Ctesiphon

name

Etymology: From Latin Ctēsiphōn, from Ancient Greek Κτησιφῶν (Ktēsiphôn).

1. An ancient capital of Parthia and later of the Sassanid Persian Empire, on the Tigris near Baghdad in present-day Iraq, abandoned in the 7th and 8th centuries.

   “These I assume were words so deeply meant / They cut themselves in stone for permanent / Like trouble in the brow above the eyes: / ‘Take Care to Sell Your Horse before He Dies / The Art of Life Is Passing Losses on.’ / The city saying it was Ctesiphon, / Which may a little while by war and trade / Have kept from being caught with the decayed, / Infirm, worn-out, and broken on its hands; […]”