Charax Spasinou

Charax Spasinou was a Port City, also known as Alexandria, which was the capital city of a small State called Characene, located on the Persian Gulf in modern Kuwait.
It was founded in 324 BCE by Alexander the Great.

Charax Spasinou was originally on the coast of the Persian Gulf in what is now modern Kuwait.
However, silt from the rivers, had already made it an inland city by the time of Pliny the Elder (23-79 CE). He described it as already being 120 miles (193km) inland, and located on a piece of land between where the Tigris and Karkheh rivers united.

Charax was an important and wealthy Port, with ships arriving from the city of Gerrha in the Persian Gulf, India, Egypt and other far flung countries.
Charax acted as the seaport for the inland cities of Ctesiphon and Seleucia on the Euphrates and Shushtar, on the river Karun.
Charax was the centre of trade through Arabia, controlled by the Nabataeans until 106 CE.
Its trading partner was Gerrha, another city in Arabia, further down the coast of the Persian Gulf.
After 117 CE, Charax continued to be independent, but under Persian influence. It was still minting coins until 715 CE.
The sources for the history of Charax is derived from ancient authors and also from the coins produced by its Mint.

Strabo (c.64 BCE – 24 CE)
- He refers to the city as an Emporium, meaning a trading station.
Isidore of Charax ( c.24 BCE)
- He was a Parthian Geographer from Charax, who wrote ‘Parthian Stations’ around c. 24 BCE. This was an Itinerary of the Road through Parthia from Antioch to India using the Caravan stations.
Gan Ying (97 CE)
- He was an Envoy sent from China, who visited Charax intending to reach Egypt and Rome, but was persuaded to return to China by the Parthians. Charax Spasinou was known to the Chinese as Tiaozhi.
Trajan (116 CE)
- In 116 CE Trajan annexed the city, and observed the ships departing for India.

Excavations started on the ruins of Charax in 2016 in Naysan.
This is located at Naysan Tell, near Al-Bubsairy, on the Shatt al-Arab, Iraq, at the confluence of the Tigris and Karkheh Rivers.

Charax Spasinou, Al-Bubsairy, Basra, Iraq