Lower Mesopotamia Lower Mesopotamia Lower Mesopotamia is a historical region of Iraq. Also known as the Sawad and al-'Irāq al-'Arabi ("Arabian Irāq") in the Middle Ages. Lower Mesopotamia was home to ancient Sumerian and Babylonian civilisations. An alluvial plain begins north of Baghdad and extends to the Persian Gulf. Here the Tigris and Euphrates rivers lie above the level of the plain in many places, and the whole area is a river delta interlaced by the channels of the two rivers and by irrigation canals. Intermittent lakes, fed by the rivers in flood, also characterize southeastern Iraq. A fairly large area ()
Mesopotamia in Classical literature and the numbers associated with them are probably corrupt. It is different with the 7th and 8th dynasties as given by Ptolemy in the Canon of Kings in his "Almagest", which prove to have been recorded faithfully: Mesopotamia in Classical literature Before the decipherment of cuneiform text, knowledge of the history of the ancient Mesopotamia was mostly dependent upon classical authorities and the Hebrew Bible. These testimonies were scanty and confused for times predating the 7th century BCE. Had the native history of Berossus survived, this may not have been the case; all that is known of the Chaldaean historian's