Definition: The Euphrates is one of the two rivers of Mesopotamia. The Euphrates is the river on the west. The Tigris is the one to the east. The Euphrates is formed from the Karasu and the Murat rivers in the high Armenian plateau, runs through the Taurus Mountains, crosses into Syria at Carchemish, joins the Tigris, and flows into the Persian Gulf. Today its length is 1,740 miles (2,800 km) according to the Encyclopedia Britannica. It has changed substantially over the last 7000 years, especially because of irrigation. The Euphrates formed a boundary of Syria-Palestine in Biblical times.
Source: Daniel E. Fleming "Euphrates" The Oxford Guide to People and Places of the Bible. Ed. Bruce M. Metzger and Michael D. Coogan. Oxford University Press, 2001.
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The Tigris and Euphrates are the two rivers between which Mesopotamia ('the land between two rivers') ran.
