Husseins adherents, the Shias, and those loyal to the caliph in Damascus, the Sunnis, have been at odds ever since, a conflict that continues to divide Iraq, and much of the Middle East, to this day. The people are not thinking about the water, they are thinking about the war, Al-Dabbas acknowledged sadly as we sat in the lobby of my hotel in Baghdad, an air-conditioned sanctuary from the 123-degree heat. Basra, too, presents a disquieting picture. They sealed off a dam 30 miles upstream to cut water to the rest of Anbar Province, and then opened the dam to flood fields and inflict punishment on civilians. Fifteen-foot-high mud-brick walls dating back 2,600 years lined both sides of the crumbled thoroughfare, ornamented by original friezes of lions and snake-dragons, symbol of the god Marduk, and carved with cuneiform inscriptions. In various verses, the Bible mentions the Euphrates River in ways that speak of both . With the temperature nearing 115, we entered the old city, a maze of alleys packed with pilgrims heading for the shrine, where the first Shia martyr, Imam Ali, lies buried. [19][20], In Syria, three rivers add their water to the Euphrates; the Sajur, the Balikh and the Khabur. Euphrates River. What does the Euphrates River symbolize? [10][11] Isaev and Mikhailova estimate the percentages of the drainage basin lying within Turkey, Syria and Iraq at 33, 20 and 47 percent respectively. [50][51][52], Apart from the changes in the discharge regime of the river, the numerous dams and irrigation projects have also had other effects on the environment. Where are you going in this heat? he asked. There are bridges, there is garbage, said Oday Rais, a major in the Iraqi River Police, as he revved up the outboard motor of his 15-foot patrol boat and steered us toward the center of the stream, nearly running aground in the mud. [10][11] Finally, some sources also include Jordan in the drainage basin of the Euphrates; a small part of the eastern desert (220 square kilometres (85sqmi)) drains toward the east rather than to the west. [4] Tamaz V. Gamkrelidze and Vyacheslav Ivanov suggest the proto-Sumerian *burudu "copper" (Sumerian urudu) as an origin, with an explanation that Euphrates was the river by which copper ore was transported in rafts, since Mesopotamia was the center of copper metallurgy during the period. They were eating from a communal plate of rice and buffalo meat. [43] Completion of GAP was scheduled for 2010 but has been delayed because the World Bank has withheld funding due to the lack of an official agreement on water sharing between Turkey and the downstream states on the Euphrates and the Tigris. The river's heartland was formed Assyrian and Babylonian empires preceding the Persian rule extended to Mesopotamia. Hamid was determined to stay put. A 2013 study by the World Resources Institute projected that by 2025, Iraqs water outlook will be exceptionally more stressed. In other words, the researchers said, basic services (e.g. The largest number of people was displaced by the building of the Atatrk Dam, which alone affected 55,300 people. The Greek form Euphrts was adapted from Old Persian: , romanized:Ufrtu,[2] itself from Elamite: , romanized:-ip-ra-tu-i. The serious problems that increasingly beset the Euphrates receive little attention, as if they were minor annoyances that could be faced later, once the shooting is over. After World War I, the borders in Southwest Asia were redrawn in the Treaty of Lausanne (1923), when the Ottoman Empire was partitioned. The Tabqa Dam in Syria was completed in 1973 while Turkey finished the Keban Dam, a prelude to the immense Southeastern Anatolia Project, in 1974. By the 2020s, Moutaz Al-Dabbas, a professor of water resources and the environment at the University of Baghdad, told me, there will be no water at all during the summer in the Euphrates. In the beautiful symbolism of the Bible, the river plays an important part. The Akkadian Purattu[3] has been perpetuated in Semitic languages (cf. [74] During the 5th millennium BCE, or late Ubaid period, northeastern Syria was dotted by small villages, although some of them grew to a size of over 10 hectares (25 acres). The outskirts of the city are now covered with squatter campsan unbroken sea of cinder-block huts and fetid, garbage-strewn canals, afflicted by frequent power cuts and baking in a miasma of summer heat. The salt water destroyed henna plantations in Al-Faw, once a major income source, and killed off millions of date-palm trees. [78] The spread of southern Mesopotamian pottery, architecture and sealings far into Turkey and Iran has generally been interpreted as the material reflection of a widespread trade system aimed at providing the Mesopotamian cities with raw materials. We passed the illuminated sand-colored gate of Saddams riverfront palace, controlled by the Hashd al-Shaabi, the most powerful force in Iraqs second city. [6] In Mandaean scriptures, the Euphrates is considered to be the earthly manifestation of the heavenly yardna or flowing river (similar to the Yazidi concept of Lalish being the earthly manifestation of its heavenly counterpart).[7]. It has a total length of 1,730 miles. Water use in the Euphrates Basin in Iraq, Syria and Turkey focuses on irrigation, hydropower and drinking water supply, with agriculture consuming the largest share of water (more than 70%). Wilfred Thesiger's magnificent account of his time spent among them is a moving testament to their now threatened culture and the landscape they inhabit. Archaeologists from numerous countries excavated sites ranging in date from the Natufian to the Abbasid period, and two minarets were dismantled and rebuilt outside the flood zone. The contents of the bowl caused the river to dry up. We followed channels through the tall marsh grass for an hour, stopping briefly in a lagoonlike cul-de-sac for a swim. What does the Euphrates river provide? [87], In the centuries to come, control of the wider Euphrates basin shifted from the Neo-Assyrian Empire (which collapsed between 612 and 599 BC) to the short lived Median Empire (612546 BC) and equally brief Neo-Babylonian Empire (612539 BC) in the last years of the 7th century BC, and eventually to the Achaemenid Empire (539333 BC). But if theres a new frontier in political science, its the realization that environmental problems, particularly water shortages, not only worsen conflict but may actually cause it. In the wake of the war against Isis in Iraq, an ominous journey along the once-mighty river finds a new crisis lurking in the shallows, Joshua Hammer, Photographs by Alex Kay Potter. [100], Throughout history, the Euphrates has been of vital importance to those living along its course. This is not an unusual occurrence. The term Euphrates derives from the Greek Euphrts (), presumably from (e) "good" and (phrz) "I announce or declare". The taxi driver who took me past the makeshift settlements called Basra the richest town in the world, and nothing for us has improved., These same squatter camps provided the cannon fodder for the war against the Islamic State: thousands of young Shias filled with frustration and inspired by Ayatollah Sistanis call for jihad. The river Euphrates is key to understanding good and evil and that Yahweh will fight to maintain justice. The drier parts of the xeric woodland zone supports less dense oak forest and Rosaceae. They couldnt find him, so they found me, he said. In Rev 16:12 another angel will dry up the river so the way of the kings of the east might be prepared (Rev 16:12). The river is also most important because it holds the sign of Qiyamah, Almighty Allah's final assessment of humanity. The Euphrates River was initially referred to as "Perath" and has been mentioned in the Book of Genesis as one of the four rivers that flowed out of the biblical Garden of Eden. I decided to use the Euphrates as my guide, since the river had shaped the nations history and would literally take me to key placespast the holy Shia cities of Najaf, Karbala and Kufa, through Fallujah and Babylon, down to Basra, a center of oil production. I reached Najaf, one of the most sacred cities in the Shia world, on the first morning of Eid al-Fitr, the several days-long celebration of the end of Ramadan. [76] Clay boat models found at Tell Mashnaqa along the Khabur indicate that riverine transport was already practiced during this period. He was 5 years old when Saddam drained the marshes, he recalled, forcing his family to resettle in Amarah. As I walked amid the crowds in the sizzling heat, I felt a wave of fear: The holiest Shia city in Iraq on one of the most sacred days of the Muslim calendar seemed an inviting target for a terrorist attack. In A.D. 656, Ali ibn Abi Talib, the son-in-law of the prophet Muhammad, moved the capital of his caliphate from Medina to Kufa, on the Euphrates south of Babylon. Sites like Ebla, Mari and Tell Leilan grew to prominence for the first time during this period. It was here, 3,770 years ago, that King Hammurabi codified one of the worlds earliest systems of laws, erected massive walls, built opulent temples and united all of Mesopotamia, the land between the rivers. Nebuchadnezzar II, perhaps the citys most powerful ruler, conquered Jerusalem in 597 B.C. power, drinking water distribution) are likely at risk and require significant intervention and major sustained investments.. When they changed the salinity, they changed the whole environment, Al-Dabbas told me. and marched the Jews into captivity (giving rise to the verse from the 137th Psalm: By the rivers of Babylon / There we sat down and wept / When we remembered Zion). A generator powered a flat-screen television set, which was airing a daytime soap opera. Rivers are used to connect the speaker to the entirety of the Black experience; after all, the same water that exists in the Euphrates and Nile today has existed on the planet since its origins . Located in modern day Iraq and extending through Syria and Turkey, the Euphrates River is one of the two major rivers of the fertile crescent in ancient Mesopotamia. A new caliph claimed power in DamascusMuawiya, the aging scion of the Umayyad clanbut Alis son, Imam Hussein, insisted that the right to lead the caliphate belonged to the descendants of the prophet. He steered his outboard boat into the Euphrates toward the Imam Ali Bridge. It needed a third party, like the USA, to help drag Turkey and Syria to the bargaining table to work out a deal for equitable distribution of upstream water. During their occupation, the terrorists did find plenty of uses for the river, however. Hundreds of worshipers pressed their faces against the screened crypt, murmured prayers and raised their hands in supplication. The citys strategic position on the river drew a procession of invaders, from the Persians to the Romans, who attacked Fallujah in the third century A.D. Caravans from Arabia stopped in Fallujah to water their camels in the river en route to the Mediterranean. They brought down the building material for the promenade by boats along the river, Fadel, an archaeologist, told me, mopping his forehead in the torpor of the July afternoon. [88] The Achaemenid Empire was in turn overrun by Alexander the Great, who defeated the last king Darius III and died in Babylon in 323 BCE.[89]. For Solomon, the Euphrates is not just the promised border, but the actual geopolitical boundary of his kingdom (1Kgs 4:21-24). The Euphrates River, also known as Nahr al Furat, is the longest and one of the most historically important river of Western Asia. The Symbolism of the Euphrates River in the Bible The Euphrates River is often seen as a symbol of God's protection and provision for His people. I sat on the deck of a slender wooden skiff in Basra, motoring down the quarter-mile-wide waterway past fishing boats and pleasure craft. What Is the Function of Place in the Hebrew Bible? The Euphrates River is a complex symbol in the Bible. With a maximum capacity of 48.7 cubic kilometres (11.7cumi), the Atatrk Dam reservoir is large enough to hold the entire annual discharge of the Euphrates. [55] The many dams and irrigation schemes, and the associated large-scale water abstraction, have also had a detrimental effect on the ecologically already fragile Mesopotamian Marshes and on freshwater fish habitats in Iraq. The militiamen, believed to be affiliated with Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shia militant group and political party, were apparently out to punish al-Bedeiri, sources told me, because he had opposed a deal between Hezbollah and Syria to give safe passage to ISIS prisoners to a sanctuary near Syrias border with Iraq. [42] By far the largest dam in GAP is the Atatrk Dam, located c. 55 kilometres (34mi) northwest of anlurfa. Forgotten for centuries, the spellbinding peak of Nemrut Dagi (its Turkish name) has since managed to capture the imagination of thousands of visitors who come annually to witness the pure magic of its landscape at dawn and dusk, when the mighty stone heads glow gold. Euphrates River is the longest and one of the most important rivers of Western Asia. This 565-kilometre-long (351mi) canal is intended to drain the area between the Euphrates and the Tigris south of Baghdad to prevent soil salinization from irrigation. ( Bernard Gagnon / Wikimedia Commons) The Euphrates River, along with the river Tigris, are the two greatest rivers in an area that was the cradle of ancient Mesopotamian civilization. The Euphrates by Carchemish is only about 160 km (100 mi) from the Mediterranean Sea; however, the river thereafter makes a turn and takes a SE course, heading for the Persian Gulf, over 1,100 km (680 mi) distant. In these texts, written in Sumerian, the Euphrates is called Buranuna (logographic: UD.KIB.NUN). Al-Bedeiris words proved prophetic. It is not good for navigation., This was vivid confirmation of a growing crisis. The Iraqi security forces guarding the town, most of them Shias, dont feel comfortable here either. Joshua Hammer Uday and Qusay Hussein, sons of the Iraqi despot, built villas near the Euphrates and constructed an artificial lake drawing water from the river. Over the past few years, the water level of the Euphrates River has dropped dramatically. I removed my shoes, walked across an inner courtyard filled with resting pilgrims, and, along with a throng of celebrants, passed through another arch into Imam Alis tomb. Iraq, like Syria, depends on the Euphrates for much of its food, water and industry. Although today nothing of it survives due to human interference, research suggests that the Euphrates Valley would have supported a riverine forest. " This verse prophecies a future event during the end times, wherein the Euphrates's drying up enables the . [82] A similar development took place in Upper Mesopotamia, Subartu and Assyria, although only from the mid 3rd millennium and on a smaller scale than in Lower Mesopotamia. There was scarcely a corner of the entire country, he continued, which was not well watered; and more than that, the canals served as waterways for the transportation of the crops., These days, though, theres barely enough water to float a canoe. A larger issue for the viability of this way of life is the condition of the river itself. Advertising Notice The major tributary of this river is the Khabur River which originates in south-eastern Turkey. Our boatman, Ali Saleh, gunned the engine and raced between the supports of a new concrete bridge, kicking up a wake. Cookie Policy It was an ideological battle under the name of Islam to eliminate the Shia and destroy their holy sites, Fadel al-Bedeiri, the Shia leader, had told me as we sat in his office on a back alley in Najaf. Habuba Kabira on the Syrian Euphrates is a prominent example of a settlement that is interpreted as an Uruk colony. What resources did the Tigris and Euphrates rivers provide? The dams constructed as part of GAP in both the Euphrates and the Tigris basins have affected 382 villages and almost 200,000 people have been resettled elsewhere. But corruption is endemic, and the gap between wealthy and poor is widening. The creation of reservoirs with large surfaces in countries with high average temperatures has led to increased evaporation; thereby reducing the total amount of water that is available for human use. Appel Projets Archologiques d'Urgence", "The EuphratesTigris Basin: An Overview and Opportunities for Cooperation under International Law", "National Aquaculture Sector Overview. Although I moved to the city [after Saddam drained the marshes], this is how we grew up, how we were raised by our father, he told me, as we boarded the boats for the return journey to Chibayish. [36] The Tabqa Dam is Syria's largest dam and its reservoir (Lake Assad) is an important source of irrigation and drinking water. Annual evaporation from reservoirs has been estimated at 2 cubic kilometres (0.48cumi) in Turkey, 1 cubic kilometre (0.24cumi) in Syria and 5 cubic kilometres (1.2cumi) in Iraq. The Haditha Dam in the vicinity of the Syrian border supplies 30 percent of Iraqs electricity; the Euphrates accounts for 35 percent of the countrys water resources. My Iraqi driver and fixer were forced to bathe in preparation for their executions. The ongoing Southeastern Anatolia Project, a $32 billion scheme to build 22 dams and 19 hydroelectric plants on both the Tigris and the Euphrates, will eventually provide nearly one-quarter of Turkeys electricity. By the end of this century, according to some climate models, the average temperature in the river basin is likely to increase by 5 to 7 degrees Fahrenheit, which would cause higher rates of evaporation and an additional 30 to 40 percent decline in rainfall. and marched the Jews into captivity (giving rise to the verse from the 137th Psalm: By the rivers of Babylon / There we sat down and wept / When we remembered Zion). A week later, I foolishly returned, was seized at gunpoint, accused of being a CIA agent and threatened with execution. The growth of cities and the continued prosperity of ancient agriculture in the Tigris & Euphrates River basin (part of the fabled Fertile Crescent of ancient history) fostered local cultural . In magnificence, there is no other city that approaches [Babylon], the Greek historian Herodotus declared. Located in modern day Iraq and extending through Syria and Turkey, the Euphrates River is one of the two major rivers of the fertile crescent in ancient Mesopotamia. The minimum volume at Ht remained relatively unchanged, rising from 55 cubic metres (1,900cuft) per second before 1990 to 58 cubic metres (2,000cuft) per second afterward. [9][15], The Euphrates receives most of its water in the form of rainfall and melting snow, resulting in peak volumes during the months April through May. The great nations of Asia east of the Euphrates River, slumbering for centuries, are now beginning to stir and to become a major factor in . Discharge in these two months accounts for 36 percent of the total annual discharge of the Euphrates, or even 6070 percent according to one source, while low runoff occurs in summer and autumn. [99], During the Syrian civil war and the Iraqi Civil War, much of the Euphrates was controlled by the Islamic State from 2014 until 2017, when the terrorist group began losing land and was eventually defeated territorially in Syria at the Battle of Baghouz and in Iraq in the Western Iraq offensive respectively. Back in Babylons prime, this stretch of the river was a showpiece of water management. The seasonal variability has equally changed. A year after the Islamic State fled the city, the Euphrates remained closed to boat trafficpartly because the troops fear that Islamic State sleeper cells could launch a sneak attack from the river. Its main karstic springs are located around Ra's al-'Ayn, from where the Khabur flows southeast past Al-Hasakah, where the river turns south and drains into the Euphrates near Busayrah. Your Privacy Rights Women in black abayas and men in white dishdashas gulped down water at roadside stands; hundreds were lined up to see Ayatollah Sistani, whose home stands just outside the shrine. In the same way that the book sunk in . Banks, an American diplomat and archaeologist, writing of ancient Babylon in 1913, noted that great canals, as large as rivers, ran parallel with the Tigris and Euphrates, and scores of others intersected the valley, connecting the two streams. Via the Shatt al-Hayy, the Euphrates is connected with the Tigris. The name could also be written KIB.NUN. Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger () as saying: The Last Hour would not come unless the Euphrates would uncover a treasure of gold, so he who finds it should not take anything out of that. Najaf was nearly abandoned in the 17th century after the Euphrates shifted course, but in the early 1800s Iraqs Ottoman rulers dug the Hindiya Canal, which channeled the river back to Najaf and restored the citys fortunes. As long as this struggle exists, Iraq will never be healed.. The quality is not the same as before., Global warming is adding to Iraqs woes. The Euphrates is the master of all rivers in this world and in the hereafter, Imam Ali declared. In the years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and the installation of a Shia-dominated government, Fallujah, a deeply religious city of 300,000 in the Sunni heartland 200 miles southeast of Syria and 40 miles west of Baghdad, became a stronghold of the anti-U.S. insurgency. We are trying to create this [rebirth] by ourselves, he said. [54] The salinity of Euphrates water in Iraq has increased as a result of upstream dam construction, leading to lower suitability as drinking water. The freshwater in the river started to dry up as the low rainfall affected the inhabitants and agricultural activities that depended on the mentioned river. Discover the River's Origin. I had visited the marshes in 2003 and again in 2006, when the place was just being settled again. [68], The early occupation of the Euphrates basin was limited to its upper reaches; that is, the area that is popularly known as the Fertile Crescent. The Ataturk Dam was finished in 1990. In 2 Bar 77, the lost tribes live across the Euphrates until the end times. [95] Another bilateral agreement from 1989 between Syria and Iraq settles the amount of water flowing into Iraq at 60 percent of the amount that Syria receives from Turkey. Species characteristic of this type of forest include the Oriental plane, the Euphrates poplar, the tamarisk, the ash and various wetland plants. Related names Via ( eu ): Eubulus, Eunice, Euodia, Eutychus Via ( para ): Caleb-ephrathah, Ephraim, Ephrath, Ephrathah, Parah, Parat, Parvaim, Pharpar, Piram, Purah Average discharge at Ht after 1990 has dropped to 356 cubic metres (12,600cuft) per second (11.2 cubic kilometres (2.7cumi) per year). The Battle of Karbala took place near the banks of this river in 680 AD. [59][60] The construction of the Tabqa Dam in Syria led to a large international campaign coordinated by UNESCO to document the heritage that would disappear under the waters of Lake Assad. Her current research projects include a textbook on women in ancient Judaism and Christianity and a monograph on the diversity of Jewish leadership in the first three centuries CE. Subsequent to this, the region came under the control of the Seleucid Empire (312150 BC), Parthian Empire (150226 AD) (during which several Neo-Assyrian states such as Adiabene came to rule certain regions of the Euphrates), and was fought over by the Roman Empire, its succeeding Byzantine Empire and the Sassanid Empire (226638 AD), until the Islamic conquest of the mid 7th century AD. [9] These settlements, including Sumero-Akkadian sites like Sippar, Uruk, Adab and Kish, were organized in competing city-states. In the biblical material, the Euphrates is sometimes referred to simply as the River (e.g., Josh 24:3, Ezra 4:10). The dispute nearly flared into violence in the early 1970s, after Turkey and Syria diverted the Euphrates into a series of reservoirs and nearly dried out the river downstream in Iraq. As I walked past the placards of Shia martyrs on Basras streets, I realized that the war against Daesh, seemingly distant, was a trauma that had damaged the whole country. The Euphrates cut right through the heart of the ancient city, he explained. "Sahih Muslim 2894 c Prior bowl judgments have either corrupted or destroyed most of the water on earth (Revelation 16:1-4). [98] This was in violation of an agreement reached in 1987 in which Turkey committed to releasing a minimum of 500 cubic metres (18,000cuft) of water per second at the TurkishSyrian border. Honorary Research Fellow, Sheffield Institute for Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies (The University of Sheffield). Geography scholars such as Edward Soja highlight that geography is not a neutral or objective category; it represents the goals and perceptions of its producers, whether modern or ancient. Fish species on the river have changed, and a coral reef has grown at the entrance to the Shatt al-Arab. This also makes it the 15th-longest river in all of Asia. If you purchase an item through these links, we receive a commission. Thirteen years later, I wanted to see the bridge again. [83], Large parts of the Euphrates basin were for the first time united under a single ruler during the Akkadian Empire (23352154 BC) and Ur III empires, which controlled either directly or indirectly through vassals large parts of modern-day Iraq and northeastern Syria. The widely disseminated photographs of the victims became symbols of an American quagmire. Satellite images show that the Tigris and Euphrates . But development fell far short of Hamids expectations. [28], Among the fish species in the TigrisEuphrates basin, the family of the Cyprinidae are the most common, with 34 species out of 52 in total.

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