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'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. III. 1917' [176] (185/432)
The record is made up of 1 volume (214 folios). It was created in 1917. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
176
LAND EOUTES
Miles from
Baghdad
171
172
173
:>!
173
174^
The
Wadi
A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
Tartar lies about 28-30 m, W. of Qalah Sherghat
In this part of its course it carries water perennially ai J
is much frequented by the nomads of the Jezireh, especially th
Shammar, for its water, which is good, and for the pasture along
its banks. The country between Qal'ah Sherghat and the Tartar
is open and undulating, traversed by a number of deep wadis
which have water in spring. There is much rich pasture in
this region in April. The
Wadi
A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
Tartar near El -Hadr (see
below) is 25-30 ft. wide, and in spring is 5-7 ft. deep. The banks
are rotten. There are few places where camels can cross.
About T 31 m. WNW. of Qal'ah Sherghat are the ruins of Hatra (el-
Hadhr), situated about 2^ m. W. of the
Wadi
A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
Tartar. These ruins
include the remains of a palace with seven vaulted halls, some of
the walls of which are still standing to a great height built of
squared blocks of stone. Protection was afforded by a wall over
3 m. in circumference and strengthened at intervals with towers
and by a wide, deep moat. Considerable portions of the wall are
still standing.
At the SE. corner, inside the wall, is a sulphur spring, and a little
to the NE. of this spring, outside the wall, a pool of rather brackish
water. There is said, however, to be a good spring of freshwater
just outside the walls, though no other indication is given as to its
position.
The period of the greatest prosperity of Hatra fell in the first and
second centuries a.d ., under the Parthian Empire. It was
destroyed by the Persian king Sapor I ( a.d . 242-72).
The mileage up to Shura (see m. 204) is very uncertain;
the authority from which these distances are taken gives
7 hrs. as the time between Qal'ah Sherghat and Shura,
but this appears to be an error. Another authority
estimates the distance between Qal'ah Sherghat and
Shura as 42 miles and gives the time taken from Kaiyara
to Qal'ah Sherghat at 8-| hrs.
Creek, 20 ft. wide, 5 ft. deep.
The track now enters the open desert again, the hills
trending to the W.
The track skirts the hills, with the river 1 m. E.
The track enters a small alluvial plain called Sherghat,
partly cultivated. The road is good and sandy, skirting
the hills, which are here about 100 ft. high.
The track touches the river, which here has banks 20 ft.
above the water. In 1903 there were sheep grazing on
the plain and nomad Arabs in the valley.
The road is good, lying up the bed of a stream over a low
line of hills.
Summit of the hills. Stony downs to r. and 1. The track
is fairly easy.
About this item
- Content
This volume is A Handbook of Mesopotamia, Volume III, Central Mesopotamia with Sourthern Kurdistan and the Syrian Desert (Admiralty War Staff Intelligence Division, January, 1917), covering the Tigris and Euphrates from Baghdad and Fellūjeh [Fallujah] to Mosul and Meskeneh [Maskanah], the Lesser Zāb, the country east of the Tigris towards the Persian frontier, and the routes running westward from the Euphrates valley across the Syrian Desert. The volume was prepared on behalf of the Admiralty and War Office, and appears to be based on official and unofficial publications and maps which are cited in a bibliographical section in the volume. This volume was supplemented with corrections and additions in June 1918 (see IOR/L/MIL/17/15/41/5).
The volume includes a note on confidentiality, a title page, 'Note', 'Abbreviations'. There is a page of 'Contents' which includes the following sections:
- Introduction;
- River Routes (The Tigris and the Lesser Zāb, The Euphrates);
- Land Routes (The Tigris Valley with Region to East, The Euphrates Valley, Connexions between Tigris and Euphrates Valleys, The Syrian Desert);
- Gazetteer of Towns;
- Bibliographical Note;
- Transliteration of Names;
- Glossary;
- Appendix;
- Index;
- 'Sketch Map of Routes', which includes 'City Map of Baghdad' (f. 212) and 'Mesopotamia: Outline Map Showing Routes, Volume III' contained in a pocket.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (214 folios)
- Arrangement
This volume is arranged according to numbered routes. There is a page of contents and an alphabetical index. There are two maps housed in a pocket.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: The foliation sequence commences at the inside front cover and terminates at the inside back cover; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio (except for the front cover, where the folio number is located on the verso The back of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'v'. ).
Pagination: The volume also has an original printed pagination sequence.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/MIL/17/15/41/4
- Title
- 'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. III. 1917'
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, i-r:i-v, 1:422, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence