Editing Geography of Mesopotamia

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[[File:N-Mesopotamia and Syria english.svg|235x235px|thumb|right|Map showing the extent of Mesopotamia]]
The '''geography of Mesopotamia''', encompassing its [[ethnology]] and [[history]], centered on the two great rivers, the [[Tigris]] and [[Euphrates]]. While the southern is flat and marshy, the near approach of the two rivers to one another, at a spot where the undulating [[plateau]] of the north sinks suddenly into the [[Babylon]]ian [[alluvium]], tends to separate them still more completely. In the earliest recorded times, the northern portion was included in [[Mesopotamia]]; it was marked off as [[Assyria]] after the rise of the Assyrian monarchy. Apart from [[Assur]], the original capital of Assyria, the chief cities of the country, [[Nineveh]], [[Nimrud|Kalaḫ]] and [[Erbil|Arbela]], 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.

==Defining Mesopotamia==
Mesopotamia means "(Land) between two rivers" in [[ancient 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.<ref>{{Cite web|title=history of Mesopotamia {{!}} Definition, Civilization, Summary, Agriculture, & Facts {{!}} Britannica|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Mesopotamia-historical-region-Asia|access-date=2022-02-05|website=www.britannica.com|language=en}}</ref> The oldest known occurrence of the name Mesopotamia dates to the 4th century BCE, when it was used to designate the land east of the [[Euphrates]] in north [[Syria]].<ref name=finkelstein>{{harvnb|Finkelstein|1962|p=73}}</ref> In modern times it has been more generally applied to all the lands between the Euphrates and the [[Tigris]],{{Citation needed|date=April 2012}} thereby incorporating not only parts of Syria but also almost all of [[Iraq]] and southeastern [[Turkey]], and parts of southwestern Iran.<ref name=fosterpolingerfoster20096>{{harvnb|Foster|Polinger Foster|2009|p=6}}</ref> The neighboring [[steppe|steppes]] to the west of the Euphrates and the western part of the [[Zagros Mountains]] are also often included under the wider term Mesopotamia.<ref name=canard>{{harvnb|Canard|2011}}</ref><ref name=wilkinson2000>{{harvnb|Wilkinson|2000|pp=222–223}}</ref><ref name=matthews20035>{{harvnb|Matthews|2003|p=5}}</ref> A further distinction is usually made between Upper or Northern Mesopotamia and Lower or Southern Mesopotamia.<ref name=miqueletal>{{harvnb|Miquel|Brice|Sourdel|Aubin|2011}}</ref> [[Upper Mesopotamia]], also known as the Jazirah, is the area between the Euphrates and the Tigris from their sources down to [[Baghdad]].<ref name=canard/> Lower Mesopotamia is the area from Baghdad to the [[Persian Gulf]].<ref name=miqueletal/> 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 the [[Early Muslim conquests|Muslim conquest]] in the 630s, with the Arabic names Iraq and Jazirah being to describe the region after that live event.<ref name=fosterpolingerfoster20096/><ref>{{harvnb|Bahrani|1998}}</ref>

==Upper Mesopotamia==
[[File:Murat 06.jpg|right|thumb|View of the [[Murat River]], one of the tributaries to the [[Euphrates]], in southeastern [[Turkey]]|alt=A river flowing through a wide valley]]
[[File:Jezirah 0001.jpg|thumb|Typical view of farmland in the area north of [[al-Hasakah]], with an ancient [[Tell (archaeology)|tell]] visible on the horizon]]{{Unreferenced section|date=January 2021}}
This vast flat is about {{convert|250|mi|km}} in length, interrupted only by a single limestone range rising abruptly out of the plain, and branching off from the [[Zagros Mountains]] under the names of [[Sarazur]], [[Hainrin]] and [[Sinjar]]. 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 with [[Quercus intricata|dwarf 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 from [[Armenia]] and [[Kurdistan]]. The name Assyria itself was derived from that of the city of [[Assur]] or [[Asur, Iran|Asur]], now Qal'at Sherqat (Kaleh Shergat), on the right bank of the Tigris, midway between the [[Great Zab|Great]] and [[Little 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), and [[Dur-Sharrukin]] (Khorsabad), some {{convert|60|mi|km}} farther north.

==Lower Mesopotamia==
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In contrast with the arid plateau of Mesopotamia stretched the rich alluvial plain of [[Chaldea]], 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 of [[Elam]], southward were the sea-marshes and the Kaldy or Chaldeans and other [[Arameans]], while on the west the civilization of Babylonia encroached beyond the banks of the Euphrates, upon the territory of the nomadic [[ancient Semitic-speaking peoples]] (or Suti). Here stood [[Ur]] (Mugheir, more correctly Muqayyar) the earliest capital of the country; and Babylon, with its suburb, [[Borsippa]] (Birs Nimrud), as well as the two [[Sippar]]s (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 of [[Najaf]], surrounded by red sandstone cliffs of considerable height, {{convert|40|mi|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, where [[Alexander 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 were [[Kish (Sumer)|Kish]] (Ultaimir, {{convert|9|mi|km}} E. of Hillah), [[Nippur]] (Niffer)-where stood the great sanctuary of El-lu, the older Bel-Uruk or [[Uruk]] (Arabic ''Warka'') and [[Larsa]] (Arabic ''Senkera'') with its temple of the sun god, while eastward of the Shatt el-Hai, probably the ancient channel of the Tigris, was [[Lagash]] (''Tello''), which played an important part in early Babylonian history.

The primitive seaport of the country, [[Eridu]], the seat of the worship of [[Enki|Ea]] the culture-god, was a little south of Ur on the west side of the Euphrates. It is now about {{convert|130|mi|km}} from the sea; as about 46&nbsp;inches of land have been formed by the silting up of the shore since the foundation of Spasinus Charax (Mu/-zamrah) in the time of Alexander the Great, or some {{convert|115|ft|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 the Chaldaeans, who, under [[Marduk-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 the ''ndr marrati'', "the salt river" (cp. [[Book of Jeremiah]] 1:21), a name originally applied to the [[Persian Gulf]].

The alluvial plain of Babylonia was called [[Edin (Sumerian term)|Edin]], 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" or ''kisad'', together with the corresponding western bank of the Tigris (according to [[Fritz Hommel]], the modern Shatt el-Uai), gave its name to the land of [[Chesed]], whence the [[Kasdim]] or Kasdin of the Hebrew Bible. In the early inscriptions of [[Lagash]], the whole district is known as ''Gu-Edinna'', the [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]] equivalent of the Semitic ''Kisad Edini''. The coastland was similarly known as ''Gu-gubba'' (Akkadian ''Kisad tamtim'') "bank of the sea."

A more comprehensive name of southern Mesopotamia was ''Kengi'', "the land," or ''Kengi Sumer'', "the land of Sumer". Sumer has been supposed to be the original of the Biblical [[Shinar]] and the Sankhar of the [[Amarna letters]]. Opposed to Kengi and Sumer were [[Urra (antiquity)|Urra]] (Un) and [[Akkadian Empire|Akkad]] 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 with ''uru'', "city" as a geographical term, however, it was replaced by ''Akkadu'', the Semitic form of ''Agade'' - written Akkattim in the Elamite inscriptions - the name of [[Sargon 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 the [[Kassites|Kassite]] 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 by [[Nebuchadnezzar II]] between Sippar and Opis, to defend his kingdom from attacks from the north. As this last was "the Wall of [[Semiramis]]" mentioned by [[Strabo]] (xi. 14. 8), Kar-Duniyash may have represented the [[Median Wall]] of [[Xenophon]] (Anab. ii. 4. 12), traces of which were found by F.R. Chesney extending from [[Fallujah]] to Jibar.

==Perennial irrigation==
{{Unreferenced section|date=January 2021}}
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 to [[Ctesiphon]], 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 to [[Hammurabi]], was conducted from the Euphrates towards Upi or Opis, which has been shown by H. Winckler (''Altorientalische Forschungen'', ii. pp.&nbsp;509 seq.) to have been close to [[Seleucia]] 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 to [[Herodotus]] (1.193), wheat commonly returned two hundredfold to the sower, and occasionally three hundredfold. [[Pliny the Elder]] ([[Pliny's Natural History|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]], [[palm tree|palm]]s, [[Apple (fruit)|apple]]s and many kinds of shelled fruit grew wild, as wheat still does in the neighbourhood of [[Anah]]. A [[Persian language|Persian]] poem celebrated the 360 uses of the palm (Strabo xvi. I. 14), and [[Ammianus Marcellinus]] (xxiv. 3) says that from the point reached by [[Julian the Apostate|Julian]]'s army to the shores of the Persian Gulf was one continuous forest of verdure.

===Ancient canals===
The location of most of the major cities such as [[Kish (Sumer)|Kish]], [[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 encyclopedia ''[[Urra=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
*the ''Zubi'' canal (''Izubi'', Akkadian ''Izubitum''), a short-cut of the [[Tigris]] between the locations of modern [[Samarra]] and [[Baghdad]]. Settlements along this canal included Hibaritum and Push.
*the ''Irnina'' canal, joined the Zubi canal above Push. Settlements along this canal included Hiritum, Hursitum, Sarru-Laba, Namzium.
*the ''Gibil'' canal ran southwest from the Tigris to a point south of the frontier city of [[Kesh (Sumer)|Kesh]], past a branch which went north to that city.  The Gibil continued on to Apisala where it intersected with the Ninagina Canal which flowed southeast from Zabalam. From Apisala, the Gibil went on to Umma, where it joined the Iturungal Canal.
*The ''Issinnitum'' canal left the right bank of the [[Euphrates]] above Nippur to run by the city of Isin, and thence to rejoin the Euphrates at Kisurra.
*The ''Iturungal'' canal left the Euphrates below Nippur running past Adab, Dabrum, Zabalam, Umma, Nagsu, Bad-tibira and Larsa and between Uruk and [[Enegi]] before rejoining the Euphrates.
*The ''Nanagugal'' canal  departed from the left bank of the Iturungal canal downstream of Bad-tibira. It marked the eastern boundary of Ur and the western boundary of Lagash.
*The Ninagina canal ran from Iturungal at Zabalam southeast passing Girsu, Lagash, and Nina. It intersected with the Gibil canal at Apicella.
*The ''Susuka'' canal ran southeast from Ur to Eridu.

==See also==
{{Commons category}}
*[[Geography of Iraq]]
*[[History of Iraq]]
*[[Geography of Kuwait]]
*[[Geography of Syria]]
*[[Geography of Iran]]
*[[Geography of Turkey]]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==Bibliography==
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*{{citation |last1=Wilkinson |first1=Tony J. |year=2000 |title=Regional Approaches to Mesopotamian Archaeology: the Contribution of Archaeological Surveys |journal=Journal of Archaeological Research |volume=8 |issue=3 |pages=219–267 |issn=1573-7756 |doi=10.1023/A:1009487620969 |s2cid=140771958 }}

==Further reading==
*Douglas Frayne, The Early Dynastic List of Geographical Names (1992).
*Piotr Steinkeller, On the Reading and Location of the Toponyms ÚR×Ú.KI and A.ḪA.KI, Journal of Cuneiform Studies, Vol. 32, No. 1 (Jan., 1980), pp.&nbsp;23–33.
*William W. Hallo, ''The Road to Emar'' Journal of Cuneiform Studies, Vol. 18, No. 3 (1964), pp.&nbsp;57–88

{{Ancient Mesopotamia}}

[[Category:Geography of the Middle East]]
[[Category:Mesopotamia| Geography]]