'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. I. 1918' [‎75] (84/568)

HISTOEY. 75.
exhausted their strength in their struggles with the Romans. Follow
ing the usual custom of Orientals, the new rulers chose a capital city
of their own making, and founded Ctesiphon. on the left or eastern
bank of the Tigris, exactly opposite to Seleucia, which, however, in
no way suffered thereby. Arab historians state, 700 years later, that
at the time of the Moslem conquest of Mesopotamia both cities were
great and flourishing. In a.d . 226 the Parthians gave way to the
Persian dynasty of the Sassanids, who thereafter held Mesopotamia
until the Moslem invasion.
The monarchy of the Parthians and Sassanids was constantly at
war with the Roman Empire, which was established in Syria. At
first the middle Euphrates was the boundarj 7 between the two Powers.
There was a long struggle for the protectorate of Armenia, which
ended in a compromise favourable to Rome. Trajan ( a.d . 115-117)
tried to settle the Eastern question by the conquest of the whole of
Mesopotamia down to the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , but his gains could not be
maintained, and under his successor Hadrian the original boundaries
were restored. In the middle of the second century a. d . a successful
war gave Rome the western part of the upper Jezlreh (region of
Urfeh and Harran), and at the end of the same century the eastern
portion of the Jezlreh north of the Sinjar hills also came under her
control. A number of Roman fortresses were established in the
country, the principal of which was Nisibis. The upper Jezlreh
was thenceforward the scene of numerous campaigns, but, though
successful Persian invasions were not uncommon and the frontier
shifted backwards and forwards, the country was generally under
Roman rule. In northern Jezlreh there are still to be seen memorials
of the Roman Empire in city-walls (Urfeh, Diarbekr) and remains
of bridges, forts, &c.
Under Parthian and Sassanid in the south and Roman rule in
the north, Mesopotamia long continued to flourish. Like Cyrus
and his successors, the Parthian and Sassanid kings spent then-
winters at Ctesiphon. The great arch of Ctesiphon belongs to the
Sassanid period. Babylonia was still extraordinarily rich; under
Sassanid government the irrigation-system of Irak was probably
brought to the highest pitch of development which it has ever attained.
The Jezlreh contained some considerable cities and, besides fertile
irrigated areas, much pastoral wealth. But towards the end of
the Sassanid age civil and foreign war and weak government were
beginning to affect the prosperity of the country.
During this period Christianity spread both in the Roman and in
the Persian provinces of Mesopotamia, and, after it had been adopted
as the State religion of the Roman Empire (fourth century), it became