Mesopotamia (disambiguation)

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Mesopotamia is the historical region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, largely corresponding with the territory of modern Iraq.

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Mesopotamia may also refer to:

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Euphrates</span> River in Turkey, Iraq, and Syria

The Euphrates is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia. Originating in Turkey, the Euphrates flows through Syria and Iraq to join the Tigris in the Shatt al-Arab, which empties into the Persian Gulf.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mesopotamia</span> Historical region within the Tigris–Euphrates river system

Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq. In the broader sense, the historical region of Mesopotamia included parts of present-day Iran, Kuwait, Syria, and Turkey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tigris</span> River in Turkey, Iraq, and Syria

The Tigris is the eastern of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, and empties into the Persian Gulf.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geography of Mesopotamia</span>

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 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Opis</span> Iraqi archaeological site

Opis was an ancient Babylonian city near the Tigris, not far from modern Baghdad. Akkadian and Greek texts indicate that it was located on the east side of the Tigris, near the Diyala River. The precise site of the city has been uncertain for a long time, though at one point thought to be near or under the city of Seleucia. Recent geographical surveys of ancient Mesopotamia tentatively identify Opis with the mound called Tall al-Mujailāt, 20 miles (32 km) southeast in a straight line from central Baghdad and 47 miles (76 km) northeast in a straight line from ancient Babylon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tigris–Euphrates river system</span> River system in the Middle East

The Tigris–Euphrates river system is a large river system in Western Asia that discharges into the Persian Gulf. Its principal rivers are the Tigris and Euphrates, along with smaller tributaries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aram-Naharaim</span> Biblical term for the ancient land of the Arameans

Aram-Naharaim is the biblical term for the ancient land of the Arameans referring to the region along the great bend of the Euphrates river. Aram-Naharaim is also mentioned as Nahrima of the Arameans in the El-Amarna letters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mesopotamian Arabic</span> Continuum of mutually intelligible varieties of Arabic

Mesopotamian Arabic or Iraqi Arabic is a group of varieties of Arabic spoken in the Mesopotamian basin of Iraq, as well as in Syria, Kuwait, southeastern Turkey, Iran, and Iraqi diaspora communities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Upper Mesopotamia</span> Northern part of the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers

Upper Mesopotamia constitutes the uplands and great outwash plain of northwestern Iraq, northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey, in the northern Middle East. Since the early Muslim conquests of the mid-7th century, the region has been known by the traditional Arabic name of al-Jazira and the Syriac variant Gāzartā or Gozarto (ܓܙܪܬܐ). The Euphrates and Tigris rivers transform Mesopotamia into almost an island, as they are joined together at the Shatt al-Arab in the Basra Governorate of Iraq, and their sources in eastern Turkey are in close proximity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seleucia</span> Seleucid Empire capital in modern Iraq

Seleucia, also known as Seleucia-on-Tigris or Seleucia on the Tigris or Seleucia ad Tigrim, was a major Mesopotamian city, located on the west bank of the Tigris River within the present-day Baghdad Governorate in Iraq. It was founded around 305 BC by Seleucus I Nicator as the first capital of the Seleucid Empire, and remained an important center of trade and Hellenistic culture after the imperial capital relocated to Antioch. The city continued to flourish under Parthian rule beginning in 141 BC; ancient texts claim that it reached a population of 600,000. Seleucia was destroyed in 165 AD by Roman general Avidius Cassius and gradually faded into obscurity in the subsequent centuries. The site was rediscovered in the 1920s by archaeologists.

Beth Nahrain ; "between (two) rivers") is the name for the region known as Mesopotamia in the Syriac language. Geographically, it refers to the areas between and surrounding the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. The Aramaic name also refers to the area around the rivers, not only literally between the rivers. The area is considered by Assyrians as their homeland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Assyria (Roman province)</span> Roman province (116–118 AD)

Assyria was a short-lived Roman province in Mesopotamia that was created by Trajan in 116 during his campaign against the Parthian Empire. After Trajan's death, the newly proclaimed emperor Hadrian ordered the evacuation of Assyria in 118.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Mesopotamia</span>

The history of Mesopotamia ranges from the earliest human occupation in the Paleolithic period up to 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 often called a cradle of civilization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mesopotamia (Roman province)</span> Province of the Roman Empire

Mesopotamia was the name of a Roman province, initially a short-lived creation of the Roman emperor Trajan in 116–117 and then re-established by Emperor Septimius Severus in c. 198. Control of the province was subsequently fought over between the Roman and the Sassanid empires until the Muslim conquests of the 7th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Qurna</span> 1914 battle of World War I

The Battle of Qurna, was between British forces and Ottoman forces that had retreated from Basra, which they lost at the Battle of Basra (1914) during the Mesopotamian campaign of World War I.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Mesopotamian Arabic</span> Arabic dialect of Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran

North Mesopotamian Arabic, also known as Moslawi, Mesopotamian Qeltu Arabic, or Syro-Mesopotamian Arabic, is one of the two main varieties of Mesopotamian Arabic, together with Gilit Mesopotamian Arabic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mesopotamian Marshes</span> Wetland ecoregion located in southern Iraq and partially in southwestern Iran and Kuwait

The Mesopotamian Marshes, also known as the Iraqi Marshes, are a wetland area located in Southern Iraq and southwestern Iran as well as partially in northern Kuwait. The marshes are primarily located on the floodplains of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers bound by the cities of Basra, Nasiriyah, Amarah and a portion of southwestern Iran and northern Kuwait. Historically the marshlands, mainly composed of the separate but adjacent Central, Hawizeh and Hammar Marshes, used to be the largest wetland ecosystem of Western Eurasia. The unique wetland landscape is home to the Marsh people, who have developed a unique culture tightly coupled to the landscape – harvesting reeds and rice, fishing and herding water buffalo.

Al-Qurnah is a town in southern Iraq about 74 km northwest of Basra, that lies within the conglomeration of Nahairat. Qurna is located at the confluence point of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers to form the Shatt al-Arab waterway. Local folklore holds Qurnah to have been the original site of biblical paradise, the Garden of Eden, and location of the Tree of Knowledge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lower Mesopotamia</span> Region between Euphrates and Tigris

Lower Mesopotamia is a historical region of Mesopotamia. It's located in the alluvial plain of Iraq from the Hamrin Mountains to the Faw Peninsula near the Persian Gulf.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mesopotamian shrub desert</span> Desert ecoregion in West Asia

The Mesopotamian shrub desert is a deserts and xeric shrublands ecoregion in Western Asia. It extends across portions of Israel, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, and Iran.