Birtha was an ancient town on the east bank of the Euphrates, at the upper part of a reach of that river, which runs nearly north-south, and just below a sharp bend in the stream, where it follows that course after coming from a long reach flowing more from the west. This town has often been confounded with the Birtha of Ptolemy (v. 19), but incorrectly. In fact, the name of Birtha occurs in no ancient writer. Zosimus (iii. 19) mentions that Julian, in his march to Maogamalcha, rested at a town called Bithra (Greek: Βίθρα), where there was a palace of such vast dimensions that it afforded quarters for his whole army. (Comp. Le Beau, Bas Empire, vol. iii. p. 93.) This town was no doubt the modern Birecik, Turkey (Albirat, Abulf. Tab. Syr. p. 127). The castle of Bircejik rises on the left bank, so as to command the passage of the river on the opposite side, astride one of the most frequented of all the traditional passages into Mesopotamia. (Buckingham, Mesopotamia, vol. i. p. 49; Journ. Geog. Soc. vol. x. pp. 452, 517; Ghesney, Exped. Euphrat. vol. i. p. 46; Ritter, Erdkunde, vol. x. p. 976.) Bold text For the song River Euphrates by the Pixies, see Surfer Rosa The Euphrates (IPA: /juːˈfreɪtiːz/; Greek: EuphrátÄ“s; Akkadian: Pu-rat-tu; Hebrew: פְּרָת PÄ•rāth; Syriac: Prâth; Arabic: الفرات Al-Furāt; Turkish: Fırat; Kurdish: فرهات, Firhat, Ferhat, Azeri: FÉ™rat) is the... For the pope of this name see Pope Zosimus Zosimus, Greek historical writer, nourished at Constantinople during the second half of the 5th century A.D. According to Photius, he was a count, and held the office of advocate of the imperial treasury. ... Flavius Claudius Iulianus (331–June 26, 363), was a Roman Emperor (361–363) of the Constantinian dynasty. ... Birecik, a town of North-West Mesopotamia, in the Aleppo valley, altitude 1170 ft. ... Mesopotamia refers to the region now occupied by modern Iraq, eastern Syria, southeastern Turkey, and Southwest Iran. ...

References

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography by William Smith (1857).