MESOPOTAMIA, mes"o-po-t&mi-a: The name
applied by the Greeks after the time of Alexander
and by the Romans to the region between the Tigris
and the Euphrates (cf.
Acts ii. 9).
In earlier times the equivalent term applied only to the region
northwest of Babylonia through which the Balich
and the Chabur flowed. Before the Assyrian period
the
district was the locus of independent states, one
of which was Kisshati, capital Haran, the title of
whose king was assumed by early Babylonian mon
archs. Of the history of this region before 1500 B.C
little is known. About 2000 B.o. it was settled by
the peoples of the branch of Semites to which Ca
naanites, Phenicians, and Hyksos belonged. The
Egyptian wars of the eighteenth and nineteenth
dynasties, following the expulsion of the Hyksos,
were in part directed against Nahrina (see below),
"land of the rivers," which was Mesopotamia in its
proper sense (cf. W. M. Müller, Asien and Europa,
pp. 144, 249 sqq., Leipsic, 1893), and reports of
these wars give the earliest information
of the re gion. The next news comes from the Amarna
Tablets, which speak of non-Semitic conquerors,
the Mitanni (see
Assyria, VI., 2, § 1), under a King
Tushratta (see
Amarna Tablets, III.), whose
father and grandfather had had diplomatic relations
with Egypt, while his own kingdom had a
considerable area. Shortly afterward,
the region belonged to Assyria, the kings of which assumed
the title "king of Kisshati," and Shalmaneser II.
(see
Assyria, VI., 3, § 7) extinguished the remains
of the independence of its princes. Much of the
culture, especially on its linguistic side, which came
to be known
as Assyrian, was due to the influence
of this region of Kisshati. After the subjection of
the Mitanni, the Arameans overran tile region (cf.
A. Sands, Die Aramder, Leipsic, 1902). A result of this migration was the establishment of the king
dom of Bit-Adini (the "children of Eden" of
Isa. xxxvii. 12),
which reached from the Balich to the
Euphrates and was destroyed by the Assyrians (see
Assyria, VI., 2; 3, § 7).
Acts vii. 2
refers to a command received by Abra
ham " when he was in Mesopotamia, before he
dwelt in Charran." The common explanation that
by Mesopotamia is here meant the entire region
between the Euphrates and
the Tigris is untenable.
Winckler would read the passage " when he was
(once) in Mesopotamia, before he (finally) came to
dwell in Charran," and refer it to a legendary missionary journey of Abraham, mention of which
occurs in the pseudepigraphic Apocalypse of Abraham (ed. N. Bonwetsch, in
Studien zur Geschichte der Theologie and Kirche, i. 1,
Leipsic, 1897; see
Pseudepigrapha, II., 21). The history of Jacob is also
connected with Mesopotamia proper
(Gen. xxix. 1).
The narrator in
Gen. xxiv. 10
calls the region Aramnabaraim (cf. R. V. margin), the Nahrina of the
Egyptian inscriptions and the Narima of the
Amarna Tablets, and in
Gen. xxv. 20
it appears as Padan-aram (" plain of Aram," cf.
Hos. xii. 12,
R. V.). See
Aram, Arameans.
(A. Jeremias.)
Bibliography:
On the geography: C. Chesney, The
Expedition of the Survey of the Rivers Euphrates and
Tigris,
vol. i., London, 1850; J. C. F. Hoefer, Chaldde, Amyrie,
M6die, Babylonie, Mhopotamie, pp. 151-192, Paris, 1852;
W. K. Loftus, Travels and Researches in Chaldea and
Susiana, London, 1859; H. Kiepert, Lehrbuch der alten
Geographie, Berlin,
1878, Eng.
transl., Manual of
Ancient Geography, London, 1881. On the history: H. Winckler,
in Schrader, KAT, i. 26-32 et passim; F. Vigouroux, La
Bible et les dicouvertea modernes, vol. iii., 4 vols., Paris,
1881-82; G. Maspero, Hist. ancienne des peoples de 1'orient
classique, i. 551-564, ib. 1895; L. B. Paton, Early Hist. of
Syria and Palestine, New York, 1901.
