Lower Mesopotamia Persian Gulf and severely limits productivity in the region south of Al Amarah. The salinity is reflected in the large lake in central Iraq, southwest of Baghdad, known as Bahr al Milh (Sea of Salt). There are two other major lakes in the country to the north of Bahr al Milh: Buhayrat ath Tharthar and Buhayrat al Habbaniyah. 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
Mesopotamia used throughout the Greek Septuagint (c. 250 BC) to translate the Hebrew and Aramaic equivalent "Naharaim". An even earlier Greek usage of the name "Mesopotamia" is evident from "The Anabasis of Alexander", which was written in the late 2nd century AD, but specifically refers to sources from the time of Alexander the Great. In the "Anabasis", Mesopotamia was used to designate the land east of the Euphrates in north Syria. The Aramaic term "biritum/birit narim" corresponded to a similar geographical concept. Later, the term Mesopotamia was more generally applied to all the lands between the Euphrates and the Tigris, thereby