Murat River
| Murat River | |
|---|---|
|
Murat River | |
| Basin | |
| River system | Euphrates |
| Main source | near Mount Ararat north of Lake Van |
| Source elevation | 2,720 m (8,920 ft) |
| River mouth | Karasu near Keban, Elazığ Province |
| Mouth elevation | 820 m (2,690 ft) |
| Cities | Eastern Anatolia Region, Turkey |
| Physiognomy | |
| Length | 722 km (449 mi) |
The Murat River (Turkish: Murat Nehri), or Eastern Euphrates is the major source of the Euphrates. The river was called Arsanias (Armenian: Արածանի) in antiquity. It originates near Mount Ararat north of Lake Van, in Eastern Turkey, and flows westward for 722 km (449 mi) through mountainous area. Before construction of the Keban Dam, the Murat River joined the Karasu 10 km (6.2 mi) north the dam site and 13 km (8.1 mi) north the town of Keban.[1]
In Muş Province, the river is interrupted by the Alpaslan-1 Dam which was completed in 2009. In 2016 the Alpaslan-2 Dam is expected to be complete and is located downstream of Alpaslan-1. The river merges into the reservoir of Turkey's once largest dam, the Keban Dam, which was completed in 1974 and is designed to provide electrical power.[2]
Name
The present name is usually connected with the Turkish name Murat or its appellative murat "purpose, intention, desire". But this may be a folk etymology, so Hrach Martirosyan tentatively proposes derivation from Old Armenian mōrat, murat “mud, marsh”.[3]
The river was called Arșania in sources of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, and Arsanias in Classical Greek and Roman times. Those forms may derive from an Armenian original (Արածանի Aratsani), itself from an Indo-European root for 'white, bright'.[4][5]
Footnotes
- ↑ "Soccer On Frozen River". Turkish Daily News. 2004-12-31.
- ↑ "Marat River". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2008-02-16.
- ↑ Hrach Martirosyan, Armenian mawr ‘mud, marsh’ and its hydronimical value, Aramazd: Armenian journal of Near Eastern studies, vol. 4.1, pp. 73–85 and 179–180 (Summary in Armenian) (2009)
- ↑ Journal of the Society for Armenian Studies. The Society. 2005. p. 33.
- ↑ Mario Liverani (1995). Neo-Assyrian geography. Università di Roma, Dipartimento di scienze storiche, archeologiche e antropologiche dell'Antichità. p. 57.
Coordinates: 39°24′N 43°45′E / 39.400°N 43.750°E
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Murat River. |