Charax Spasinu
Charax Spasinu ( Greek Χάραξ Σπασίνου , Charax Spasinou ) was the capital of the ancient empire Charakene northwest of today's Basra in Iraq. Isidoros von Charax comes from Charax Spasinu .
The city, at that time located on the Persian Gulf near the Tigris and Basra , was founded by Alexander the Great in early Hellenism and was initially named Alexandreia in Susiana . Presumably, like most of the Hellenistic new foundations in the east, the place was organized as a polis . After a catastrophic flood, the Seleucid king Antiochus V rebuilt the city and renamed it Antioch . After another flood disaster and a renewed construction, Hyspaosines named the city again after himself ( Charax Spasinou means "Schanze des [Hy] spaosines"). Hyspaosines made the city the capital of his empire, which was later called Charakene . After the turn of the century, the city, meanwhile dependent on the Arsacids , slowly lost its Greek character. The Sassanid ruler Ardaschir I gave the city a new name in the 3rd century : Astarabad Ardaschir . The Arabic name of the place was then Karch Maisan .
Charax Spasinu is described by Pliny the Elder ( Natural History , 6:31), who praises above all her dam systems . Charax Spasinu was a very important trading center, especially for the Indian trade .
The city could be localized with some certainty during surveys in the area and is approx. 2.8 km × 1.5 km × 1.3 × 2.9 km in size. Surface finds (ceramics) date from Sassanid and early Islamic times. Further investigations by a British-German team have been taking place since 2016. According to initial investigations, the city had a city map with blocks measuring 185 m by 85 m. This makes them one of the largest blocks in all of antiquity. The first investigations also identified two large, probably public, buildings. Your dating is still open.
literature
- Friedrich Carl Andreas : Alexandreia 13 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume I, 1, Stuttgart 1893, Sp. 1390-1395.
- Franz Heinrich Weißbach : Charax 10 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume III, 2, Stuttgart 1899, Col. 2122.
- Joachim Oelsner: Charax Spasinu. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 2, Metzler, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-476-01472-X , Sp. 1097.
- Monika Schuol : The characters. A Mesopotamian kingdom in the Hellenistic-Parthian period . Steiner, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-515-07709-X , ( Oriens et Occidens 1), (Simultaneously: Kiel, Univ., Diss., 1998), pp. 196-199.
Web links
- Jebel Khayabir / Alexandria? / Antioch? / Spasinou Charax? / Karkh Maisan? / [Astarabad Ardashir]? in the Pleiades database
- The description by Pliny the Elder (Engl.)
Single receipts
- ↑ Alexandria in the Encyclopædia Iranica (English).
- ↑ Schuol: Die Charakene , p. 199
- ↑ CHARAX SPASINOU 2016 ENGLISH REPORT (on Academia.edu )
- ↑ CHARAX_SPASINOU_2016_ENGLISH_REPORT, pp. 6-8 (on Academic.edu)
Coordinates: 30 ° 53 ′ 40.9 ″ N , 47 ° 34 ′ 40.9 ″ E