The name Charax, probably from Greek Χάραξ, literally means "palisaded fort", and was applied to several fortified
There … See more

Charax was located on a large mound known as Jabal Khuyabir at Naysān near the confluence of the Eulaios/Karkheh and the Tigris as recorded by Pliny the Elder.
According to Pliny the Elder:
The town o… See more

Excavations on the site started in 2016, which revealed that the city was laid out on a grid pattern with housing block 185 by 85 m square. These belong to the largest blocks in the ancient world. Two large public build… See more

A history of the city of Charax can be distilled only from ancient texts and numismatic sources, as the city itself has never been properly excavated.
The city was established by Alexander the Great in … See more

The original Greek town was enlarged by an Arabian chieftain, Spasines, and afterward named Spasines and Charax Spasinou after him. It was a major trading center of late antiquity as evidenced by the hoards of G… See more

Prior to the invasion of Trajan Charax minted coins of a Hellenistic type while after the invasion the coinage was of a more Parthian character. Charax minted coin through the Sassanid Empire and into the Umayyad … See more