Taq-i Kisra at Ctesiphon: the Sasanian arch still standing

The explanations distinguish finds, interpretations and open questions. Sources appear at the end of the page.

What the source says

The exhibition page "The Sasanians: Cities & Architecture" of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art, part of the exhibition on the Shapur plate, describes Ctesiphon as "another important capital" of the Sasanians, built near modern Baghdad "on the site of earlier Parthian and Seleucid cities". According to the page, its famous Taq-i Kisra (Arch of Khusrow) "is not only the best standing example of the Sasanian monumental arch (iwan)" but "also one of the largest arches in the world". Elsewhere on the page it is described as the royal palace at Ctesiphon, "near the center of the Persian Empire". Source 1.

Why so little remains

The page explains: "Structures built of mud brick have decayed over time", and the buildings that do remain "speak to a grand and original architectural scheme for Sasanian cities". As a further example it gives Firuzabad, according to the page the first known Sasanian city, built by Ardashir (reigned 224-241 CE): its distinctive circular plan, the focal point of the empire, "probably served a symbolic as well as a practical purpose", and the palace of Ardashir I there is an important example of Sasanian architecture. Firuzabad appears here only as the source's comparison, not as part of Ctesiphon. Source 1.

The iwan and the excavations

The word "iwan" links this source to the Met's timeline: according to the timeline, the Parthians developed the iwan, an open-fronted vaulted hall, and Ardashir's successors established their administrative and economic center at Ctesiphon. The Met's record of the stucco window from Ctesiphon lists the main palace (Taq-i Kisra) among the places excavated in the Ctesiphon area, where an expedition sponsored by the German Oriental Society undertook systematic excavations in 1928-29. Sources 2, 3.

Dating and what can be said

The article is placed in the Sasanian period in Mesopotamia (224-636/37 CE according to the Met's timeline) because the source calls the arch Sasanian. That is a placement by dynasty and style, not a building date: none of the sources read gives the Taq-i Kisra a year or a century, dimensions, or the name of a king who built it beyond the name "Arch of Khusrow", so it cannot be placed within the four centuries of the period. That Ctesiphon was built on the site of earlier Parthian and Seleucid cities does not date the arch either; it places Ctesiphon in a longer sequence of cities, and according to the timeline the Parthians had already established their capital there, across the river from Seleucia. "Best" and "one of the largest" are the source's assessments, given without measurements. Sources 1, 2, 4.

Scope of reading: the Smithsonian exhibition page on Sasanian cities and architecture was read on 24 October 2026, together with the Met timeline pages for 1000 B.C.-1 A.D. and 1-500 A.D. and the Met record of the window from Ctesiphon. Excavation reports from Ctesiphon, architectural surveys of the arch and sources on its present condition were not read, so there are no measurements, building date or account of its state of preservation here.