'Mesopotamia' [‎15r] (29/152)

Mesopotamia J
INTRODUCTION
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the greatest commercial city of the East. Ctesiphon,
on the opposite bank of the Tigris, was the residence of
the Parthian Arsacids, and continued under the Sasa-
nian dynasty of Persia to be the royal capital. For
seven centuries Rome fought Parthia and Persia
for the possession of this coveted land; there were con
stant changes of frontier; but from the second century
a.d , the north was more or less continuously held by the
Romans and the south by the Persians under the
Sasanian Kings. Subsequent efforts by the Romans to
extend their conquests, particularly under the Emperor
Julian in 363 a.d . and under Heraclius between 624
and 627 a.d ., produced no permanent alteration in the
status quo.
The rise of Islam was responsible for the next change
of rule in Mesopotamia. In 628 a.d . Mohammed called
upon the Persian King to embrace the new religion or
prepare for war; various causes combined.to postpone
the campaign, but-in 636 the Moslems defeated the
Persians in the Battle of Kadisiyah. and proceeded to
occupy the valleys of the Euphrates and Tigris. The
Arabs eventually extended their conquests to the
Taurus Mountains.
The physical conditions of Mesopotamia have altered
considerably at different periods. Eridu, the prin
cipal seaport of the Sumerians, was 130 miles from the
present coast-line; and in • Babylonian times the
Euphrates and Tigris reached the sea as separate
rivers. The alluvial area that now stretches from
Beled, north of Baghdad, to the head of the Gulf has
been formed by deposits of silt, and is said to increase
at the rate of about 72 ft. per annum. Changes have
also taken place in the courses of the rivers as the result
of floods and the formation or decay of different canal
systems. About the year 629 a.d . great floods burst the
banks of the Euphrates and Tigris: in snifp of the
efforts of the Sasanian King to reclaim the land, the
swamps thus formed became permanent, and in the
ensuing years of warfare the irrigation works fell into
disrepair.
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