Siege of Ctesiphon (637)

The Siege of Ctesiphon (Persian: تیسفون‎‎, also known as 'Al-Mada'in المدائن in Arabic), was a successful siege by the Rashidun army, which lasted for approximately two months from January to March 637. Ctesiphon was one of the great cities of the Persian Empire as well as an imperial capital of the Arsacids and their successors, the Sassanids. Sassanid rule in Iraq ended soon after the conquest of the city by Muslims.

Ctesiphon stood near al-Mada'in, approximately 20 miles (32 km) southeast of the modern city of Baghdad on the banks of the river Tigris and covered an area of 30 square kilometres (12 sq mi). The only visible remains of the city is the great arch of Taq-i Kisra located in what is now the Iraqi town of Salman Pak.

March to Ctesiphon

After his decisive victory at the Battle of Qadisiyyah, Caliph Umar decided to capture the Sassanid Persian capital city of Ctesiphon. He knew that as long as the Sassanids held their largest city, there remained the possibility that sooner or later they could mount another counter-attack. As a result, Umar ordered Saad ibn abi Waqqas, the Muslim commander in chief in Iraq, to march against Ctesiphon.

In December 636, Saad marched towards Ctesiphon with a Muslim army of 15,000 soldiers. The Sassanian Emperor Yazdgerd III, fearing such an invasion, acted quickly when he received intelligence of preparations being made for the march. He deployed detachments of the troops still in the capital on the main defensive stages along the route to Ctesiphon in order to slow the advancing army and provide sufficient time to prepare defenses. At the same time he stationed the survivors of the Battle of Qadisiyyah along the walls of the city.

When Saad learned of the Sassanid detachments on the main route to Ctesiphon he decided to send a strong advance guard to overpower them before they could dig in. The main army would join the advance guard shortly afterwards.

To improve mobility Saad divided the rest of his army into four corps under the commanders Abdullah ibn Mut'im, Shurahbeel ibn as-Simt, Hashim bin 'Utba and Khalid bin Arfatah. Saad himself led the latter corps.

From Qadisiyyah, the main stages on the route to Ctesiphon were Najaf, Burs, Babylon, Sura, Deir Kab, Kusa and Sabat. Zuhra ibn al-Hawiyya took charge of an advance guard composed solely of cavalry and received orders to move quickly to the main defensive positions along the route to Ctesiphon. There he was to deal with the Sassanid detachments and, if his forces encountered any large concentrations of the Sassanid army, to wait until the main army arrived. The rest of the Muslim army was to move behind the advance guard at a comfortable pace.

Zuhra's corps set off as the advance guard and occupied Najaf where they waited for the rest of the troops to catch up. The advance corps then crossed the Euphrates and proceeded along the road to Ctesiphon. On reaching Burs on the western bank of the Hilla branch of the Euphrates, they encountered a small Sassanid force who resisted and forced them to retreat towards Babylon.

File:Iraq map blank.svg

Location of Ctesiphon in Iraq.

Zuhra then waited at Burs for the main army to join him. The next stage was Babylon on the far bank of the Euphrates, a fortified city where it was learned there was a large concentration of Sassanid forces. Babylon was strategically important and the gateway to Suwad, the land between the Euphrates and the Tigris. Some time in the middle of December 636, the Muslims crossed the Euphrates and camped outside Babylon. The Sassanid forces at Babylon are said to have been commanded by Feerzan, Hormuzan, Mihran and Nakheerzan. It appears that disunity arose among the Persians, and that they were unable to put up a stiff resistance against the Muslim charge. Hormuzan withdrew with his forces to his home province of Ahwaz after which the other generals pulled back their forces and withdrew northward.

After the Persian forces had left, the citizens of Babylon formally surrendered. They were afforded protection under the usual terms after payment of jaziya. Some volunteered to cooperate with the Muslims in their fight against the Sassanid regime and provided a good deal of useful information about the disposition of Persian forces. Some Babylonian engineers are said to have been employed in the construction of roads and bridges. While the main Muslim army remained at Babylon, Zuhra was commanded by Saad to pursue the Persians who had retreated from Babylon, before they could concentrate effectively at some other place to give a combined resistance. The Muslim advance guard under Zuhra followed the Persians, and caught their rear-guard at Sura, where the Sassanid forces were routed; they then retreated towards Deir Kab. Zuhra next marched to Deir Kab where after defeating the Sassanid detachment he afforded protection to the people under the usual terms. Early in January 637, the Muslim advance guard under Zuhra reached Kusa, ten miles from Ctesiphon, where Sassanid Persians were to make their last stand to delay the Muslim advance. The Sassanid detachment there was commanded by Shahryar, who was killed in a duel with the Muslim Mubarizun. The rest of the Sassanid army quickly withdrew to Ctesiphon, whereupon the Muslims occupied Kusa on the usual terms. After the victory, Zuhra stayed at Kusa for some time. In the meantime the main army reached Kusa, an historically important location for Muslims who believed this was where Nimrod imprisoned the Prophet Abraham and threw him into a fire, from which he emerged unharmed. Saad wrote a detailed account of the march towards Ctesiphon. In the second week of January 637, the Muslim advance guard reached Sabat, four miles from Ctesiphon. Although this was a Persian cantonment, there was no garrison present. The residents were given protection on the usual terms after payment of jaziya. The Muslims now occupied all the territory up to the gates of Ctesiphon.

Siege of Bahrseer

As the capital of Persia, Ctesiphon was not one city but a conglomeration of several— Arabs called Ctesiphon Al-Madain, meaning "the cities". The main one lay on the eastern bank of the Tigris while the part of the city on the west bank of the Tigris was known as Bahrseer.

The Muslim advance to Ctesiphon was delayed by the detachments placed on the route to Ctesiphon. That gave Yazdgerd III enough time for his Sassanids to arrange for the defense of the city. The Muslims were expected to follow the traditional route to Ctesiphon and appear before Bahrseer. Knowing this, the city stood well prepared for defense with a deep ditch dug around the perimeter of the suburbs. As the Muslim advance guard approached Bahrseer, the Persian garrison within hurled stones at them using ballistas and catapults. The Muslims pulled back beyond the range of the projectiles and laid siege to the city.

The siege began in January 637, and dragged on for two months. Supplies from the countryside on which Bahrseer depended were entirely cut off although the city continued to receive supplies from Ctesiphon across the Tigris. It was here that Muslims first used siege equipment made for them by the Persian engineers who had accepted Muslim rule. Some time in March 637, the Sassanid garrison emerged from the city in a determined effort to break the siege. Muslim chronicles record a duel between a lion and the Muslim commander Hashim. It is said that the Sassanid forces were led by a fierce lion which had been specially trained for war. The lion rushed at the Muslim front, and their horses bolted. Hashim bin Utbah then rushed at the lion and delivered such a well directed blow that it fell dead. Saad stepped forward to kiss Hashim on the forehead as a mark of admiration for his act of unparalleled heroism. Although exactly who commanded the Sassanid army is not certain, Muslim chronicles record that the Sassanid commander was killed in a duel by Zuhra. Later that evening Zuhra was stuck by an arrow and the hero of the march to Ctesiphon died. He was buried with full military honors. After the break in fighting, a Persian emissary came to the Muslim camp to convey a message from the Persian emperor. The emissary is reported to have said:

"Our emperor asks if you would be agreeable to peace on the condition that the Tigris should be the boundary between you and us, so that whatever is with us on the eastern side of the Tigris remains ours and whatever you have gained on the western side is yours. And if this does not satisfy your land hunger, then nothing would satisfy you."

Saad, however insisted on the usual terms: jaziyah or the sword. The Sassanids accepted the sword.

With Ctesiphon prepared for defenses, Sassanid forces and residents of the Bahrseer withdraw to the main city the next day, destroying all bridges on the Tigris behind them. They also removed all the boats from the western bank of the Tigris, and anchored them on the eastern bank. Ctesiphon was guarded from its southern end by the natural barrier of the Tigris while a ditch had been dug around the rest of the suburbs. With these arrangements Yazdgerd felt satisfied that he could resist the Muslims until he could garner sufficient reinforcements from other provinces to break the siege. By the time Muslim forces occupied Bahrseer the town was empty.

Capture of Ctesiphon

After the occupation of Bahrseer, only the half–mile wide Tigris lay between the Muslims and Ctesiphon. However, the river was in flood and there were no boats available for the Muslims to cross it because the Persians had removed them all during the withdrawal from Bahrseer. The Sassanid forces in Ctesiphon were commanded by Generals Mihran and Farrukhzad, brother of General Rostam who had been killed in the Battle of Qaddisiyyah. Persian volunteers who had accepted Muslim rule showed Saad a site downstream where the river could be forded but he was not sure whether it was suitable for a crossing. The next morning Saad asked for volunteers to cross the river on horseback. First a band of six hundred volunteer horsemen under Asim ibn Amr plunged into the river to cross over to the other bank. A detachment of Sassanid cavalry was sent to intercept the approaching Muslims, and Sassanid horsemen also entered the river to hold back the Muslims. A battle ensued in which the Muslims cavalry successfully overpowered the Persian cavalry, routed them and landed on the eastern bank of the Tigris. The first band of volunteers was immediately followed by other cavalry regiments. The infantry was probably brought to the eastern bank by the boats anchored on the shore. Sassanid forces were too few to offer an effective resistance against the Muslims and thus evacuated Ctesiphon. From the river bank the Muslim forces marched to the city of Ctesiphon, led by the column of Asim ibn Amr. The columns marched through the heart of Ctesiphon where all business premises were closed. No Persians were seen, and the Muslims met no resistance. The Muslims reached the White Palace, the seat of the Persian government, which they occupied. The capital City of Sassanid Persian Empire thus fell to the Rashidun army without a major battle.

Aftermath

After he occupied the city, Saad announced an amnesty for all Persians within. A delegation of representatives of the people waited on Saad. They sought terms, and the usual jaziya was imposed. A peace pact was drawn up, and the citizens were called upon to follow their normal vocations. Sa'ad moved into the White Palace where he established his headquarters. The great courtyard of the palace was converted into a mosque. Emperor Yazdgerd had meanwhile retreated to Hulwan, carrying with him as much of the imperial treasure and other valuable possessions as he could. Saad next sent out columns in several directions to deal with Persian stragglers whereupon a massive booty fell into Muslim hands. Although Muslim forces conquered the Persian provinces as far as Khuzistan, their progress was slowed by a severe drought in Arabia in 638 and the plague in southern Iraq and Syria in 639. After these events, Caliph Umar wanted a break to manage his conquered territories and decided to suspend the offensive. Umar is reported to have said:

"I wish there were a mountain of fire between us and the Persians, so that neither could they get to us, nor we to them."

The Sassanids continued the struggle to regain lost territory. A Persian force was crushed at the Battle of Nihawand, fought in December 641, while the last Persian emperor Yazdgerd III was killed in 651 during the reign of Caliph Uthman. Upon his death the Sassanid Persian empire ceased to exist.

See also

• Modern usage of al-Qādisiyyah
• Islamic conquest of Persia
• Muslim conquests
• Sassanid Empire
• Rashidun Caliphate
• Rashidun army
• Shāh-nāmeh

Sources

• Rosenthal, Franz, The Muqaddimah: An Introduction to History By Ibn Khaldūn, N. J.. Dawoodb, 1967

Further reading

• Ashtiani, Abbas Iqbal and Pirnia, Hassan. Tarikh-e Iran (History of Iran), 3rd ed. Tehran: Kayyam Publishing House, 1973.
• at-Tabarī, Abū Ja`far Muhammad. The Battle of al-Qādisiyyah and the conquest of Syria and Palestine. Edited and translated by Yohanan Friedmann. SUNY series in Near Eastern studies. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992.