Meaning of Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia means the land between the rivers. (Hippotamus -- river horse -- contains the same word for river potam-). Ancient Mesopotamia generally refers to the area of modern Iraq.Location of the 2 Rivers
The 2 rivers of Mesopotamia are the Tigris and the Euphrates (Dijla and Furat, in Arabic). The Euphrates is the one on the left (west) in maps and the Tigris is the one closer to Iran. Today, the Tigris and Euphrates join up to flow into the Persian Gulf.Location of Major Cities
Baghdad is by the Tigris River in the middle of Iraq.Babylon, the capital of the ancient Mesopotamian country of Babylonia, was built along the Euphrates.
Nippur, an important Babylonian city dedicated to the god Enlil, was located about 100 miles south of Babylon.
The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers meet somewhat north of the modern city of Basra and flow into the Persian Gulf.
Iraq Land Boundaries:
total: 3,650 kmBorder countries:
- Iran 1,458 km,
- Jordan 181 km
- Kuwait 240 km
- Saudi Arabia 814 km
- Syria 605 km
- Turkey 352 km
This page is copyright © 2003-2009 N.S. Gill.
