Wēh Antīōk Khosrow ( Middle Persian: wyḥ ʾntywk ḥwslwd; literally, "better than Antioch, 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: , literally "Better-than-Antioch of Khosrow"), Antiocheia Chosroou ( Greek), 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 History of Iran, last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th cen ...

, 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., United ...

, Erich Kettenhofen, John R. Perry, “DEPORTATIONS,” '' Encyclopædia Iranica'', 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 as a tool of policy.

captured Antioch 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, Antioch,

Apamea Apamea or Apameia ( grc, Απάμεια) is the name of several Hellenistic cities in western Asia, after Apama, the Sogdian wife of Seleucus I Nicator, several of which are also former bishoprics and Catholic titular see. Places called Apamea in ...

, 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 conciliar acts. Procopius 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 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 throughout ...

s and a circus. 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, founde ...

. 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 Mu ...

under Khalid ibn Urfuta. Later in the Abbasid period, Caliph Al-Mansur 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