Euphrates River

Euphrates
	Map of the Tigris-Euphrates Watershed
Origin	Eastern Turkey
Mouth	Shatt al Arab
Basin countries	Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq
Length	2,800 km
Source elevation	4,500 m
Avg. discharge	818 m³/s
Basin area	765,831 km²

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The Euphrates (IPA: /juːˈfreɪtiːz/) is the western of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia (the other being the Tigris).

Etymology

The 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")[1]. Alternatively, some suggest that the name Euphrates is possibly of Kurdish origin.^{[citation needed]} 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^{[citation needed]} associated with king Gudea (22nd century B.C.E.). It seems thus likely that the Old Persian name arose by popular etymology based on the pre-Iranian name of the river.

Language	Name for Euphrates
Akkadian	Pu-rat-tu
Arabic	الفرات Al-Furāt
Aramaic	ܦܪܬ Prâth, Frot
Armenian	Եփրատ Yeṗrat
Greek	Ευφράτης Euphrátēs
Hebrew	פְּרָת Pĕrāth
Kurdish	فرهات Firhat, Ferhat
Persian	فرات Ferat
Turkish	Fırat

Course of the Euphrates

The river is approximately 2,781 kilometers (1,730 miles) long. It is formed by the union of two branches, the Kara (the western Euphrates), which rises in the Armenian highlands of today's 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. The Khabur and the Balikh River join the Euphrates in eastern Syria.

Boat on the Shatt-al-Arab

Both rivers have their origins in Turkey. 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 Shatt al-Arab, this in turn empties into the Persian Gulf.

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. 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.^{[citation needed]}

The Euphrates River near Ar Raqqah, Syria.

Euphrates in the Bible

A river named Perath (Hebrew for Euphrates) is one of the four rivers that flow from the Garden of Eden according to Genesis 2:14. This Hebrew word, derived from either the word "stream" or "to break forth", has been translated as Euphrates[2]. It is the fourth river, after the Pishon, the Gihon, and the Tigris, (Hebrew name is Hiddekel) to form from the river flowing out of the garden. The river of the same name 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).

God creates the Euphrates: "The name of the third river is Tigris, the one that flows east 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: "To your descendants I give this land from the wadi of Egypt to the Great River, the river Euphrates" (Genesis 15:18 in the Jerusalem Bible)
God tells the Israelites to go to the Promised Land: "Start out and make your way to the hill country of the Amorites and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, the hill country, the Shephelah, the Negeb, the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and the Lebanon, as far as the Great River, the river Euphrates" (Deuteronomy 1:7).
God (through Moses) promises the Israelites the Promised Land: "Every place where you set the soles of your feet shall be yours. Your borders shall run from the wilderness to the Lebanon and from the River, the river Euphrates, to the western sea" (Deuteronomy 11:24).
In Revelation 16:12, it is prophesied that the Euphrates will dry up in preparation for the Battle of Armageddon: "And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared."

Islamic prophecies

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 history

The Euphrates provided the water that led to the first flowering of civilization in Sumer, dating from about the 4th millennium B.C.E. 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 and Roman control and western regions of the Persian Empire. Also, the Battle of Karbala occurred at the banks of Euphrates river, where Imam Hussain, along with his family and friends, were martyred.

Controversial issues

As 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 in the process of 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.

Sources and Further reading

Peltenburg, E. J. 2007. Euphrates River Valley settlement the Carchemish sector in the third millennium B.C.E.. Levant supplementary series, v. 5. Oxford: Oxbow Books. ISBN 9781842172728 and ISBN 1842172727
Mountjoy, Shane. 2005. The Tigris & Euphrates river [i.e. rivers]. Rivers in world history. Philadelphia, PA: Chelsea House. ISBN 0791082466 and ISBN 9780791082461
Kolars, John F., and William A. Mitchell. 1991. The Euphrates River and the Southeast Anatolia Development Project. Water, the Middle East imperative. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press. ISBN 0809315726 and ISBN 9780809315727
Batchelor, John, and Julie Batchelor. 1981. The Euphrates. Rivers of the world. Hove, East Sussex: Wayland. ISBN 0382065182 and ISBN 9780382065187
Salīm, Shākir Muṣţafā. 1962. Marsh dwellers of the Euphrates Delta. [London]: University of London, Athlone Press.

External links

Hirsch, Emil G.; Buhl, Frants. Euphrates. Jewish Encyclopedia. Retrieved October 22, 2007.
ICE Case Studies. Tigris-Euphrates River dispute. Retrieved October 22, 2007.
Photo Galleries. Euphrates. Retrieved October 22, 2007.

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