Synonyms:
Euphrates, Euphrates_River
Meaning: a river in southwestern Asia; flows into the Persian Gulf; was important in the development of several great civilizations in ancient Mesopotamia
Usage examples
The Euphrates, indeed, was hailed as a creator of all that grew on its banks.
Two famous springs at modern Hit, on the Euphrates, have been drawn upon from time immemorial.
It was brought about by the Babylonian gods in order to destroy the city of Shurippak, situated on the banks of the Euphrates.
It is believed to mark the course followed in the early Sumerian period by the Euphrates river, which has moved steadily westward many miles beyond the sites of ancient cities that were erected on its banks.
A network of canals was constructed throughout the country, which restricted the destructive tendencies of the Tigris and Euphrates and developed to a high degree their potentialities as fertilizing agencies.
More sluggish in movement, the Euphrates, which is 1780 miles long, shows signs of rising a fortnight later than the Tigris, and is in flood for a more extended period; it does not shrink to its lowest level until early in September.
In a case, therefore, where counsel still goes before action, and where, after taking the best advice, that advice is followed by so active an army, what wonder is it that Euphrates on the east, the ocean on the west, the most fertile regions of Libya on the south, and the Danube and the Rhine on the north, are the limits of this empire?
In the days of Babylonia's prosperity the Euphrates was hailed as "the soul of the land" and the Tigris as "the bestower of blessings". Skilful engineers had solved the problem of water distribution by irrigating sun-parched areas and preventing the excessive flooding of those districts which are now rendered impassable swamps when the rivers overflow.