Euphrates

The Euphrates is the western of the two rivers that define the borders of Mesopotamia. The other is the Tigris, which joins the Euphrates to form the Shatt-al-Arab and flow into the Persian Gulf. Several dams have been built since the 1970s. As a result, less water flows down the river into the sea. The Euphrates, along with the Tigris, were very important to ancient Mesopotamians because they would provide water and irrigation. It is 1,728 miles long and is one of the longest rivers in all of Mesopotamia. It is slower than the Tigris river but at the same time longer.

Euphrates
Mouth	Shatt al Arab
Length	2,800 km

Euphrates Media

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  Plan, topographic representation of Babylon. The clay tablet depicts "Tu-ba", a suburb of the ancient city of Babylon. The River Euphrates is represented by the water-lined band. 660-500 BCE. British Museum

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  View of the Murat River

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  French map from the 17th century showing the Euphrates and the Tigris

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  Rafetus euphraticus

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  Map (in French) showing the locations of dams and barrages built in the Syro–Turkish part of the Euphrates basin

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  Keban Dam in Turkey, the first dam on the Euphrates after it emerges from the confluence of the Kara Su and the Murat Su

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  Qal'at Ja'bar in Syria, once perched on a hilltop overlooking the Euphrates valley but now turned into an island by the flooding of Lake Assad

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  A fishing boat in the Euphrates Southern Iraq

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  Wooden bridge carrying the Baghdad Railway over the Euphrates, c. 1900–1910