I.

Introduction

Mesopotamia (Greek, “the land between the rivers”), area in western Asia, lying between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, in which the world's earliest urban civilizations arose, around 3500 bc. Mesopotamia, known as “the cradle of civilization”, was the centre of Sumerian, Babylonian, Assyrian, and Chaldean civilizations. The area now forms most of modern Iraq, south-eastern Turkey, and eastern Syria.

The Tigris and Euphrates lie about 400 km (250 mi) apart as they flow south out of Turkey; the Euphrates runs for 1,300 km (800 mi), and the Tigris for 885 km (550 mi) before they join, reaching the Persian Gulf as the Shatt Al Arab. The valleys and plains of Mesopotamia are accessible from the rivers and their tributaries, the hills to the north and east, and the Arabian Desert and Syrian steppe to the west. The natural wealth of Mesopotamia has always attracted people from poorer neighbouring regions, and its history is one of continuous migration and invasion. Rainfall is low in most of the region, but when irrigated by canals the fertile soil yields heavy crops. The cultivation of date palms in the south provides a rich supply of food, fibre, wood, and fodder. Both rivers have fish, and the southern marshes contain wildfowl.