History glossary
Tigris
one of Mesopotamia's two great rivers, flowing through modern Turkey, Syria, and Iraq.
- Category
- River
- Region
- Modern Turkey, Syria, and Iraq
- Date range
- Ancient to present
What it means
The Tigris River rises in eastern Turkey and flows southeast through Iraq before joining the Euphrates system near the Persian Gulf. In ancient Mesopotamia it provided water, transport routes, and fertile land, but its floods could be fast and unpredictable.
Related terms
Stories using this term
The Indus Valley
From farming villages to great planned cities, the Indus Valley civilisation rose across South Asia and left an enduring legacy despite its many mysteries.
Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic World
From Philip II's military reforms to the fall of the last Hellenistic kingdom, this story follows Alexander's conquests, the wars of his successors, and the spread of Greek culture across the ancient Near East.
Mesopotamia
Ancient Mesopotamia, the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, was one of the birthplaces of urban civilisation. In this Tigris and Euphrates civilization, communities built some of the first cities, developed cuneiform writing, organised law codes, and created early empires. From Sumer and Akkad to Babylon and Assyria, this history of Mesopotamia shows how farming, irrigation, temples, kingship, trade, and record-keeping helped create the structures of complex society. It also works as a Mesopotamia timeline and Mesopotamia civilization overview, with clear Mesopotamia facts tracing how Mesopotamian civilization grew from villages into states and empires.
