Geography of Mesopotamia - Defining Mesopotamia

Defining Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia literally means "(Land) between rivers" in ancient Greek. The oldest known occurrence of the name Mesopotamia dates to the 4th century BCE, when it was used to designate the land east of the Euphrates in north Syria. In modern times it has been more generally applied to all the lands between the Euphrates and the Tigris, thereby incorporating not only parts of Syria but also almost all of Iraq and southeastern Turkey. The neighbouring steppes to the west of the Euphrates and the western part of the Zagros Mountains are also often included under the wider term Mesopotamia. A further distinction is usually made between Upper or Northern Mesopotamia and Lower or Southern Mesopotamia. Upper Mesopotamia, also known as the Jezirah, is the area between the Euphrates and the Tigris from their sources down to Baghdad. Lower Mesopotamia is the area from Baghdad to the Persian Gulf. In modern scientific usage, the term Mesopotamia often also has a chronological connotation. In modern Western historiography of the region, the term Mesopotamia is usually used to designate the area from the beginning of time, until the Muslim conquest in the 630s, with the endonymic names Iraq and Jezirah being used to describe the region after that event. This practise has been criticized as illogical, and is resented by Iraqis (modern-day Mesopotamians).