Ancient Mesopotamian cultures including the Babylonians, Assyrians, and Sumerians lived along the shores of which two rivers?

The very name Mesopotamia, an ancient Greek term meaning "the land between the rivers," provides a direct clue to its geography. This historic region, often called the cradle of civilization, was situated in the fertile plain created by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. These two waterways originate in the mountains of modern-day Turkey and flow southward through what is now Iraq before emptying into the Persian Gulf. They created a lush, life-sustaining oasis in the midst of an otherwise arid and forbidding landscape.

The rivers were the foundation upon which the great Mesopotamian cultures were built. The annual floods, while sometimes destructive, deposited incredibly rich and fertile silt along the riverbanks. The Sumerians, and later the Akkadians, Babylonians, and Assyrians, developed sophisticated irrigation systems to control the water and channel it to their fields. This agricultural innovation led to food surpluses, which allowed populations to grow, cities to form, and specialized professions to emerge. Without the water, silt, and transport routes provided by these two vital rivers, the development of writing, law, and urban society in this region would not have been possible.