| | The Euphrates (the traditional Greek name, Arabic: الفرات; Al-Furat, Hebrew: פְּרָת, Pĕrath ) is the westernmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia (the other being the Tigris).EtymologyThe name Euphrates may have originated from Old Persian Ufratu, as it were from Avestan *hu-perethuua, meaning "good to cross over" (from hu-, meaning "good", and peretu, meaning "ford"). Alternatively, some suggest that the name Euphrates is possibly of Kurdish origin. |  This is a map of the Tigris - Euphrates Watershed
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 Tigris and Euphrates Rivers empties through a delta into the Persian Gulf in southeastern Iraq | In Kurdish, fere means "wide", re means "flowing water" and hat is "flowing", giving fererehat, meaning "wide flowing water". The modern Kurdish name, Ferat, is possibly a reduction of the older name. However, the Indo-European etymology of the name is put into doubt by the Sumerian and Akkadian names for the Euphrates are Buranun and Pu-rat-tu, respectively, Buranun being attested in an inscription associated with king Gudea (22nd century BC). It seems thus likely that the Old Persian name arose by popular etymology based on the pre-Iranian name of the river.The river is approximately 2,780 kilometers (1,730 miles) long. |
| The Euphrates is formed by the union of two branches, the Kara (the western Euphrates), which rises in the highlands of eastern Turkey north of Erzurum and the Murat (the eastern Euphrates), which issues from an area southwest of Mount Ararat, north of Lake Van. The upper reaches of the Euphrates flow through steep canyons and gorges, southeast across Syria, and through Iraq (see also: Iraq Maps). The Khabur and the Balikh River join the Euphrates in eastern Syria.Downstream, through its whole length, the Euphrates receives no further water flow. North of Basra, in southern Iraq, the river merges with the Tigris to form the Arvand/Shatt al-Arab, this in turn empties into the Persian Gulf. | Language | Name for Euphrates | | Akkadian | Pu-rat-tu | | Arabic | الفرات Al-Furāt | | Aramaic | ܦܪܬ Prāṯ, Froṯ | | Armenian | Եփրատ Yeṗrat | | Greek | Ευφράτης Euphrátēs | | Hebrew | פְּרָת Pĕrāṯ | | Kurdish | فرهات Firat, Ferat | | Persian | فرات Ferat | | Sumerian | Buranun | | Turkish | Fırat |
| The river used to divide into many channels at Basra, forming an extensive marshland, but the marshes were largely drained by the Saddam Hussein government in the 1990s as a means of driving out the rebellious Marsh Arabs. Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the drainage policy has been reversed, but it remains to be seen whether the marshes will recover.The Euphrates is only navigable by very shallow-draft boats, which can reach as far as the Iraqi city of Hit, located 1,930 kilometers (1,200 miles) upstream and which is only 53 meters (58 yards) above sea level. Above Hit, however, shoals and rapids make the river commercially unnavigable. |  Archaeological sites of Mesopotamia
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Its annual inundation, caused by snowmelt in the mountains of northeastern Turkey, has been partly checked by new dams and reservoirs in the upper reaches. A 885 kilometer (550-mile) canal links the Euphrates to the Tigris to serve as a route for river barges.Euphrates in the Bible |
 At the time of Hammurabi, Lagash was much closer to the gulf.
(larger image) | A river named Perath (Hebrew for Euphrates) is one of the four rivers that flow from the Garden of Eden according to Genesis 2:13-15. This Hebrew word, derived from either the word "stream" or "to break forth", has been translated as Euphrates. It is the fourth river, after the Pishon, the Gihon, and the Tigris, to form from the river flowing out of the garden. The river also marked one of the boundaries of the land promised by God to Abraham and his descendants (Isaac, Jacob, etc). In the Hebrew Bible, it is often referred to simply as "The River" (ha-nahar).
(Genesis 15:18). In the Hebrew Bible, it is often referred to simply as "The River" (ha-nahar) (Genesis 15:18). |
- God creates the Euphrates: 14 "The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Asshur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates."
(Genesis 2:14) - The Euphrates marks the north-eastern border of the land God promises to Abram: 18 "On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, "To your descendants I give this land, from the river [a] of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates-"
(Genesis 15:18) - God tells the Israelites to go to the Promised Land: 7 "Break camp and advance into the hill country of the Amorites; go to all the neighboring peoples in the Arabah, in the mountains, in the western foothills, in the Negev and along the coast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the Euphrates."
(Deuteronomy 1:7) - God (through Moses) promises the Israelites the Promised Land: 24 "Every place where you set your foot will be yours: Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the Euphrates River to the western sea. "
(Deuteronomy 11:24) - In preparation for the Battle of Armageddon, it is prophesied that the Euphrates will dry up: 12 "The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East.."
(Revelation 16:12) (in context)
The word Euphrates is a translation for the word "Gush forth" or "break forth". It has always been assumed to mean "river" but this is not explicitly stated. It literally means "breaking forth of liquid". The river Euphrates was named from this root word, "To gush forth".Islamic prophecies |
 Map of Iraq | In Islam, some of the hadiths of the Prophet Muhammad, suggest that the Euphrates will dry up, revealing unknown treasures that will be the cause of strife and war.Soon the river Euphrates will disclose the treasure [the mountain] of gold. So, whoever will be present at that time should not take anything of it. — Sahih Bukhari. The Prophet Muhammad said: "The Hour will not come to pass before the river Euphrates dries up to unveil the mountain of gold, for which people will fight. Ninety-nine out of one hundred will die [in the fighting], and every man among them will say: 'Perhaps I may be the only one to remain alive'." — Sahih Bukhari, Sahih Muslim. |
The Prophet Muhammad said: "The Euphrates reveals the treasures within itself. Whoever sees it should not take anything from it". — Al-Muttaqi al-Hindi, Al-Burhan fi `Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir az-Zaman, p. 28. It [the Euphrates] will uncover a mountain of gold [under it]. — Sunan Abi Da'ud. Euphrates in historyThe Euphrates provided the water that led to the first flowering of civilisation in Sumeria, dating from about the 4th millennium BC. Many important ancient cities were located on or near the riverside, including Mari, Sippar, Nippur, Shuruppak, Uruk, Ur and Eridu. The river valley formed the heartlands of the later empires of Babylonia and Assyria. For several centuries, the river formed the eastern limit of effective Egyptian (see ancient Egypt) and Roman (see the Roman Empire) control and western regions of the Persian Empire.Controversial issuesAs with the Tigris there is much controversy over rights and use of the river. The Southeastern Anatolia Project in Turkey involves the construction of 22 dams and 19 power plants by 2005, the biggest development project ever undertaken by Turkey. The first of the dams was completed in 1990. Southeast Turkey is still struggling economically, adding fuel to the discontent expressed by Turkey's Kurdish minority centered there. The Turkish authorities hope that the project will provide a boost to the region's economy, but domestic and foreign critics have disputed its benefits as well as attacking the social and environmental costs of the scheme.In Syria the Tabaqah Dam (completed in 1973 and sometimes known simply as the Euphrates Dam) forms a reservoir, Lake Assad that is used for irrigating cotton. Syria has dammed its two tributaries and is constructing another dam. Iraq has seven dams in operation, but water control lost priority during Saddam Hussein's regime. Since the collapse of Ba'ath Iraq in 2003, water use has come once again to the fore. The scarcity of water in the Middle East leaves Iraq in constant fear that Syria and Turkey will use up most of the water before it reaches Iraq. As it is, irrigation in southern Iraq leaves little water to join the Tigris at the Shatt-al-Arab.Tigris-Euphrates river systemThe Tigris-Euphrates river system is part of the Tigris-Euphrates alluvial salt marsh ecoregion of the Middle East, and is characterized by two large rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates. The rivers have several small tributaries which feed into shallow freshwater lakes, swamps, and marshes, all surrounded by desert. The hydrology of these vast marshes is extremely important to the ecology of the entire upper Persian Gulf, in an area called the Cradle of Civilization due to its ancient history.In the 1980s this ecoregion was put in grave danger as the Iran-Iraq War raged within its boundaries. It also faced one of the massive economic-environmental crimes in modern history: the destruction of Iraq's wetlands.General descriptionThe general climate is subtropical, hot and arid. At the northern end of the Persian Gulf is the vast floodplain of the Euphrates, Tigris, and Karun Rivers, featuring huge permanent lakes, marshes, and forest. The aquatic vegetation includes reeds, rushes, and papyrus, which support numerous species. Areas around the Tigris and the Euphrates are very fertile. Marshy land is home to water birds, some stopping here while migrating, and some spending the winter in these marshes living off the lizards, snakes, frogs, and fish. Other animals found in these marshes are water buffalo, two endemic rodent species, antelopes and gazelles and small animals such as the jerboa and several other mammals.Arabic is the main local language. It is estimated that fewer than 10,000 of the indigenous Marsh Arabs remain.Ecological threatsIraq suffers from desertification and Soil salination due in large part to thousands of years of agricultural activity. Water is scarce and plant-life sparse. Government water control projects have drained most of the inhabited marsh areas east of An Nasiriyah by drying up or diverting streams and rivers. Population of Shi'a Muslims have been displaced. The destruction of the natural habitat poses serious threats to the area's wildlife populations. There are also inadequate supplies of potable water.Marshlands were a fine and extensive natural wetlands ecosystem. They developed over thousands of years in the Tigris-Euphrates basin and once covered 15-20,000 square kilometers. According to the United Nations Environmental Program and the AMAR Charitable Foundation, between 84% and 90% of the marshes have been destroyed since the 70s. In 1994, 60 percent of the wetlands were destroyed by Saddam Hussein's regime. They were drained to permit military access and greater political control of the native Marsh Arabs. Canals, dykes and dams were built routing the water of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers around the marshes, instead of allowing water to move slowly through the marshland. After part of the Euphrates was dried up due to re-routing its water to the sea, a dam was built so water could not back up from the Tigris and sustain the former marshland. Some marshlands were burned and buried pipes underground helped to carry away water for quicker drying.The drying of the marshes lead to the disappearance of the salt-tolerant vegetation, the plankton rich waters that fertilized surrounding soils, 52 native fish species, the wild boar, Red Fox, buffalo and water birds of the marsh habitat.see also:
Fertile Crescent
Iraq MapsNotes- Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898)
One of the largest and best-known rivers of Asia. The Euphrates rises near Arzé, the modern Erzeroum. Its source is among mountains, which Strabo makes to be a part of the most northern branch of Taurus. At first it is a very inconsiderable stream, and flows to the west, until, encountering the mountains of Cappadocia, it turns to the south, and, after flowing a short distance, receives its southern arm, a large river coming from the east and rising in the southern declivity of the range of Mount Ararat. This southern arm of the Euphrates is the Arsanias, according to Mannert, and is the river which the 10,000 crossed in their retreat ( Anab.iv. 5), and of which mention is made by Pliny in reference to the campaigns of Corbulo. The Euphrates, by this accession of waters, becoming a very large stream, descends rapidly in a bending course, nearly west-southwest to the vicinity of Samosata. The range of Amanus here preventing its farther progress in this direction, it turns off to the southeast, a course which it next pursues, with some variation, until it reaches Circesium. To the south of this place it enters the immense plains of Sennar, but is forced to run again to the southeast and approach the Tigris. The union of these rivers finally takes place near Coma. The river formed by their junction is called Shat-alArab, or River of Arabia. It has three principal mouths, besides a small outlet. The whole length of the Euphrates, including the Shat-al-Arab, is 1700 miles. Its name is the Greek form of the original appellation Phrat, which signifies fruitful or fertilizing. The Oriental name is sometimes also written Perath, as in Gen. ii. 14, 15, 18, and Josh. i. 4. The Persian form is Ufratu; Syriac, Ephrat; Arabic, Furat. On the condition and topography of the Euphrates, see Aiusworth, The Euphrates Expedition (1888). - UK Telegraph article "Government still stalling on UN waters treaty"
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