"Persian Gulf and severely limits productivity in the region south of Al Amarah. The salinity is reflected in the large lake in central Iraq, southwest of Baghdad, known as Bahr al Milh (Sea of Salt). There are two other major lakes in the country to the north of Bahr al Milh: Buhayrat ath Tharthar and Buhayrat al Habbaniyah. Lower Mesopotamia Lower Mesopotamia is a historical region of Iraq. Also known as the Sawad and al-'Irāq al-'Arabi (""Arabian Irāq"") in the Middle Ages. Lower Mesopotamia was home to ancient Sumerian and Babylonian civilisations. An alluvial plain begins north of Baghdad and"
"Mesopotamia (from the Greek Μεσοποταμία ""[land] between the rivers"", in Syriac called ܒܝܬ ܢܗܪܝܢ pronounced ""Beth Nahrain"", ""Land of rivers"", rendered in Arabic as بلاد الرافدين bilād al-rāfidayn) is a toponym for the area of the Tigris-Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, as well as some parts of northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey, and southwestern Iran. Mesopotamia is often considered the ""cradle of civilization."" Within its boundaries, some of the most ancient civilizations known first developed writing and agriculture. Many civilizations flourished there, leaving behind a rich legacy of ancient art. Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization,"
"country, Nineveh, Kalaḫ and 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. Mesopotamia means ""(Land) between two rivers"" in ancient Greek. 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. In modern times it has been more generally applied to all the lands between the Euphrates and the Tigris, thereby incorporating not only"
"often dubbed the cradle of civilization. The rise of the first cities in southern Mesopotamia dates to the Uruk period, from c. 4000 BC onward; its regional independence ended with the Achaemenid conquest in 539 BC, although a few native neo-Assyrian kingdoms existed at different times. Mesopotamia literally means ""(Land) between rivers"" in ancient Greek. The oldest known occurrence of the name Mesopotamia dates to the 4th century BC, when it was used to designate the land east of the Euphrates in north Syria. Later it was more generally applied to all the lands between the Euphrates and the Tigris,"
"Mesopotamia, Greece Mesopotamia (Greek: Μεσοποταμία), Bulgarian and Macedonian Slavic: , is a village and a former municipality in Kastoria regional unit, West Macedonia, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Kastoria, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 99.173 km. Population 4,224 (2011). The municipality was formed at the 1997 Kapodistrias reform under the name ""Aliakmonas"", after the river Aliakmonas. It was renamed to ""Mesopotamia"" in 2006. The town of Mesopotamia was the seat of the municipality. Mesopotamia has three Byzantine style churches. The most recent and"
"academic usage, the term ""Mesopotamia"" often also has a chronological connotation. It is usually used to designate the area until the Muslim conquests, with names like ""Syria"", ""Jazira"", and ""Iraq"" being used to describe the region after that date. It has been argued that these later euphemisms are Eurocentric terms attributed to the region in the midst of various 19th-century Western encroachments. Mesopotamia encompasses the land between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, both of which have their headwaters in the Taurus Mountains. Both rivers are fed by numerous tributaries, and the entire river system drains a vast mountainous region. Overland"
"History of Iraq The current territory of the modern state of Iraq was defined by the Anglo-Iraqi treaty of 1922 which resulted from the 1920 Iraqi revolt against British occupation. It centers on Lower Mesopotamia (corresponding to historical Babylonia, later also known as ""ʿIrāq-i ʿArab"") but also includes part of Upper Mesopotamia and of the Syrian Desert and the Arabian Desert. The history of this area has witnessed some of the world's earliest writing, literature, sciences, mathematics, laws and philosophies; hence its common epithet, the Cradle of Civilization. As part of the larger Fertile Crescent, Mesopotamia saw the earliest emergence"
"Mesopotamia (theme) Mesopotamia () was the name of a Byzantine theme (a military-civilian province) located in what is today eastern Turkey. It should not be confused with the region of Mesopotamia or with the older Roman and early Byzantine province of Mesopotamia. The Byzantine theme was located between the rivers Arsanias (modern Murat) and Çimisgezek. The theme was formed probably between 899 and 911, when Emperor Leo VI the Wise (r. 886–912) appointed the former ""strategos"" of the Charsianon, named Orestes, as its governor. Most of the province was formed out the Armenian principality of Takis, ruled by the chieftain"
"Mesopotamia"" (literally, Aram Naharaim). Earlier research speculated that it was the same place as Pitru, a town mentioned in ancient Assyrian records. More recently, Pethor has been identified by Shea with the modern Deir Alla[5][5], due to the Deir Alla Inscription, which mentions Pethor and Balaam son of Beor. Since Deir Alla is located just east of the Jordan River rather than close to the Euphrates River, Shea speculates that the reference in Numbers 22:5 to ""the River"", a phrase later used in the Hebrew Bible for the Euphrates River, might have been used to refer to the Jordan River,"
"of Assur was still occupied until the 14th century, and Assyrians possibly still formed the majority in northern Mesopotamia until the Middle Ages. Assyrians retain Eastern Rite Christianity whereas the Mandaeans retain their ancient gnostic religion and Mesopotamian Aramaic as a mother tongue and written script to this day. Among these peoples, the giving of traditional Mesopotamian names is still common. History of Mesopotamia The history of Mesopotamia ranges from the earliest human occupation in the Lower Sumaya period up to the Late antiquity. This history is pieced together from evidence retrieved from archaeological excavations and, after the introduction of"
"was at its lowest level in ten years. History of Iraq The current territory of the modern state of Iraq was defined by the Anglo-Iraqi treaty of 1922 which resulted from the 1920 Iraqi revolt against British occupation. It centers on Lower Mesopotamia (corresponding to historical Babylonia, later also known as ""ʿIrāq-i ʿArab"") but also includes part of Upper Mesopotamia and of the Syrian Desert and the Arabian Desert. The history of this area has witnessed some of the world's earliest writing, literature, sciences, mathematics, laws and philosophies; hence its common epithet, the Cradle of Civilization. As part of the"
"present day. The following timeline can serve as a rough visual guide to the most important polities in the Islamic world prior to the First World War. It covers major historical centers of power and culture, including Arabia, Mesopotamia (modern Iraq), Persia (modern Iran), Levant (modern Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Israel/Palestine), Egypt, Maghreb (north-west Africa), al-Andalus (Iberia), Transoxania (Central Asia), Hindustan (including modern Pakistan), and Anatolia (modern Turkey). It is necessarily an approximation, since rule over some regions was sometimes divided among different centers of power, and authority in larger polities was often distributed among several dynasties. For example, during"
"""Mesopotamia"". Ancient writers later used the name ""Mesopotamia"" for all of the land between the Tigris and Euphrates. However, the usage of the Hebrew name ""Aram-Naharaim"" does not match this later usage of ""Mesopotamia"", the Hebrew term referring to a northern region within Mesopotamia. The translation of the name as ""Mesopotamia"" was not consistent - the Septuagint also uses a more precise translation ""Mesopotamia of Syria"" as well as ""Rivers of Syria"". Aram-Naharaim Aram-Naharaim ( ""’Aram Naharayim""; Aramaic: ארם נהריים) is the biblical term for a region in Upper Mesopotamia along elbow of the Euphrates River. It is mentioned five"
"Geography 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 Babylonian 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"
"Iraq. In the long span of this period, Mesopotamia housed some of the world's most ancient highly-developed and socially complex states. The region was one of the four riverine civilizations where writing was invented, along with the Nile valley in Egypt, the Indus Valley Civilization in the Indian subcontinent, and the Yellow River in China. Mesopotamia housed historically important cities such as Uruk, Nippur, Nineveh, Assur and Babylon, as well as major territorial states such as the city of Eridu, the Akkadian kingdoms, the Third Dynasty of Ur, and the various Assyrian empires. Some of the important historical Mesopotamian leaders"
"History of Mesopotamia The history of Mesopotamia ranges from the earliest human occupation in the Lower Sumaya period up to the Late antiquity. This history is pieced together from evidence retrieved from archaeological excavations and, after the introduction of writing in the late 4th millennium BC, an increasing amount of historical sources. While in the Paleolithic and early Neolithic periods only parts of Upper Mesopotamia were occupied, the southern alluvium was settled during the late Neolithic period. Mesopotamia has been home to many of the oldest major civilizations, entering history from the Early Bronze Age, for which reason it is"
"Adiabene, Osroene, and Hatra. Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution from around 10,000 BC. It has been identified as having ""inspired some of the most important developments in human history including the invention of the wheel, the planting of the first cereal crops and the development of cursive script, mathematics, astronomy and agriculture"". The regional toponym ""Mesopotamia"" (, ""[land] between rivers""; ""bilād ar-rāfidayn""; ; ""miyān rudān""; ""Beth Nahrain"" ""land of rivers"") comes from the ancient Greek root words μέσος (""meso"") ""middle"" and ποταμός (""potamos"") ""river"" and translates to ""(Land) between two/the rivers"". It is"
"History of Mauritania (1978–91) This article is about the history of Mauritania from 1978 to 1991. Mauritania, officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is an Arab Maghreb country in West Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the west, by Western Sahara in the north, by Algeria in the northeast, by Mali in the east and southeast, and by Senegal in the southwest. It is named after the ancient Berber Kingdom of Mauretania, which later became a province of the Roman Empire, even though the modern Mauritania covers a territory far to the south of the old Berber"
"Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian empires. In the Iron Age, it was ruled by the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian empires. The indigenous Sumerians and Akkadians (including Assyrians & Babylonians) dominated Mesopotamia from the beginning of written history (c. 3100 BC) to the fall of Babylon in 539 BC, when it was conquered by the Achaemenid Empire. It fell to Alexander the Great in 332 BC and after his death it became part of the Greek Seleucid Empire. Around 150 BC, Mesopotamia was under the control of the Parthians. Mesopotamia became a battleground between the Romans"
"the medieval Arabic sources for the area in the center and south of the modern republic as a geographic rather than a political term, implying no greater precision of boundaries than the term ""Mesopotamia"" or, indeed, many of the names of modern states before the 20th century. There was a substantial influx of Arabs in the Sassanid period. Upper Mesopotamia came to be known as ""Al-Jazirah"" in Arabic (meaning ""The Island"" in reference to the ""island"" between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers), and Lower Mesopotamia came to be known as ""ʿIrāq-i ʿArab"", meaning ""the escarpment of the Arabs"" (viz. to"
"and Parthians, with parts of Mesopotamia (particularly Assyria) coming under periodic Roman control. In 226 AD, it fell to the Sassanid Persians, and remained under Persian rule until the 7th-century Arab Islamic conquest of the Sassanid Empire. A number of primarily Christian native Mesopotamian states existed between the 1st century BC and 3rd century AD, including Adiabene, Oshroene and Hatra. Etymology: The regional toponym Mesopotamia (from the root words ""meso"" < μέσος = middle and ""potamia"" < ποταμός = river, literally ""between rivers"") was coined in the Hellenistic period to refer to a broad geographical area without definite boundaries, and"
"today part of Lebanon, northern Jordan, and western Syria; meanwhile, the proposed Mesopotamian state would consist of territories which are today part of Iraq and northeastern Syria. In addition, it was advised to keep open the option of the creation of an Arab confederation which includes Mesopotamia and Syria. As for Palestine, it was advised that an independent Palestinian state under a British League of Nations mandate be created. Jewish settlement would be allowed and encouraged in this state and this state's holy sites would be under the control of the League of Nations. Indeed, the Inquiry spoke positively about"
"used throughout the Greek Septuagint (c. 250 BC) to translate the Hebrew and Aramaic equivalent ""Naharaim"". An even earlier Greek usage of the name ""Mesopotamia"" is evident from ""The Anabasis of Alexander"", which was written in the late 2nd century AD, but specifically refers to sources from the time of Alexander the Great. In the ""Anabasis"", Mesopotamia was used to designate the land east of the Euphrates in north Syria. The Aramaic term ""biritum/birit narim"" corresponded to a similar geographical concept. Later, the term Mesopotamia was more generally applied to all the lands between the Euphrates and the Tigris, thereby"
"History of Mauritania (1960–78) This article is about the history of Mauritania from 1960 to 1978. Mauritania, officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is an Arab Maghreb country in West Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the west, by Western Sahara in the north, by Algeria in the northeast, by Mali in the east and southeast, and by Senegal in the southwest. It is named after the ancient Berber Kingdom of Mauretania, which later became a province of the Roman Empire, even though the modern Mauritania covers a territory far to the south of the old Berber"
"Mesopotamia to 3500–3000 BC in the Americas. People first domesticated the most important dairy animals—cattle, sheep and goats—in Southwest Asia, although domestic cattle had been independently derived from wild aurochs populations several times since. Initially animals were kept for meat, and archaeologist Andrew Sherratt has suggested that dairying, along with the exploitation of domestic animals for hair and labor, began much later in a separate secondary products revolution in the fourth millennium BC. Sherratt's model is not supported by recent findings, based on the analysis of lipid residue in prehistoric pottery, that shows that dairying was practiced in the early"
"20,000 following the draining and Saddam's violent reprisals, and between 80,000 and 120,000 fled to neighboring Iran. Following the 2003 Iraq invasion, Marsh Arabs have begun to return to the marshes. As their name suggests, the Mesopotamian Marshes are located in the larger region which used to be called Mesopotamia. Modern day Mesopotamia is now occupied by Iraq, eastern Syria, south-eastern Turkey, and southwest Iran. The marshes lie mostly within southern Iraq and a portion of southwestern Iran. Originally covering an area of and divided into three major areas, the Central Marshes lie between the Tigris and Euphrates, while the"
"Zenodotion Zenodotion (), or Zenodotium or Zenodotia, was a city in Mesopotamia that was destroyed in the 1st century BCE. Zenodotion was a polis of Osroene near Nicephorium (modern Raqqa, in Syria), though we do not know its exact location. It may have been a native Mesopotamian town, a Greek colony, or a colony founded on or adjacent to a native town. The writer Plutarch mentions this city, saying the Greeks called it Zenodotion, implying that its inhabitants might have called it something else. The historian Cassius Dio thought it was a Greek and Macedonian colony. The classical scholar William"
"Mesopotamian campaign The Mesopotamian campaign was a campaign in the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I fought between the Allies represented by the British Empire, mostly troops from Britain, Australia and British India, and the Central Powers, mostly of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire had conquered the region in the early 16th century, but never gained complete control. Regional pockets of Ottoman control through local proxy rulers maintained the Ottomans' reach throughout Mesopotamia (modern Iraq). With the turn of the 19th century came reforms. Work began on a Baghdad Railway in 1888; by 1915 it had only four"
"state in Lower Mesopotamia with Babylon as its capital. It was founded as an independent state by an Amorite king named Sumuabum in 1894 BC. During the 3rd millennium BCE, there developed a very intimate cultural symbiosis between the Sumerians and the Akkadians, which included widespread bilingualism. Akkadian gradually replaced Sumerian as the spoken language of Mesopotamia somewhere around the turn of the 3rd and the 2nd millennium BC, but Sumerian continued to be used as a written or ceremonial language in Mesopotamia well into the period of classical antiquity. Babylonia emerged from the Amorite dynasties (c. 1900 BC) when"
"was probably used by the Seleucids. The term biritum/birit narim corresponded to a similar geographical concept and was coined during the Aramaicization of the region, in the 10th century BC. It is widely accepted, however, that early Mesopotamian societies simply referred to the entire alluvium by the Sumerian term kalam (""land""). More recently, terms like ""Greater Mesopotamia"" or ""Syro-Mesopotamia"" have been adopted to refer to wider geographies corresponding to the Near East or Middle East. These later euphemisms are Eurocentric terms attributed to the region in the midst of various 19th-century Western encroachments. Archaeological evidence attests to their existence during"
"Mesopotamia, New Zealand Mesopotamia is an area of land at the head of the Rangitata River, east of the Southern Alps and inland from Peel Forest. The area is home to the well known Mesopotamia Station which was established by influential novelist Samuel Butler in 1860 after arriving from England. The name Mesopotamia means ""between two rivers."" Much of the station is now managed by the Department of Conservation. Local activities include hunting, tramping, safaris, four wheel driving and jet boating. The area was used as a backdrop for the film series ""The Lord of the Rings"". While many attribute"
"Mauretania Mauretania (; also spelled Mauritania) is the Latin name for an area in the ancient Maghreb. It stretched from central present-day Algeria westwards to the Atlantic, covering northern Morocco, and southward to the Atlas Mountains. Its native inhabitants, seminomadic pastoralists of Berber ancestral stock, were known to the Romans as the Mauri and the Masaesyli. Beginning in 27 BC, the kings of Mauretania became Roman vassals until about 44 AD when the area was annexed to Rome and divided into two provinces: Mauretania Tingitana and Mauretania Caesariensis. In the late 3rd century, another province, Mauretania Sitifensis, was formed out"
"Architecture of Mesopotamia The architecture of Mesopotamia is ancient architecture of the region of the Tigris–Euphrates river system (also known as Mesopotamia), encompassing several distinct cultures and spanning a period from the 10th millennium BC, when the first permanent structures were built, to the 6th century BC. Among the Mesopotamian architectural accomplishments are the development of urban planning, the courtyard house, and ziggurats. No architectural profession existed in Mesopotamia; however, scribes drafted and managed construction for the government, nobility, or royalty. Sumerian masonry was usually mortarless although bitumen was sometimes used. Brick styles, which varied greatly over time, are categorized"