Biblical Geography

Mesopotamia

Region · Old and New Testament

Scripture first

Genesis 11:31 · WEBU

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Terah's family leaves Ur of the Chaldeans for Canaan and settles in Haran.

Between and around the two great rivers stood humanity's first cities in the biblical account: Babel, Erech, Nineveh, Babylon, Ur. Abraham's call, Israel's exile, and the setting of Daniel and Esther all belong to this land.

The land between the Tigris and the Euphrates: Babel, Ur, Haran, Babylon, Nineveh, and the homeland Abraham was called from.

Biblical names
Mesopotamia, Aram-Naharaim, Shinar (its southern plain), Paddan-Aram

Identification note. Ancient Mesopotamia's territory overlaps modern Iraq and parts of Syria and Turkey.

Mesopotamia is a flat alluvial plain with no stone and no hills, which is why Babel is built of brick and why its towers were the only it had.

  • Terah's family leaves Ur of the Chaldeans for Canaan and settles in Haran.
  • The servant returns to Mesopotamia for Isaac's wife
  • Assyria's Mesopotamian conquests listed
  • Residents of Mesopotamia present at Pentecost
  • The God of glory appeared to Abraham in Mesopotamia

What we know

Certain

  • The Tigris and Euphrates corridor and its ancient cities are documented by Scripture and by extensive excavation.