Thegeography of Mesopotamia, encompassing itsethnology andhistory, is centered on the two great rivers, theTigris andEuphrates. While the southern is flat and marshy, the near approach of the two rivers to one another, at a spot where the undulatingplateau of the north sinks suddenly into theBabylonianalluvium, tends to separate them still more completely. In the earliest recorded times, the northern portion was included inMesopotamia; it was marked off asAssyria after the rise of the Assyrian monarchy. Apart fromAssur, the original capital of Assyria, the chief cities of the country,Nineveh,Kalaḫ andArbela, were all on the east bank of the Tigris. The reason was its abundant supply of water, whereas the great plain on the western side had to depend on streams flowing into the Euphrates.
Mesopotamia means "(Land) between two rivers" inancient Greek, referring to the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, but the region can be broadly defined to include the area that is now most of Iraq, eastern Syria, southeastern Turkey.[1] The oldest known occurrence of the name Mesopotamia dates to the 4th century BCE, when it was used to designate the land east of theEuphrates in northSyria.[2] In modern times it has been more generally applied to all the lands between the Euphrates and theTigris,[citation needed] thereby incorporating not only parts of Syria but also almost all ofIraq and southeasternTurkey, and parts of southwestern Iran.[3] The neighboringsteppes to the west of the Euphrates and the western part of theZagros Mountains are also often included under the wider term Mesopotamia.[4][5][6] A further distinction is usually made between Upper or Northern Mesopotamia and Lower or Southern Mesopotamia.[7]Upper Mesopotamia, also known as the Jazirah, is the area between the Euphrates and the Tigris from their sources down toBaghdad.[4] Lower Mesopotamia is the area from Baghdad to thePersian Gulf.[7] In modern scientific usage, the term Mesopotamia often also has a chronological connotation. In modern Western historiography of the region, the term "Mesopotamia" is usually used to designate the area from the beginning of time, until theMuslim conquest in the 630s, with the Arabic names Iraq and Jazirah being to describe the region after that live event.[3][8]
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This vast flat is about 250 miles (400 km) in length, interrupted only by a single limestone range rising abruptly out of the plain, and branching off from theZagros Mountains under the names ofSarazur,Hamrin Mountains andSinjar Mountains. The numerous remains of old habitations show how thickly this level tract must once have been peopled, though now mostly a wilderness. North of the plateau rises a well-watered and undulating belt of country, into which run low ranges of limestone hills, sometimes arid, sometimes covered withdwarf oak, and often shutting in, between their northern and northeastern flank and the main mountain line from which they detach themselves, rich plains and fertile valleys. Behind them tower the massive ridges of the Euphrates and Zagros ranges, where the Tigris and Euphrates take their rise, and which cut off Assyria fromArmenia andKurdistan. The name Assyria itself was derived from that of the city ofAssur orAsur, now Qal'at Sherqat (Kaleh Shergat), on the right bank of the Tigris, midway between theGreat andLittle Zab. It remained the capital long after the Assyrians had become the dominant power in western Asia, but was finally supplanted by Calah (Nimrud),Nineveh (Nebi Vunus and Kuyunjik), andDur-Sharrukin (Khorsabad), some 60 miles (97 km) farther north.
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In contrast with the arid plateau of Mesopotamia stretched the rich alluvial plain ofChaldea, formed by the deposits of the two great rivers that encircled it. The soil was extremely fertile, and teemed with an industrious population. Eastward rose the mountains ofElam, southward were the sea-marshes and the Kaldy or Chaldeans and otherArameans, while on the west the civilization of Babylonia encroached beyond the banks of the Euphrates, upon the territory of the nomadicancient Semitic-speaking peoples (or Suti). Here stoodUr (Mugheir, more correctly Muqayyar) the earliest capital of the country; and Babylon, with its suburb,Borsippa (Birs Nimrud), as well as the twoSippars (the Sepharvaim of Scripture, now Abu Habba), occupied both the Arabian and Chaldaean sides of the river. The Arakhtu, or "river of Babylon," flowed past the southern side of the city, and to the southwest of it on the Arabian bank lay the great inland freshwater sea ofNajaf, surrounded by red sandstone cliffs of considerable height, 40 miles (64 km) in length and 35 in breadth in the widest part. Above and below this sea, from Borsippa to Kufa, extend the famous Chaldaean marshes, whereAlexander the Great was nearly lost (Arrian, Eup. Al. vii. 22; Strabo xvi. I, § 12); but these depend upon the state of the Hindiya canal, disappearing altogether when it is closed.
Eastward of the Euphrates and southward of Sippara, Kutha and Babylon wereKish (Ultaimir, 9 miles (14 km) E. of Hillah),Nippur (Niffer)-where stood the great sanctuary of El-lu, the older Bel-Uruk orUruk (ArabicWarka) andLarsa (ArabicSenkera) with its temple of the sun god, while eastward of theShatt el-Hai, probably the ancient channel of the Tigris, wasLagash (Tello), which played an important part in early Babylonian history.
The primitive seaport of the country,Eridu, the seat of the worship ofEa the culture-god, was a little south of Ur on the west side of the Euphrates. It is now about 130 miles (210 km) from the sea; as about 46 inches of land have been formed by the silting up of the shore since the foundation ofCharax Spasinu in the time ofAlexander the Great, or some 115 feet (35 m) a year, the city would have existed perhaps 6000 years ago. The marshes in the south, like the adjoining desert, were frequented by Aramaic tribes; of these, the most famous were theAncient Chaldeans, who, underMarduk-apla-iddina II, made themselves masters of Babylon and gave their name in later days to the whole population of the country. The combined stream of the Euphrates and Tigris as it flowed through the marshes was known to the Babylonians as thendr marrati, "the salt river" (cp.Book of Jeremiah 1:21), a name originally applied to thePersian Gulf.
The alluvial plain of Babylonia was calledEdin, though the name was properly restricted to "the plain" on the western bank of the river where the Bedouins pastured the flocks of their Babylonian masters. This "bank" orkisad, together with the corresponding western bank of the Tigris (according toFritz Hommel, the modern Shatt el-Uai), gave its name to the land ofChesed, whence theKasdim or Kasdin of the Hebrew Bible. In the early inscriptions ofLagash, the whole district is known asGu-Edinna, theSumerian equivalent of the SemiticKisad Edini. The coastland was similarly known asGu-gubba (AkkadianKisad tamtim) "bank of the sea."
A more comprehensive name of southern Mesopotamia wasKengi, "the land," orKengi Sumer, "the land of Sumer". Sumer has been supposed to be the original of the BiblicalShinar and the Sankhar of theAmarna letters. Opposed to Kengi and Sumer wereUrra (Un) andAkkad or northern Babylonia. The original meaning of Urra was perhaps "clayey soil," but it came to signify "the upper country" or "highlands,"kengi being "the lowlands." In Semitic times, Urra was pronounced Un and confounded withuru, "city" as a geographical term, however, it was replaced byAkkadu, the Semitic form ofAgade - written Akkattim in the Elamite inscriptions - the name ofSargon of Akkad's capital. The rise of Sargon's empire was the probable cause of this extension of the name of Akkad; henceforward in the imperial title, "Sumer and Akkad" denoted the whole of Babylonia. After theKassite conquest of the country, northern Babylonia came to be known as Kar-Duniyash, "the wall of the god Duniyask," from a line of forts similar to that built byNebuchadnezzar II betweenSippar andOpis, to defend his kingdom from attacks from the north. As this last was "the Wall ofSemiramis" mentioned byStrabo (xi. 14. 8), Kar-Duniyash may have represented theMedian Wall ofXenophon (Anab. ii. 4. 12), traces of which were found by F.R. Chesney extending fromFallujah to Jibar.
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The dense population arose from the elaborate irrigation of the Babylonian plain, which had originally reclaimed it from a pestiferous and uninhabitable swamp, and had made it the most fertile country in the world. The science of irrigation and engineering seems to have been first developed in Babylonia, which was covered by a network of canals, all skillfully planned and regulated. The three chief of them carried off the waters of the Euphrates to the Tigris above Babylon: the Zabzallat canal (or Nahr Sarsar) running from Faluja toCtesiphon, the Kutha canal from Sippara to Madam, passing Tell Ibrahim or Kuth'a on the way, and the King's canal or Ar-Malcha between the other two. This last, which perhaps owed its name toHammurabi, was conducted from the Euphrates towards Upi or Opis, which has been shown by H. Winckler (Altorientalische Forschungen, ii. pp. 509 seq.) to have been close toSeleucia on the western side of the Tigris. The Pallacopas, called Pallukkatu in the Neo-Babylonian texts, started from Pallukkatu or Falluja, and running parallel to the western bank of the Euphrates as far as Iddaratu or Teredon, (?) watered an immense tract of land and supplied a large lake near Borsippa. B. Meissner may be right in identifying it with "the Canal of the Sun-god" of the early texts.
Thanks to this system of irrigation, the cultivation of the soil was highly advanced in Babylonia. According toHerodotus (1.193), wheat commonly returned two hundredfold to the sower, and occasionally three hundredfold.Pliny the Elder (H. N. xviii. 11) states that it was cut twice, and afterwards was good keep for sheep, and Berossus remarked that wheat,sesame,barley,ophrys,palms,apples and many kinds of shelled fruit grew wild, as wheat still does in the neighbourhood ofAnah. APersian poem celebrated the 360 uses of the palm (Strabo xvi. I. 14), andAmmianus Marcellinus (xxiv. 3) says that from the point reached byJulian's army to the shores of the Persian Gulf was one continuous forest of verdure.
The location of most of the major cities such asKish,Uruk,Lagash etc. is known with certainty, while the location of minor settlements, situated along a network of canals, is more difficult to reconstruct.An important source of Mesopotamian toponymy is the great Babylonian encyclopediaUrra=hubullu and its commentaries. These texts contain lists of toponyms, but circumstantial evidence is required to correlate these with their geographical location. The most useful category of texts for this purpose are itineraries, which list settlements in the sequence they are passed by a traveller.
Important canals of Sumer included
