Beaver County News | 1916-08-25 | Page 4 | Marshes in Mesopotamia

Marshes in Mesopotamia. The marshes of Mesopotamia were famous in the time of Alexander the Great. One of the last acts of his life, within a few weeks of his death, was a voyage duwu the Euphrates to the great dike of Pallakupea, about DO miles below Babyfon. This sluice had been constructed by the ancient Assyrian As-syrian kings to let off the water of the river when it became excessive, into the marshes. It was reported not to be working well, and Alexander proposed pro-posed to construct another sluice lower low-er down. He sailed on into the marshes steering his vessel himself, with his diadem on his head, to explore ex-plore them and the tombs of the kings, and so extensive were the lakes and swamps that Alexander's fleet lost its way among them.