Wēh Antīōk Khosrow (

Middle Persian Middle Persian or Pahlavi, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg () in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasanian Empire. For some time after the Sasanian collapse, Middle P ...

: wyḥ ʾntywk ḥwslwd; literally, "better than

Antioch Antioch on the Orontes (; grc-gre, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου, ''Antiókheia hē epì Oróntou'', Learned ; also Syrian Antioch) grc-koi, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου; or Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπ� ...

, Khosrow built this"),Beate Dignas, Engelbert Winter: ''Rome and Persia in Late Antiquity''. Cambridge 2007, 109 also called Beh-az-Andīw-e Khosrow (

New Persian New Persian ( fa, فارسی نو), also known as Modern Persian () and Dari (), is the current stage of the Persian language spoken since the 8th to 9th centuries until now in Greater Iran and surroundings. It is conventionally divided into thr ...

: , literally "Better-than-Antioch of Khosrow"), Antiocheia Chosroou (

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

), Rūmagān ( fa, رومگان), or al-Rūmīya ( ar, الرومية), was a historic city in modern day Iraq. It was founded by Iranian king

Khosrow I Khosrow I (also spelled Khosrau, Khusro or Chosroes; pal, 𐭧𐭥𐭮𐭫𐭥𐭣𐭩; New Persian: []), traditionally known by his epithet of Anushirvan ( [] "the Immortal Soul"), was the Sasanian Empire, Sasanian King of Kings of Iran from ...

on the east bank of the Tigris in the vicinity of

Ctesiphon Ctesiphon ( ; Middle Persian: 𐭲𐭩𐭮𐭯𐭥𐭭 ''tyspwn'' or ''tysfwn''; fa, تیسفون; grc-gre, Κτησιφῶν, ; syr, ܩܛܝܣܦܘܢThomas A. Carlson et al., “Ctesiphon — ܩܛܝܣܦܘܢ ” in The Syriac Gazetteer last modi ...

Sasanian Empire The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...

, that was populated by deported Roman prisoners-of-war.

A. Shapur Shahbazi ) , image = Shahbazi 3.jpg , image_size = 220px , alt = , caption = , birth_date = , birth_place = Shiraz, Iran , death_date = , death_place = Washington D.C., Unite ...

, Erich Kettenhofen, John R. Perry, “DEPORTATIONS,” ''

Encyclopædia Iranica ''Encyclopædia Iranica'' is a project whose goal is to create a comprehensive and authoritative English language encyclopedia about the history, culture, and civilization of Iranian peoples from prehistory to modern times. Scope The ''Encyc ...

'', VII/3, pp. 297-312, available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/deportations (accessed on 30 December 2012). It was reportedly about one day's walk from

. The Persians used

deportation Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The term ''expulsion'' is often used as a synonym for deportation, though expulsion is more often used in the context of international law, while deportation ...

as a tool of policy.

captured

in 540 during the Byzantine–Sasanian wars; the city was destroyed and its population was deported to this new city. According to Jacob of Edessa, prisoners-of-war from the cities of

Sura A ''surah'' (; ar, سورة, sūrah, , ), is the equivalent of "chapter" in the Qur'an. There are 114 ''surahs'' in the Quran, each divided into '' ayats'' (verses). The chapters or ''surahs'' are of unequal length; the shortest surah ('' Al-K ...

, Beroea,

, Apamea, Callinicum, and

Batnai Batnaya ( ar, باطنايا, syr, ܒܛܢܝܐ) is a village in Nineveh Governorate, Iraq. It is located in the Tel Kaif District in the Nineveh Plains. In the village, there are Chaldean Catholic churches of Mar Quriaqos and Mart Maryam. T ...

in Osrhoene were deported to this new city. It may be identical with ''Māhōzē Ḥəḏattā'' (literally "the New City") in the

Syriac Syriac may refer to: *Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic *Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region * Syriac alphabet ** Syriac (Unicode block) ** Syriac Supplement * Neo-Aramaic languages a ...

conciliar acts.

Procopius Procopius of Caesarea ( grc-gre, Προκόπιος ὁ Καισαρεύς ''Prokópios ho Kaisareús''; la, Procopius Caesariensis; – after 565) was a prominent late antique Greek scholar from Caesarea Maritima. Accompanying the Roman gen ...

has provided detailed information on the building of the city, though his primary source is pro-Sasanian. According to

al-Tabari ( ar, أبو جعفر محمد بن جرير بن يزيد الطبري), more commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Muslim historian and scholar from Amol, Tabaristan. Among the most prominent figures of the Islamic Golden Age, al-Tabari ...

and al-Tha'alibi, the city was built on the plan of the Syrian

metropolis A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications. A big c ...

and Khosrow I did everything in his power to make the residents want to stay. He provided Weh Antiok Khosrow with

Roman bath In ancient Rome, (from Greek , "hot") and (from Greek ) were facilities for bathing. usually refers to the large imperial bath complexes, while were smaller-scale facilities, public or private, that existed in great numbers througho ...

s and a

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclis ...

. He also settled charioteers in the city. The city was governed by Barāz, a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι� ...

from

Gundeshapur Gundeshapur ( pal, 𐭥𐭧𐭩𐭠𐭭𐭣𐭩𐭥𐭪𐭱𐭧𐭯𐭥𐭧𐭥𐭩, ''Weh-Andiōk-Šābuhr''; New Persian: , ''Gondēshāpūr'') was the intellectual centre of the Sassanid Empire and the home of the Academy of Gundishapur, founded ...

. By the late 6th century, it had a population of circa 30,000. The city was captured by the

Arab Muslims Arab Muslims ( ar, العرب المسلمون) are adherents of Islam who identify linguistically, culturally, and genealogically as Arabs. Arab Muslims greatly outnumber other ethnoreligious groups in the Middle East and North Africa. Arab M ...

under

Khalid ibn Urfuta Khalid ibn Urfuta ( ar, خالد بن عرفطة) was a military leader in the early Islamic conquest of Persia. He captured Valashabad, Weh Antiok Khusrau (''al-Rumiyya'') and Veh-Ardashir for the Rashidun Caliphate The Rashidun Caliphate ( ...

. Later in the

Abbasid The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Mutta ...

period, Caliph

Al-Mansur Abū Jaʿfar ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad al-Manṣūr (; ar, أبو جعفر عبد الله بن محمد المنصور‎; 95 AH – 158 AH/714 CE – 6 October 775 CE) usually known simply as by his laqab Al-Manṣūr (المنصور) ...

used the city, then known as ''al Rumiyyah'' as seat of government for a few months.

References

Sources

* * * {{coord missing, Iraq Sasanian cities Roman towns and cities Prisoners of war Deportation Khosrow I Baghdad Governorate Former populated places in Iraq 540s establishments

See also

References

Sources