The Euphrates River from Al-Qaim to the Shatt El-Arab (a history full of water and civilization)

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The Euphrates River from Al-Qaim to the Shatt El-Arab (a history full of water and civilization)

2023-12-08

Upper Euphrates Basin Developing Centre / University of Anbar

The name of the Euphrates was mentioned in the cuneiform sources in the Mesopotamian civilization in the Sumerian formula: Buranun and Burununna, and it is synonymous with the Akkadian formula Puratum and Puratu, and from this formula the name of the river (Euphrates) in the Arabic formula, and its meaning (branch, tributary or fresh water), which is the meaning given by Arab linguists to the name of the Euphrates as well, Since the prevailing opinion among researchers is that the name (Euphrates) came from Sumerian origin, but the modern trend tends to be that it is not of Sumerian origin or Semitic origin, but rather it is from a linguistic heritage from unknown people who may have preceded the Sumerians and Semites in the settlement of the sedimentary plain, and nothing is known about them except for the few linguistic traces they left in the names of cities and some professions and crafts, including the names of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The ancient Iraqis singled out the Tigris and Euphrates rivers for sanctification and glorification, and their enemy is one of the gods derived from natural forces, and they singled out the Euphrates with more reverence because it was the river on whose banks the ancient settlements were concentrated, which made most writers and researchers call it (the river of civilizations).

The Euphrates River is the longest river in western Asia and the second longest river in the Arab world, originating from the Taurus Mountains in Turkey and flowing from them to Syria, from the city of Jarablus in the northern countryside of Aleppo through Raqqa Governorate in the north and from there to Deir Ezzor in the east, and to Iraq. The river covers from Turkey to Syria, Iraq is about (2800) kilometers, and there is no tributary of the Euphrates River in Iraqi territory.

Before entering Iraqi territory, the Euphrates passes through (Doraeuropes) at the city of Salhiya, then the city of Albu Kamal, near the ancient city of Mari, and enters Iraqi territory at the village of Al-Husayba, a short distance from the town of Albu Kamal. Between Al-Husaybah and Al-Qaim, there are archaeological ruins, possibly the remains of a city mentioned in the Assyrian texts as (Khandanu) or (Khandana), and after it crosses the trajectory Euphrates, it passes through the city of (Anah) (Old Khan) on the right bank and the city of (Rawah) on the left side, and in the south of the town of (Haditha) flows into the west bank of the river, the flow of Horan, coming from Sham desert.

After the river crosses the city of Hit (Ito in cuneiform texts) enters the sedimentary plain, and to the south of this city abound water depressions and it appears from geological investigations that the Euphrates was connected in prehistoric times to the depression of Habbaniyah and Abu Debs and the Najaf Sea and that these depressions were connected to each other forming a valley extending from north to south and then separated from each other in the form that we see today because of the formative movements inside the earth, and it is likely that these depressions have been used in the ages Old ones to store flood water for later use.

The Euphrates is approaching the Tigris south of the city of Fallujah a little and the distance between the two rivers (30) kilometers and the height of the Euphrates Valley in this area on the Tigris Valley by between (7-10) meters has exploited this phenomenon to split irrigation projects from the Euphrates to the Tigris in ancient times and opened new projects such as the stream of Saqlawiya and Abu Ghraib and Youssoufia and Latifiya and Alexandria and Musayyib parallel to the old projects such as the Isa River and Sarsar and Malka and Kusha and Sarrat.

The velocity of the river decreases significantly after the Hit, resulting in the deposition of huge quantities of silt, which has caused the river to change course many times in its long history. It was possible to trace the ancient sewers and their branches by identifying settlement sites in the old sewer basins and supporting this from cuneiform texts.

It turns out that the Euphrates was between the third and second millennium BC running to the east of its current course, and this course started from (Abu Ghbar) north of (Spar) and runs towards the city of Kusha (Tell Ibrahim) and halfway between these two cities was branching river (Arakhto), which irrigates the region of Babylon and passes through it, the river then continues to Kish (Tell al-Ahmir), southeasterly to Abu Salabikh, Nefer, Derihem (Bozo Rash Dokan), then (Dalih), Abu Hatab (Kisora), Fara (Shrobak), Baghbat, Garen and Uruk (Warka), and traces of settlements disappear between Warka and Aishan Khaybar, indicating that the area was marshes.

Traces of six main trajectories were found that took their water from the Euphrates in the area between Spar and Nefer, and there were smaller trajectories that took their water from them.

These indications indicate that most of the central and southern sedimentary plain sections from Lagash and Uma to your and Eridu were watered from the Euphrates.

We do not know the time of the confluence of the Tigris and the Euphrates and the formation of the Shatt al-Arab on the point of confirmation, the historical texts and the oldest texts of the Assyrian era and the accounts of classical and Arab historians indicate that the two rivers were separated in the Arabian Gulf, and whatever the case, the Shatt al-Arab now consists of the confluence of the Tigris and the Euphrates at the city of Qurna.

The Euphrates can be divided as follows:

1- Upper Euphrates: It is the section located in the Turkish territory and consists of the union of two branches, (Karasu) and (Muradaso), where its course passes in multiple straits and leaves to flow into the Taurus Mountains with a limit of three hundred waterfalls, and then the river continues its course until the border between Turkish territory and Syrian territory reaches the place on which the railway bridge was built (Nusaybin Bridge - Aleppo).

2- Middle Euphrates: It is the section extending between the Syrian cities (Jarablus), which is the first city that the river enters within the borders of Syria until it reaches the Iraqi city of (Fallujah).

3- Lower Euphrates: It is the section extending between the district of Fallujah and the Garmat Ali area in Basra Governorate, where the Euphrates River meets the Tigris River in the Garmat Ali area and forms the Shatt al-Arab, which flows into the Arabian Gulf.

In the south of the city of Ramadi, the Euphrates River flows in easy lands and branches from the left bank of the river four large streams on which large agricultural lands and large cities are built, the most important of which are:

A- Sqlawi creek.

B- Abu Ghraib creek..

C- Youssoufia creek.

D- Latifiyah creek.

After the front of Latifiya creek within 48 km, the Great Dam and the strategic water regularity system adopted by most governorates and villages of the Euphrates, which is known as (Hindiya Dam), where the Euphrates is divided in that area into two parts:

1- Hindiya watercourse: It is the main pillar of the Euphrates River as it reaches the Garmat Ali area.

2- Hilla watercourse: This course ends in agricultural land near the Rumaitha district.

As for the streams that depend on the Hindiya dam for irrigation, they are:

1- The big water streams:

A. Hilla stream (Hilla creek).

B. Kifil stream.

Both streams are on the left bank of the Euphrates.

C. Husseiniya stream, which is located on the right bank of the Euphrates River and heads to the city of Karbala.

D. Bani Hassan stream (Western creek).

2- Small water streams:

A. Nasiriyah stream.

B. Musayyib stream.