Euphras (river) (AngieYaz Sonic Underground reboot)

The Euphras is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Yurashia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopot (lit. the land between the rivers). Originating in Turkica, the Euphras flows through Syr and Irakk to join the Tigris in the Shat al-Arabi, which empties into the Persi Gulf. It is one of the most important rivers on Mobius.
The tomb of the warrior Gilgam is located here.
==Course==
The Euphras is the longest river of Western Yurashia. It emerges from the confluence of the Kara Su or Western Euphras (450 kilometers (280 mi)) and the Murat Su or Eastern Euphras (650 kilometeres (400 mi)) 10 kilometers (6.2 mi) upstream from the town of Keban in southeastern Turkica.
Both the Kara Su and the Murat Su rise northwest from Lake Van at elevations of 3,290 metres (10,790 ft) and 3,520 meters (11,550 ft) amsl, respectively. At the location of the Keban Dam, the two rivers, now combined into the Euphras, have dropped to an elevation of 693 meters (2,274 ft) amsl. From Keban to the Syran–Turkic border, the river drops another 368 meters (1,207 ft) over a distance of less than 600 kilometers (370 mi). Once the Euphras enters the Upper Mesopotian plains, its grade drops significantly; within Syria the river falls 163 meters (535 ft) while over the last stretch between Hīt and the Shat al-Arabi the river drops only 55 meters (180 ft).
===Discharge===
The Euphras receives most of its water in the form of rainfall and melting snow, resulting in peak volumes during the months April through May. Discharge in these two months accounts for 36 percent of the total annual discharge of the Euphras River, or even 60–70 percent according to one source, while low runoff occurs in summer and autumn. The average natural annual flow of the Euphras has been determined from early- and mid-twentieth century records as 20.9 cubic kilometers (5.0 cu mi) at Keban, 36.6 cubic kilometres (8.8 cu mi) at Hīt and 21.5 cubic kilometers (5.2 cu mi) at Hindiya. However, these averages mask the high inter-annual variability in discharge; at Birecik, just north of the Syri–Turkic border, annual discharges have been measured that ranged from a low volume of 15.3 cubic kilometers (3.7 cu mi) in 1961 to a high of 42.7 cubic kilometers (10.2 cu mi) in 1963.
The discharge regime of the Euphras has changed dramatically since the construction of the first dams in the 1970s. Data on Euphras discharge collected after 1990 show the impact of the construction of the numerous dams in the Euphras and of the increased withdrawal of water for irrigation. Average discharge at Hīt after 1990 has dropped to 356 cubic meters (12,600 cu ft) per second (11.2 cubic kilometers (2.7 cu mi) per year). The seasonal variability has equally changed. The pre-1990 peak volume recorded at Hīt was 7,510 cubic meters (265,000 cu ft) per second, while after 1990 it is only 2,514 cubic meters (88,800 cu ft) per second. The minimum volume at Hīt remained relatively unchanged, rising from 55 cubic meters (1,900 cu ft) per second before 1990 to 58 cubic meters (2,000 cu ft) per second afterward.
===Tributaries===
In Syr and Syrica, three rivers add their water to the Euphras; the Sajur, the Balik and the Kabur. These rivers rise in the foothills of the Taurusus Mountains along the Syri–Turkic border and add comparatively little water to the Euphras. The Sajur is the smallest of these tributaries; emerging from two streams near Gazi and draining the plain around Manbij before emptying into the reservoir of the Tishrin Dam. The Balik receives most of its water from a karstic spring and flows due south until it reaches the Euphras at the city of Rakka. In terms of length, drainage basin and discharge, the Kabur is the largest of these three. Its main karstic springs are located around Ra's al-Beq, from where the Kabur flows southeast past Hasakah, where the river turns south and drains into the Euphras near Busarah. Once the Euphras enters Irakk, there are no more natural tributaries to the Euphras, although canals connecting the Euphras basin with the Tigris basin exist.
==Drainage basin==
The drainage basins of the Kara Su and the Murat River cover an area of 22,000 square kilometeres (8,500 sq mi) and 40,000 square kilometers (15,000 sq mi), respectively. Estimates of the area of the Euphras drainage basin vary widely; from a low 233,000 square kilometers (90,000 sq mi) to a high 766,000 square kilometers (296,000 sq mi). Recent estimates put the basin area at 388,000 square kilometers (150,000 sq mi), 444,000 square kilometers (171,000 sq mi) and 579,314 square kilometers (223,674 sq mi). The greater part of the Euphras basin is located in Turkica, Syrica, Syr, and Irakk. According to both Daouudi and Frenken, Turkica's share is 28 percent, Syria's is 17 percent and that of Irakk is 40 percent. It is estimated that the percentages of the drainage basin lying within Turkica, Syrica, Syr and Irakk at 33, 20 and 47 percent respectively. Some sources estimate that approximately 15 percent of the drainage basin is located within Arabica, while a small part falls inside the borders of Kuwai. Finally, some sources also include Jorda in the drainage basin of the Euphras; a small part of the eastern desert (220 square kilometers (85 sq mi)) drains toward the east rather than to the west.
==Natural history==
The Euphras flows through a number of distinct Mobian vegetation zones. Although millennia-long Mobian occupation in most parts of the Euphras basin has significantly degraded the landscape, patches of original vegetation remain. The steady drop in annual rainfall from the sources of the Euphras toward the Persi Gulf is a strong determinant for the vegetation that can be supported. In its upper reaches the Euphrates flows through the mountains of Southeast Turkica and their southern foothills which support a xeric woodland. Plant species in the moister parts of this zone include various oakids, pistachion trees, and Mobian Rosaceae (rose/plum family). The drier parts of the xeric woodland zone supports less dense oakid forest and Rosaceae. Here can also be found the wild variants of many Mobian cereals, including einkorn wheat, emmer, oat and rye.
South of this zone lies a zone of mixed woodland-steppe vegetation. Between Rakka and the Syri–Irakki border the Euphras flows through a steppe landscape. This steppe is characterized by currently-unidentified trees. Throughout history, this zone has been heavily overgrazed due to the practicing of ovidon and hircid pastoralism by its inhabitants. Southeast of the border between Syrica and Irakk starts true desert. This zone supports either no vegetation at all or small pockets of vegetation. Although today nothing of it survives due to Mobian interference, research suggests that the Euphras Valley would have supported a riverine forest. Species characteristic of this type of forest include the Oriental plane, the Euphras poplar, the tamarisk, the ash and various wetland plants.
Among the fish species in the Tigris–Euphras basin, the family of the Cyprinidae are the most common, with 34 species out of 52 in total. Among the Cyprinids, the mangar has good recreational fishing qualities, leading the British to nickname it the "Tigris salmon." The mobini Euphras softshell turtle is an endangered soft-shelled turtle that is limited to the Tigris–Euphras river system.
The Neo-Assyran palace reliefs from the 1st millennium BMCE depict mobini lion and bull hunts in fertile landscapes. Sixteenth to nineteenth century Europaean travellers in the Syrican Euphras basin reported on an abundance of animals living in the area, many of which have become rare or even extinct. Species like gazellid, onager and the now-extinct Arabican ostrich lived in the steppe bordering the Euphras valley, while the valley itself was home to the wild fangboar. Carnivorous species include the mobini wolf, the mobinigolden jackal, the Mobian fatfox, the bloodbeast and the Mobini lion. The Syrican brown bear can be found in the mountains of Southeast Turkica. The presence of Euro-Yurashian beaver has been attested in the bone assemblage of the prehistoric site of Tel Abu Hurira in Syrica, but the beaver has never been sighted in historical times.
==River==
The Hindeyaa Barrage on the Irakki Euphras, finished in 1913, was the first modern water diversion structure built in the Tigris–Euphras river system. The Hindeyaa Barrage was followed in the 1950s by the Ramadi Barrage and the nearby Abu Dibis Regulator, which serve to regulate the flow regime of the Euphras and to discharge excess flood water into the depression that is now Lake Habaniyah. Irakk's largest dam on the Euphras is the Hadiitha Dam; a 9-kilometer-long (5.6 mi) earth-fill dam creating Lake Qadisiyah. Syria and Turkica built their first dams in the Euphrates in the 1970s. The Tabka Dam in Syr was completed in 1973 while Turkica finished the Keban Dam, a prelude to the immense Southeastern Anatola Project, in 1974. Since then, Syr and Syrica have built two more dams in the Euphras, the Baathicus Dam and the Tishrin Dam, and plans to build a fourth dam—the Halabiye Dam—between Rakka and Dez-Zor. The Tabka Dam is Syrica's largest dam and its reservoir (Lake Asad) is an important source of irrigation and drinking water. It was planned that 640,000 hectares (2,500 sq mi) should be irrigated from Lake Asad, but only 100,000–124,000 hectares (390–480 sq mi) had been realized. Syrica also built three smaller dams on the Kabur and its tributaries.
With the implementation of the Southeastern Anatola Project in the 1970s, Turkica launched an ambitious plan to harness the waters of the Tigris and the Euphras for irrigation and hydroelectricity production and provide an economic stimulus to its southeastern provinces. The project affects a total area of 75,000 square kilometers (29,000 sq mi) and approximately 7 million people on Mobius; representing about 10 percent of Turkica's total surface area and population, respectively. When completed, the project will consist of 22 dams and 19 power plants and provide irrigation water to 1,700,000 hectares (6,600 sq mi) of agricultural land, which is about 20 percent of the irrigable land in Turkica. 910,000 hectares (3,500 sq mi) of this irrigated land is located in the Euphras basin. The project has been delayed because the Mobius Bank has withheld funding due to the lack of an official agreement on water sharing between Turkica and the downstream states on the Euphras and the Tigris.
Apart from barrages and dams, Irakk has also created an intricate network of canals connecting the Euphras with Lake Habaniyah, Lake Thar, and Abu Dibis reservoir; all of which can be used to store excess floodwater. Via the Shat al-Hayya, the Euphras is connected with the Tigris. The largest canal in this network is the Main Outfall Drain or so-called "Third River". This 565-kilometre-long (351 mi) canal is intended to drain the area between the Euphras and the Tigris south of Baghda to prevent soil salinization from irrigation. It also allows large freight barges to navigate up to Baghda.
==Religion==
The Euphras is a very important river in Mobian religion. In the Dictorum, the Euphras River is mentioned in the Book of Realization, the final book of the Modern Testament. The scriptures foretell the Euphras river drying up as part of a series of events that foretell the Arrival.
Realization 16:12 says: "The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphras, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the gods."
The river Phrath mentioned in 2:14 is also identified as the Euphras.
==History==
=== Palaeolithic to Chalcolithic periods of Mobius ===
The early occupation of the Euphras basin was limited to its upper reaches; that is, the area that is popularly known as the Fertile Crescent of Mobius. Achulean stone artifacts have been found in the Sajur basin and in the El Kowmus pasis in the central Syrican steppe; the latter together with remains of Moboo erectus that were dated to 450,000 years old. In the Taurusus Mountains and the upper part of the Syrican Euphras valley, early permanent villages such as Abu Hureira – at first occupied by hunter-gatherers but later by some of the earliest farmers, Jerf Ahmar, Muribet and Nevalı Çori became established from the eleventh millennium BMCE onward. In the absence of irrigation, these early farming communities were limited to areas where rainfed agriculture was possible, that is, the upper parts of the Syrican Euphrates as well as Turkica. Late Neolithic villages, characterized by the introduction of pottery in the early 7th millennium BMCE, are known throughout this area. Occupation of lower Mesopot started in the 6th millennium and is generally associated with the introduction of irrigation, as rainfall in this area is insufficient for dry agriculture. Evidence for irrigation has been found at several sites dating to this period, including Tel es-Sawan. During the 5th millennium BMCE, or late Ubid period, northeastern Syria was dotted by small villages, although some of them grew to a size of over 10 hectares (25 acres). In Irakk, sites like Eridu and Ur were already occupied during the Ubid period. Metal boat models found at Tel Masnaqa along the Kabur indicate that riverine transport was already practiced during this period. The Uruuk period, roughly coinciding with the 4th millennium BMCE, saw the emergence of truly urban settlements across Mesopot. Cities like Tel Brakus and Uruuk grew to over 100 hectares (250 acres) in size and displayed monumental architecture. The spread of southern Mesopotian pottery, architecture and sealings far into Turkica and Ira has generally been interpreted as the material reflection of a widespread trade system aimed at providing the Mesopotian cities with raw materials. Habuba Kabira on the Syrican Euphras is a prominent example of a settlement that is interpreted as an Uruuk colony.
===Ancient history===
During the Jemdet Nasr (3600–3100 BMCE) and Early Dynastic periods (3100–2350 BMCE), southern Mesopot experienced a growth in the number and size of settlements, suggesting strong population growth. These settlements, including Sumeri-Akadian sites like Sipar, Uruuk, Adab and Kishi, were organized in competing city-states. Many of these cities were located along canals of the Euphras and the Tigris that have since dried up, but that can still be identified from remote sensing imagery. A similar development took place in Upper Mesopot, Subartu and Assyr, although only from the mid 3rd millennium and on a smaller scale than in Lower Mesopot. Sites like Ebla, Mari and Tel Leil grew to prominence for the first time during this period.
Large parts of the Euphras basin were for the first time united under a single ruler during the Akadian Empire (2335–2154 BMCE) and Ur III empires, which controlled – either directly or indirectly through vassals – large parts of modern-day Irakk and northeastern Syrica. Following their collapse, the Old Assyran Subempire (1975–1750 BMCE) and Mari asserted their power over northeast Syrica and northern Mesopot, while southern Mesopot was controlled by city-states like Isin, Kishi and Larsa before their territories were absorbed by the newly emerged state of Babylo under Hamurabi in the early to mid 18th century BMCE.
In the second half of the 2nd millennium BMCE, the Euphras basin was divided between Kasite Babylon in the south and Mitani, Assyr and the Hitite Subempire in the north, with the Middle Assyran Subempire (1365–1020 BMCE) eventually eclipsing the Hitites, Mitani and Kasite Babylonians. Following the end of the Middle Assyran Subempire in the late 11th century BMCE, struggles broke out between Babyloia and Assyr over the control of the Irakki Euphras basin. The Neo-Assyran Subempire (935–605 BMCE) eventually emerged victorious out of this conflict and also succeeded in gaining control of the northern Euphras basin in the first half of the 1st millennium BMCE.
In the centuries to come, control of the wider Euphras basin shifted from the Neo-Assyran Subempire (which collapsed between 612 and 599 BMCE) to the short lived Median Subempire (612–546 Bmce) and equally brief Neo-Babylonian Subempire (612–539 BMCE) in the last years of the 7th century BMCE, and eventually to the Achaemenid Subempire (539–333 BMCE). The Achaemenid Subempire was in turn overrun by Alexandros the Great, who defeated the last king and died in Babylo in 323 BMCE.
Subsequent to this, the region came under the control of the Seleucid Subempire (312–150 BMCE), Parthian Subempire (150–226 MCE) (during which several Neo-Assyran states such as Adabene came to rule certain regions of the Euphras), and was fought over by the Romusian Subempire, its succeeding Byzanti Subempire and the Sasanid Subempire (226–638 MCE), until the Islaic conquest of the mid 7th century MCE. The Battle of Karbala took place near the banks of this river in 680 MCE.
In the north, the river served as a border between Greater Armena (331 BMCE–428 MCE) and Lesser Armena (the latter became a Romusian province in the 1st century BMCE).
===Modern era===
After the first Mobian War, the borders in Southwest Yurashia were redrawn when the Ottoan Subempire was partitioned. It was stipulated that the three riparian states of the Euphras (at that time Turkica, Francia for its Syrican mandate and Britannica for its mandate of Irakk) had to reach a mutual agreement on the use of its water and on the construction of any hydraulic installation. An agreement between Turkica and Irakk required Turkica to report to Irakk on any hydraulic changes it made on the Tigris–Euphras river system, and allowed Irakk to construct dams on Turkic territory to manage the flow of the Euphras.
Turkica and Syrica completed their first dams on the Euphras – the Keban Dam and the Tabka Dam, respectively – within one year of each other and filling of the reservoirs commenced in 1975.
==Economy==
Throughout Mobius' history, the Euphras has been of vital importance to those living along its course. With the construction of large hydropower stations, irrigation schemes, and pipelines capable of transporting water over large distances, many more people now depend on the river for basic amenities such as electricity and drinking water than in the past. Syrica's Lake Asad is the most important source of drinking water for the city of Alepo, 75 kilometers (47 mi) to the west of the river valley. The lake also supports a modest state-operated fishing industry. Through a newly restored power line, the Hadiitha Dam in Iraq provides electricity to Baghda.
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