I AM going to take you to the top of the highest pyramid and I am going
to ask that you imagine yourself possessed of the eyes of a hawk. Way,
way off, in the distance, far beyond the yellow sands of the desert, you
will see something green and shimmering. It is a valley situated between
two rivers. It is the Paradise of the Old Testament. It is the land of
mystery and wonder which the Greeks called Mesopotamia--the "country
between the rivers."
The names of the two rivers are the Euphrates (which the Babylonians
called the Purattu) and the Tigris (which was known as the Diklat). They
begin their course amidst the snows of the mountains of Armenia where
Noah's Ark found a resting place and slowly they flow through the
southern plain until they reach the muddy banks of the Persian gulf.
They perform a very useful service. They turn the arid regions of
western Asia into a fertile garden.
The valley of the Nile had attracted people because it had offered them
food upon fairly easy terms. The "land between the rivers" was popular
for the same reason. It was a country full of promise and both the
inhabitants of the northern mountains and the tribes which roamed
through the southern deserts tried to claim this territory as their
own and most exclusive possession. The constant rivalry between the
mountaineers and the desert-nomads led to endless warfare. Only the
strongest and the bravest could hope to survive and that will explain
why Mesopotamia became the home of a very strong race of men who
were capable of creating a civilisation which was in every respect as
important as that of Egypt.