Successive empires across the Euphrates and the tigress

The Euphrates is one of the most important rivers with much significance in history. It forms through the union of two branches the Kara and the Murat originating from the Armenian highlands and north of Lake Van respectively. Kara known as the western Euphrates and Murat known as the eastern Euphrates forming what is now known as the Euphrates river have witnessed the birth of successive civilizations such as the Assyrian, Babylonian and sumer. Important ancient cities were formed at the banks of the river including Mari, Sippar and Eridu, and the Babylonian dynasty flourished along side the valley between the Euphrates and the Tigress. For a long time the Euphrates was the eastern boundary of the Roman Empire, and the western boundary of the Persian influence. It had hosted both superpowers at the time and witnessed major clashes between both entities. The water usage of the river has been a major diplomatic unrest between Syria, Iraq, and Turkey. All three countries are competing on their water shares; nevertheless, the river is a good source of hydroelectric power production. Therefore, both Syria and Turkey have taken steps of building dams along the river cutting gradually on the Iraqi share, consequently, limiting the water flow into Shatt Al Arab. The Tigris, an 1150 miles long river, originating from the Taurus Mountains of eastern Turkey is a river that has contributed to the famous Abbasid dynasty, which found its glory and history on the banks of the Tigris River. Baghdad the capitol of the Abbasids was built on both sides of the Tigris, not to forget the famous northern city of Mosul. The river has provided like most other rivers water, fertile soil and an efficient transportation route between the north and the south. The Tigris swallowed most of Baghdad’s literature during the Mongol invasion of the east when most of the books in the libraries were thrown in the river changing the color of the water to blue.