Sykes' History of Persia - Heritage Institute

Ill GEOGRAPHY OF ELAM & BABYLONIA 51
employ Babylonia as the geographical term during all
periods of its history.
Description of Babylonia.—And what sort of a country
was it that saw the birth of a civilization which has
affected mankind so ? intensely Then, as so absolutely featureless and flat
it to-day, was
and on such a vast scale
that dwellers in Europe can hardly realize what the
description of it means. Everywhere
the land touches the
sky with only rare palm-groves to break up the landscape,
and no mountains are visible. As in Egypt, civilization
had its birth between the sea and the dry land, on alluvial
soil interspersed with vast marshes and flooded annually
by its rivers. These rivers, indeed, as is shown above,
formed it and, as also in the case of Egypt, kept it alive ;
although the marshes, with their fevers, must have taken,
then as now, a heavy toll from the wild population. The
chief difl^erence between Babylonia and Egypt lay
in the
fact that the Nile flowed into the open Mediterranean Sea,
which did not invite navigation ; whereas the rivers of
this ancient land flowed into a Gulf that is landlocked for
hundreds of miles, and thus tempted the river boatmen to
venture farther on its waters.
Climate, Flora, and Fauna.—The climate of this rich
land is one in which snow is unknown and frost hardly
ever severe, although the nights are at times bitterly cold.
In the early winter there are heavy rains, which were in
all probability more abundant in those early days. The
winter upon the whole is bracing and healthy : but it
is succeeded by six months of heat that is trying to
Europeans,
and aff^ects the value of the man unit to
some extent. To-day the desert winds are much dreaded ;
and this was equally
the case in
early days. The soil was
and is fertile, and it is
generally
believed that, while
rice was first cultivated in India, this historical land can
claim to have given wheat and barley as its main con-
tributions to the sustenance of man. As residents in
the East know well, the wheat-fed man is almost in-
variably superior in energy and vigour
to the man whose
chief support is rice. The date-palm supplied many
needs, including food, drink, and building materials.