Charax Χάραξ: l’ultima Alessandria nelle fonti greco-romane e cinesi

In Lower Mesopotamia, where the
Eulaios River meets the Tigris at the innermost
point of the Persian Gulf, Alexander the Great
founded his “last” Alexandria (Pl. Nat. Hist.
VI, 31, 138) in 324 BCE. The ktisis of the Macedonian
ruler had the purpose of reconfirming
the commercial importance that this area, coinciding
with ancient Mesene, had held since
antiquity: Alexandria on the Tigris would
in fact have played an important role in the
cultural, economic and commercial exchanges
from the East to Mesopotamia connecting
China with the Mediterranean World. This
significance endured well beyond Alexander’s
death, with the city being refounded many
times under different names. Although the
city was periodically destroyed by river flooding,
and a series of shifts in power took place
on the local political scene, Alexandria on the
Tigris was refounded first as Antioch and
then as Charax Spasinou Χάραξ Σπασίνου,
during the Seleucid and later Parthian reigns
remained a key international trade hub, and
enjoyed a considerable degree of autonomy: it
was mentioned by Isidore of Charax as one of
the stations of the Parthian trade routes in his
Parthian Stations (Σταθμοί Παρθικοί), a work
compiled on behalf of the Roman Empire. The
toponym also appears in some ancient Chinese
sources, in connection with the westward
mission of Gan Ying 甘英 (97 CE), sent by
General Ban Chao 班超 in search of contact
with Da Qin 大秦 (the Roman Empire): in
Chinese dynastic histories, the area of Charax
is referred to as Tiaozhi 條枝.