Ancient Babylonia - Geography
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Where is Mesopotamia?
Babylonia was situated in the area known as Mesopotamia (Greek for "between the rivers"). Mesopotamia was in the Near East in roughly
the same geographical position as modern Iraq. Two great rivers flowed through
this land: the Tigris and the Euphrates. Along these two rivers were many
great trading cities such as Ur and Babylon on the Euphrates.
Tigris and Euphrates
Babylonia rests on a flat plain with the two large rivers flowing through it,
the Tigris and Euphrates. Their course runs from Anatolia and Syria to the Persian Gulf. Mountains
surround the East and North sides of the plain, the Zagros chain and Kurdistan,
and the Syrian and Arabian deserts guard the west and south.
Climate
In the summertime the climate is hot and dry, and the winter is cold and wet.
In the spring the Tigris and Euphrates rivers overflow their banks, flooding
great portions of the plain. Lots of water and proper control enabled man in
ancient times to produce abundant crops, mostly barley and sesame, with abundant
grazing land in the lush meadows for the cattle, sheep and goats.
As the hot dry south wind came faithfully the date palm was cultivated and its
fruit was ripened. The abundant clay was formed into bricks to build houses
and monumental structures, and also provided clay tablets for writing purposes.
In order to acquire precious metals, stones and sturdy timber the inhabitants
engaged in foreign trade. The vast resource of petroleum was all but useless
to ancient man. Today the physical features of the region along with its
climate are similar to how it was in the ancient world, and the Arabs who live there
still live in a manner very similar to their ancient predecessors.
Ideal for Trade
Because Babylon was situated on the river Euphrates it was an ideal place for
trade. To the north they could trade up the river to Syria and beyond and could
act as a staging post with the cities of Sumer to the south. When Babylon
became important, people would have wanted to live there because of the economic
benefits it would give being in a large city with lots of merchants and tradesmen
passing through. An important city like Babylon would also give a greater
degree of security to its inhabitants.
In Babylonia and in all of southern Mesopotamia there is lots of clay which
people could bake and make into bricks with which to build houses. This helped
the development of civilization in the area.
Ancient Babylonia
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