Charax Spasinou: Research on the capital of Mesene, a center of ancient trade

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During his reign as successor to the Achaemenids Alexander the Great founded a strategically placed city on the confluence of Tigris and Eulaios (Karkha). Under consecutive Seleucid, Arsacid and Sasanian rulers this city became the capital of the province of Mesene, i.e. the wider region of modern southern Iraq and the northern half of the Gulf, until the 5th/6th century AD. Twice destroyed by floodwaters in the mid-2nd century BC the city became famous as Charax Spasinou, i.e. palisade of (its re-founder) Hyspaosines. As most important port in the Persian Gulf area Charax Spasinou became the trade hub of long-distance exchange between India, China and the economic and political centers of the Seleucid to Sasanian period in Babylonia (Seleucia on the Tigris, Ctesiphon) und Elymais (Susa), but also the harbor used by the merchants of Palmyra to import commodities from the East for customers in the Roman Empire. Charax Spasinou suffered from changes in the course of the Eulaios river and later also of the Tigris river bed and was abandoned, probably in the 7th – 8th century AD. The nearly flat ruin of the city, measuring close to 6 km2 and featuring a 2.5 km long 4 to 7 m high rampart, was identified by J. Hansman in 1965 at modern Jebel Khanabir. But its location close to the border between Iraq and Iran prevented any further archaeological research. Finally, in March 2016 J. Moon, R. Killick and St. Campbell were able to conduct a first preliminary season on the site. Drone images and geophysical prospection demonstrated the excellent preservation of the ruins below the surface which allows to clearly identify the street grid in an outstanding size, monumental and smaller buildings of several consecutive phases and production sites like kilns. Accordingly, the comprehensive documentation of remains at Charax Spasinou is an important part of a three-year research project for the years 2017 to 2019 which concerns the identification and plans for protection of endangered cultural heritage in southern Iraq, currently funded by the British Cultural Protection Fund. The aim of the present application is to follow up and expand on this research in two directions. The first objective is the detailed reconstruction of the city’s structure. The outstanding preservation with very limited later building activity in the entire area offers excellent possibilities for inquiries into city-planning, specific public buildings like palaces and temples as well as living quarters and specifically the harbor with its docks and storehouses. It will thus greatly enhance our limited knowledge on the cities of the Seleucid to Sasanian period in greater Mesopotamia.The city’s history, on the other hand, is intimately related to the developments of the river system. The second objective in this application, therefore, is to place Charax Spasinou within its (palaeo)environmental context of the changing of rivers and channels.