Having drawn my map (see earlier blog), I now find “The River” in Chapter I. This is the mighty Euphrates. In exploring (HA!) Persia I found “Persian
Plateau” mentioned. I see that this plateau looks like hill country on
the maps. Not my idea of a plateau, which I had thought of as being flat
raised land. This particular land is raised but there are lots of ups and
downs. It seems to be a tapering off to the west of the Himalayas. I
remembering flying to Europe the first time: after we left Indian airspace the
country seemed to be continuous barren hills for hours. I guess that
could have been this plateau.
The other thing of note from the maps is that the north of Persia/Iran fronts
on to that mighty body of water, the Caspian Sea. I have never heard that
mentioned in any news or documentary or novel about Iran. What a boon –
all that fresh water! The capital, Tehran, is in that area.
But I should be looking at the geography of Babylon, shouldn’t I? It was
part of the Persian Empire at the time we are considering. The Euphrates has a mate – the Tigris. Babylon was on the Euphrates,
capital of Babylonia, the land between the rivers. I can see why
there are so many maps. One needs one for every situation.
The city of Babylon was said to be tremendously wealthy and powerful. Archaeologists
have made discoveries that seem to point to the fact that the wealth and power
was indeed true, not a myth.
Joyce Voysey
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