Talk:Fertile Crescent

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Was Persia (Iran) not part of the Fertile Crescent? --JavidJamae

Contents 1 Nile Delta 1.1 Excluding Nile 1.2 Including Nile 1.3 Egypt was not included by Breasted 2 Template

[edit] Nile Delta

According to the picture, the Nile Delta is part of the Fertile Crescent. --Brunnock 15:35, 5 November 2005 (UTC)

You mention in an earlier edit that you "added Egypt as Breasted had intended."

No, I did not. Please don't put words in my mouth. --Brunnock 19:11, 9 December 2005 (UTC)

I did an image search for maps of the Fertile Crescent (on ones hosted at educational institutions) and found two camps; one including the Nile region, and one not. In the text accompanying some of the maps that did include the Nile valley, a statement was made to the effect of, "the Fertile Crescent often includes the Nile Valley."

[edit] Excluding Nile

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

[edit] Including Nile

[8] [9] [10] [11] ("Areas of greatest fertility")

This suggests that perhaps inclusion of the Nile Valley was an afterthought. Can you find a source documenting Breasted's intention to include the Nile Valley?

The map that's currently on the article includes Egypt. --Brunnock 19:11, 9 December 2005 (UTC)

Also, look at James Henry Breasted. --Brunnock 19:21, 9 December 2005 (UTC)

I see that the current map includes the Nile Valley in Egypt and that the page for Breasted includes the word Egypt. I was only making the point that many maps exclude Egypt, and I've been unable to find (on the Web) a direct quote from Breasted that indicates whether or not Egypt was included as part of his coined definition. Jasmol 19:33, 9 December 2005 (UTC)

Also, what's wrong with including the names of modern countries whose territory includes the historical areas described? Jasmol 18:43, 9 December 2005 (UTC)

There's already a sentence in the article which describes the boundaries using current geographic terms. --Brunnock 19:11, 9 December 2005 (UTC)

Question I wished this had answered: My perception of the Fertile Crescent area is that it is close to desert. If that is correct, why is it called "Fertile Crescent"? Was at some point the area much more lush & fertile than today?

The area within the Fertile Crescent is well-watered by major rivers and oases. It is characterised by a typically Mediterranean climate --- hot and dry in the summer, cooler and wet in the winter. It's not a desert, although it does border some more arid regions in Syria, Iraq and north Africa. Rattus 01:30, 9 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Egypt was not included by Breasted

Breasted, who coined the term Fertile Crescent, did not include Egypt in his description of the Fertile Crescent. He explicitly says:

This fertile crescent is approximately a semicircle . . . . The end of the western wing is Palestine; Assyria makes up a large part of the center; while the end of the eastern wing is Babylonia.

This great semicircle, for lack of a name, may be called the Fertile Crescent.

Reference: James Henry Breasted, Ancient Times or a History of the Early World (1916, reprinted 2003), Vol. 1, pages 100-101. ISBN 0766149463. Accessed through Google Books using keywords ("James Henry Breasted" "fertile crescent") and following the first link. -- HYC 18:50, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

It should also be noted that Breasted, who was an Egyptologist, put his description of Egypt in a separate chapter in that book. He didn't lump the Fertile Crescent and Egypt together. -- HYC 22:08, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Template

The new Template here is the master of a series in progress that is being modeled after the Greek myth series. See for example Template:Greek myth (sea). Some of the sub-regions may require a list of deities to complete underneath this master such as in Template:Fertile Crescent myth (Mesopotamia).

The Fertile Crescent page could modify this master for a more interesting template or could expand to include a discussion of religion in the region, unless there is already a page doing that that I have not yet found.

In any case, it makes this page more interesting, since the region in ancient times was so important not only as a cradle of civilization, but as a cradle for religion. Castanea dentata 01:14, 28 December 2005 (UTC)

I think that the Fertile Crescent article should focus on its intended subject- the birthplace of agriculture. Perhaps you want to put your template on Cradle of Humanity or Cradle of Civilization. --Brunnock 13:34, 28 December 2005 (UTC)

The template seems out of place on this article. Brunnock's suggestion for moving it makes sense. --NormanEinstein 02:01, 29 December 2005 (UTC)