The Battle of Ctesiphon was a decisive battle fought between the armies of the Arab Rashidun Caliphate and the Persian Sassanid Empire in 634 AD during the Muslim conquest of Persia.
In 634 AD, the Muslim imam Abdullah ibn Amir was sent from al-Hirah to scout ahead of Shurahbil ibn Hasana's Rashidun army and locate the main Persian field army in Mesopotamia. After months of observing military activity around the Persian capital of Ctesiphon, he discovered that the Persians were building an army led by Hormozd Jadhuyih. Shurahbil decided that it would be best to destroy this army before it could become too powerful and threaten Arabia. He and his 1,800-strong army marched north from al-Ubulla and attacked Hormozd's army as it encamped just outside of Ctesiphon's east gate. He faced a total of 2,460 Sassanid troops, including Hormozd's 780-strong multinational army of Bosphoran swordsmen, Persian spearmen, and Armenian slingers, and Narsi's 1,680-strong Ctesiphon garrison. Hormozd's force defended a fortified encampment, while Narsi's army approached the Rashidun army from behind, hoping to catch the Arabs in a pincer attack which would destroy them.
Shurahbil nearly fell into the Persian trap, as he initially ordered his army to form three divisions and advance on the camp. After his men sighted Narsi and his bodyguards riding onto the battlefield, he hurriedly withdrew his men and tried to form a new battle line facing the desert. His new battle line was hardly formed when Narsi and his cavalry smashed into the Rashidun swordsmen, but Shurahbil sent in his cavalry to repel the Persian attack. The cavalry annihilated Narsi's unit, buying the Rashiduns time to finalize their battle line. They then engaged in a three-sided assault on the advancing Sassanid garrison army, moving the center to engage the Sassanid infantry as the flanks closed in to envelop the garrison. The Arab cavalry concurrently rode down the Persian missile troops before charging the Persians in their rear. Soon, the Persian reinforcement army was entirely destroyed, and the Arabs were then able to focus on Hormozd's fortified camp. The Arabs again attempted an assault from three sides, but their cavalry arrived long before their infantry did, and they did not expect the heavy resistance which Hormozd's cavalry and infantry offered them. The Arab attacking force began to falter, and some of their horsemen began to flee, but the arrival of the Arab infantry and a flanking maneuver by Arab cavalry who entered the camp through its unguarded left side ultimately led to the destruction of the Sassanid army. The battle left 705 Arabs and 2,051 Persians dead, while the Arabs enlisted the 267 Persian prisoners to replenish their ranks. The destruction of the two Persian armies allowed for the Rashiduns to enter Ctesiphon without resistance, delivering a severe blow to the Sassanid Empire.
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