The name Charax, probably from ancient Greek Χάραξ,[1] means "palisaded fort" and was applied to several fortified Seleucid towns.

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.

[2] According to Pliny the Elder: The town of Charax is situated in the innermost recess of the Persian Gulf, from which projects the country called Arabia Felix.

It stands on an artificial elevation between the Tigris on the right and the Karún on the left, at the point where these two rivers unite, and the site measures two [Roman] miles [3 km] in breadth...

There is no part of the world where earth carried down by rivers has encroached on the sea further or more rapidly...[3]The Description of Pliny matches the depiction on the Tabula Peutingeriana.

Here he established a quarter (dēmē) of the port called Pella, named after Alexander's own town of birth, where he settled Macedonian Greek veterans.

[10] The political instability that followed the Parthian conquest of most of the Seleucid Empire allowed Hyspaosines to establish an independent state, Characene, in 127 BC.

Charax remained the capital of the small state for 282 years, with the numismatic evidence suggesting it was a multi-ethnic Hellenised city with extensive trading links.

In AD 221–222, an ethnic Persian, Ardašēr, who was satrap of Fars, led a revolt against the Parthians, establishing the Sasanian Empire.

[5] Charax was finally abandoned during the 9th century due to persistent flooding and a dramatic decrease in trade with the West.