Carpe Diem #1372 Mesopotamia

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

What an amazing month this is. We are on a journey along the ancient Silk Road, a trade route straight through Asia. We started on the Northern Route around the Taklamakan Desert and now we are on the Southern Route. This Silk Road, there were several, we are now visiting ancient Mesopotamia. Let me tell you a little bit more about this ancient country.

Mesopotamia is a historical region in West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in modern days roughly corresponding to most of Iraq plus Kuwait, the eastern parts of Syria, Southeastern Turkey, and regions along the Turkish–Syrian and Iran–Iraq borders.

The marshes in the delta region of Euphrates and Tigris today

The Sumerians and Akkadians (including Assyrians and Babylonians) dominated Mesopotamia from the beginning of written history (c. 3100 BC) to the fall of Babylon in 539 BC, when it was conquered by the Achaemenid Empire. It fell to Alexander the Great in 332 BC, and after his death, it became part of the Greek Seleucid Empire.

Around 150 BC, Mesopotamia was under the control of the Parthian Empire. Mesopotamia became a battleground between the Romans and Parthians, with western parts of Mesopotamia coming under ephemeral Roman control. In AD 226, eastern part of it fell to the Sassanid Persians. Division of Mesopotamia between Roman (Byzantine from AD 395) and Sassanid Empires lasted until the 7th century Muslim conquest of Persia of the Sasanian Empire and Muslim conquest of the Levant from Byzantines. A number of primarily neo-Assyrian and Christian native Mesopotamian states existed between the 1st century BC and 3rd century AD, including Adiabene, Osroene, and Hatra.

Mesopotamia (AdobeStock)

Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution from around 10,000 BC. It has been identified as having "inspired some of the most important developments in human history including the invention of the wheel, the planting of the first cereal crops and the development of cursive script, mathematics, astronomy and agriculture."

I think you all have heard from this ancient country. It has a very rich history in is mentioned in the Bible and the Qu'ran, so there is a connection between these religions. That connection we will explore next month as we will "read" the Qu'ran. I have already started reading it and I only can say it's a beautiful book to read and I hope to explore it further next month.

As you know during our journey along the Silk Road we are reading Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse and in that story a river plays a role too. As Siddhartha decides to go the Samanas he has to cross a river and after several years, and after his wealthy period with Kamala, he decides to leave again, He than needs to cross the same river again. He however doesn't cross the river because he becomes the apprentice of the ferryman. That part of the story we will discover later this week.

land of two rivers
which river I have to follow?

A new path chosen

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until February 25th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode later on.