Agriculture in Syria runoff most of the year. The river flows southeastward across the arid Syrian Plateau into Iraq, where it joins the Tigris River shortly before emptying into the Persian Gulf. In addition to Syria, both Turkey and Iraq use dams on the Euphrates for hydroelectric power, water control, storage, and irrigation. In the mid-1980s, about a half of the annual Euphrates River flow was used by these three countries. Syrians have long used the Euphrates for irrigation, but, because the major systems were destroyed centuries ago, they now make only limited use of the river's flow. In the mid-1980s, the Euphrates
Euphrates Tunnel chariots and connected a major temple with the royal palace on the other shore of the river, it was supposedly lined with brick and waterproofed with asphalt. A description of the tunnel as being built and used by Queen Semiramis is given by Diodorus (fl. 50 BCE) in the "Bibliotheca Historica": Philostratus (d. 250 CE) also describes the tunnel's construction in the "Life of Apollonius of Tyana": Euphrates Tunnel The Euphrates Tunnel was allegedly a tunnel which was built under the Euphrates river to connect the two halves of the city of Babylon, in the old Mesopotamia. Archaeologists believe it