in Ancient Geography, a large city in the south of Assyria, on the left bank of the Tigris, said to have been founded by a Parthian, Varanes by name, but of whose history nothing is now known. Ctesiphon first rose into importance when the adjoining city of Seleucia began to decay; and on account of its mild and agreeable climate was selected by the Parthian kings as a winter residence, while they spent their summers at Ecbatana. On the fall of the Parthian empire, Ctesiphon began to decline, but on the re-establishment of Persia under the Sassanids, it once more rose into importance. At the time when it fell into the hands of the Roman emperor Severus, its population must have been very great, as from it alone 100,000 prisoners were carried off. Under the Eastern empire Ctesiphon was a strongly fortified place. The time and manner of its destruction are unknown. Remains of the city have been recently discovered at a place called by the Arabs Al Maidan.

CRESIPHON, or more properly Chersiphron, a Cretan artist who furnished designs for the great temple of Diana at Ephesus, and invented a machine for transporting the columns of that famous structure. He flourished about 560 B.C.