Euphrates

The longest river in West Asia, the Euphrates (perat in Hebrew) was so famous in the ancient world, it was often referred to simply as "the River" (Deut 11:24; 1 Chron 19:16; 2 Chron 9:26; Isa 7:20; Jer 2:18). It was also among the first four rivers to be mentioned in the Bible as flowing out of Eden (Gen 2:14).

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The Euphrates (perat in Hebrew, Al Furat in Arab) has its sources in what is now eastern Turkey (ancient Ararat) and flows first west, then south and then south-east through much of what is today Syria and Iraq (ancient Mesopotamia). It is joined just south of the ancient city of Ur by the Tigris before continuing its journey—a total of some 1780 miles/2850km—to empty into the Persian Gulf. Joining the Euphrates also, but further upstream, are two other important tributaries: the Balikh (on whose bank was situated Haran) and the Habor.

Along its banks developed some of the earliest human civilizations (Sumer, Akkad, Babylon, Assyria) and important cities, such as Ur, Erech, Babylon, Sippar, Mari, and Carchemish (though changes in the course of the river over the centuries have left many of these cities many km to the east of the river). Melting snow at its sources caused the river to be flooded annually, often with disastrous results. To mitigate the impact of these inundations both on their farmland and cities, a complex system of canals, dikes and dams have been built since ancient times. Some of these canals became the scenes of some of the exilic writings recorded in the OT; e.g., Psm 137 ("By the rivers of Babylon we sat down and wept"). The banks of one of these, named "the Kebar River," became Ezekiel's residence and sphere of ministry in exile (Eze 1:3, "the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, by the Kebar River in the land of the Babylonians"). The river also served as a natural route for trade and traffic between south Asia and Europe; it is very likely that it was along its bank that Abram travelled when he left Ur for the city of Haran, before turning south towards Canaan (Gen 11:31ff.).