EUPHRATES
352
EUPHRATES
Egj'pt to the south-west. This wide-spread dominion was lost upon the disruption of the empire under Ke- hoboam ; and no more is heard in Scripture of the Euphrates until tlic expedition of Neclio against the 13al>3-lonians in the reign of Josiiili. The " Great Riv- er" had meanwhile served for some time as a boundary between Assj'ria and the countrj' of the Hittites (see Assyria], but had repeatedl}' been crossed by the ar- mies of the Ninevite liings, who gradually established tlieir swaj' over the countries upon its right bank. The crossing of the river was alwaj's difficult, and at the point where certain natural facilities lixed the or- dinary passage the strong fort of Carchemish had been built, probably in verj' early times, to command the position. See Cakchemish. Hence, when Necho determined to attempt the permanent conquest of Syria, his march was directed upon "Carchemish by Euplirates" ("2 Chron. xxxv, 20), which he captured and lield, thus extending the dominion of Egypt to the Euphrates, and renewing the old glories of the Rames- side kings. His triumph, however, was short-lived. Tliree j'ears afterwards the Babjlonians — who had inherited the Assyrian dominion in these parts — made an expedition under Nebuchadnezzar against Necho, defeated hi.s ami}', "which was by tlie river Euphra- tes in Carchemish" (.Jer. xlvi, 2), and recovered all S^-ria and Palestine. Then " the king of Eg^'pt came no more out of his land, for the king of Babylon had taken from the river of Egypt unto the river Euphra- tes all that pertained to the king of Egypt" (2 Kings xxiv, 7).
These are the chief events which Scripture distinct- ly connects witli tlie "Great River." The prophets made use of the Euphrates as a figurative description of the Ass3Tian power, as the Nile with them repre- sented the power of EgA'pt; thus, in Isa. viii, 7, " The Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria" (Jer. ii, 18 ; comp. Rev. ix, 14 ; xvi, 12). It is probably in- cluded among the " rivers of Babjdon," bj' the side of which the Jewish captives "remembered Zion" and "vrept" (Psa. cxxxviijl); and no doubt is glanced at in the threats of Jeremiah against the Chaldrean "waters" and " springs," upon whicli there was to be a "drought" that should "dry them up" (Jer. 1, 38; li, 2G). The fulfilment of tliese prophecies has been no- ticed under the head of Ciiald.ea. The river still brings down as much water as of old, but the precious element is wasted l>y the neglect of man ; the various water-courses along wliich it was in former times con- veyed are dry, the main channel has slirunk, and the water stagnates in unwholesome marshes.
It is remarkable that Scripture contains no clear and distinct reference to that striking occasion when, according to profane historians (Herod, i, 191 ; Xenoph. Cyrop. vii, 5), the Euphrates was turned against its mistress, and used to effect the ruin of Babylon. The brevity of Daniel (v, 30, 31) is perhaps suflScient to account for his silence on the point; but it might have been expected from the fulness of Jeremiah (ch. 1 and li) that so remarkable a feature of the siege would not have escaped mention. We must, however, remem- ber, in the first place, that a clear prophecy maj' have been purposely withheld, in order that the Babjdoni- ans miglit not be put upon their guard. And, second- ly, we may notice tliat there does seem to be at least one reference to the circumstance, thougli it is covert, as it was necessary that it should be. In immediate conjunction with the passage which most clearl)' de- clares the taking of the city bj' a surprise is found an expression which reads very obscureh' in our version — "the passages are stopped" (Jer. li, 32). Here the Hebrew term used (ri13"^) applies most properlj' to "fords or ferries over rivers" (comp. Judg. iii, 28); and the whole passage may best be translated, "the ferries are seized" or "occupied ;" which agrees very
well with the entrance of the Persians by the river, and with the ordinary mode of transit in the place, where there was but one bridge (Herod, i, 180). The fords were at Thapsacus (Xenoph. Anah. i, 4, 11).
2. The Euphrates is the largest, the longest, and by far the most important of the rivers of Western Asia. It rises from two chief sources in the Armenian moun- tains, one of them at Domli, 25 miles N.E. of Erze- roum, and little more than a degree from the Black Sea ; the other on the northern slope of the mountain range called Ala-Tagh, near the village of Diyadin, and not far from Mount Ararat. Tlie former, or Nortliern Euphrates, has the name Fral from the first, but is known also as the Kara-Su (Black River) ; the latter, or Southern Euphrates, is not called the Frdt, but the Murad Chat, yet it is in reality the main river. Both branches flow at the first towards the west or south-west, passing through the wildest mountain dis- tricts of Armenia ; they meet at Kebban-Maden, near- ly in long. 39° E. from Greenwich, having run re- spectively 400 and 270 miles. Here the stream formed b}' their combined waters is 120 yards wide, rapid, and very deep; it now flows nearlj' southward, but in a tortuous course, forcing a waj- through the ranges of Taurus and anti-Taurus, and still seeming as if it would empty itself in the IMediterranean, but pre- vented from so doing by the longitudinal ranges of Amanus and Lebanon, which here run parallel to the Sj'rian coast, and at no great distance from it ; the river at last desists from its endeavor, and in about lat. 30° turns towards the south-east, and proceeds in this direction for above 1000 miles to its embouchure in the Persian Gulf (Herod, i, 180 ; Strabo, ii, 521 ; Ptolem. V, 13; Pliny, JJisl. Nat. v, 20 ; Q. Curt, i, 13 ; Orbis Terranim, C. Kaercher Auct.). In conjunction with the Tigris, it forms the rich alluvial lands of Me- sopotamia (q. v.), over which it flows or is carried by canals, and thus diff'uses abroad fertilitv and beautj-. At Bagdad and Hillah (Babylon), the Euphrates and Tigris approach comjiaratively near to each other, but separate again, forming a kind of ample basin, till they finally become one at Koorma. Under the Cx- sars the Euphrates was the eastern boundarj- of the Roman empire, as under David it W'as the natural limit of the Hebrew monarchy. See Tigris.