Mesopotamia

mes-o-po-ta'mi-a, the wide, low plain between the Tigris and the Euphrates. The name is Greek signifying the land between the rivers. Once it was a marvelously productive region, the seat of the earliest civilizations. The Assyrians dug canals and built aqueducts. One irrigation canal was 480 miles in length. Herodotus, who visited the delta of the Nile, traveled also in Mesopotamia. He stated that he dared not describe the wondrous fertility of this region lest he be set down as untruthful. Ancient writers called this valley the "Garden of the Lord." Wheat was the main crop. Oranges, lemons, pomegranates, apricots, figs, grapes, apples, pears, quinces, plums, cherries, melons of many kinds, chestnuts, filberts, and other nuts, grew in abundance. The gardens of the people yielded beans, peas, lentils, onions, cucumbers, spinach, and, indeed, most of the garden products we raise in the United States. Ancient Chaldea, Babylonia, and Assyria lay wholly or in part in Mesopotamia. The region has belonged at various times to the Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, Syrians, Parthians, Romans, Saracens, and Turks. It is now a Turkish department. Bagdad is its capital. Extensive irrigation canals and railroads bid fair to rescue large sections from the sands that have drifted in and ruined the country. See Bagdad; Babylon; Nineveh; Euphrates