Ancient Babylonia - Zagros Mountains
Mountain system of W Iran, extending c.1,100 miles from the Turkish-Armenian
frontier SE to the Strait of Hormuz, forming the western and southern border of
the central Iranian plateau; rises to Mt. Sabalan, 15,592 ft high. The Zagros
vary from the rugged, forested, and snowcapped mountains of the northwest, with
numerous volcanic cones and large basins (e.g., Lake Urmia), to the parallel
ridge and valley system of the central portion, with lowland salt marshes, and
the low, irregular southwest region, characterized by bare rock and sand dunes.
The northern half of the Zagros is heavily populated, and the fertile valleys
support agriculture. In the uplands of the central range, tribal pastoralism
predominates. In the SE Zagros, dates and cereals are grown at oases. Kurds, Lurs,
Bakhtiaris, Kashkais, and other nomads inhabit the mountains; some of the
groups are now sedentary. Iran's great oil fields lie along the western foothills of
the central Zagros, where salt domes have trapped huge amounts of oil. In
antiquity the Zagros formed the boundary between Assyria and Media.
Ancient Babylonia
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