Ctesiphon

Mesopotamia (Sasanian Persia)

Ctesiphon (al-Mada'in), on the Tigris southeast of modern Baghdad in Iraq, was the capital of the Sasanian Persian Empire until its conquest by the Muslims around 637; its great arched hall (Taq Kasra) still stands. The companion Salman al-Farisi (d. c. 657), the Persian convert close to the Prophet, is traditionally buried at al-Mada'in, where a shrine marks his tomb.