character not only from the plateau land of Asia Minor to the west but
also from the great plain lands of steppe character lying to the south,
north and east. This has perhaps never had a single name, though the
bulk of it has been included in "Urartu" (Ararat), "Armenia" or
"Kurdistan" at various epochs; but for convenience we shall call it
_Armenia_. (3) A narrow belt running south from both the former
divisions and distinguished from them by much lower general elevation.
Bounded on the west by the sea and on the south and east by broad tracts
of desert, it has, since Greek times at least, been generally known as
_Syria_. (4) A great southern peninsula largely desert, lying high and
fringed by sands on the land side, which has been called, ever since
antiquity, _Arabia_. (5) A broad tract stretching into the continent
between Armenia and Arabia and containing the middle and lower basins of
the twin rivers, Euphrates and Tigris, which, rising in Armenia, drain
the greater part of the whole area. It is of diversified surface,
ranging from sheer desert in the west and centre, to great fertility in
its eastern parts; but, until it begins to rise northward towards the
frontier of "Armenia" and eastward towards that of the sixth division,
about to be described, it maintains a generally low elevation. No common
name has ever included all its parts, both the interfluvial region and
the districts beyond Tigris; but since the term _Mesopotamia_, though
obviously incorrect, is generally understood nowadays to designate it,
this name may be used for want of a better. (6) A high plateau, walled
off from Mesopotamia and Armenia by high mountain chains, and extending
back to the desert limits of the Ancient East. To this region, although
it comprises only the western part of what should be understood by
_Iran_, this name may be appropriated "without prejudice."

[Plate 1: THE REGION OF THE ANCIENT EAST AND ITS MAIN DIVISIONS]