Marlborough Tower & Town: The Magazine Of Marlborough's Community And Churches

Tower and Town, May 2021

Mesopotamia In A Nutshell

Mesopotamia is derived from ancient Greek that translates as Between The Rivers, used to describe the historical western-Asia land between the two great rivers, Tigris and Euphrates. It is widely recognised as the Cradle of Civilization and 'open' society (c 4000 BC) - the Sumerian, Babylonian, and Assyrian Empires are credited with developing writing, agriculture, first cities and written laws. First century Christianity reached Mesopotamia, and it was here that Islamic Civilization reached its zenith (8th to 14th centuries AD) linking Greek and Western Civilizations.

The Ottomans ruled over Mesopotamia from the 16th century until the end of WWI when Modern Iraq was formed, constituting most of Mesopotamia. Iraq is a multi-faith, multi-ethnic and oil-rich country. With Baghdad as its capital, Iraq conjures fabled thoughts of the 'Arabian Nights' plus memories of such luminaries as T.E. Lawrence, Gertrude Bell, Freya Stark and Agatha Christie. It was at the archaeological sites of Ur, Nineveh and Nimrud that the mystery writer Agatha Christie assisted her archaeologist husband Max Mallowan and wrote several of her books. In recent history Iraq has been devastated by geopolitical conflicts, including the fateful western invasion of 2003. Pope Francis visited Iraq during March 2021.

Raik Jarjis

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