Charax Spasinu

Charax Spasinu, also called Charax Spasinou, Charax Pasinu, Spasinu Charax, Alexandria or Antiochia in Susiana, was an ancient port at the head of the Persian Gulf in what is now Iraq and the capital of the ancient kingdom of Characene [1]. Charax was initially named Alexandria after Alexander the Great, and he perhaps even personally founded it [1]. The city passed to the Seleucid Empire after Alexander's death, until it was destroyed at some point by flooding [1]. The city was rebuilt c. 166 BC by order of Antiochus IV, who appointed Hyspaosines as satrap to oversee the work [1]. Before the invasion of Trajan Charax minted coins of a Hellenistic type, while after the invasion, the coinage was of a more Parthian character [1]. In AD 116, the Roman Emperor Trajan visited Charax Spasinu – his most recent, easternmost, and shortest-lived possession [1].