of time and man.
Ezra’s tomb.
Further down the river w T e passed the
reputed tomb of the Prophet Ezra, a place
held in much veneration by Jews, Chris
tians, and Muhammadans. We did not
stop, and so only saw the outside, which,
with its blue-tiled dome, is obviously either
entirely modern or much renovated. Fi
nally, after the usual steps at Kut and
Amara, and an interesting daylight voyage
through the tortuous reaches in the
marshes—sw r arming with wild boar—we
duly returned to Basra tw^o days ago,
having taken something under three days
for the journey from Bagdad.
Commercial opinions
On both the voyages up and down the
river, we had, of course, ample opportuni
ties for conversation with local European