Aras River

The Aras River as a border between Iran and Nakhichevan from the Iranian shore

Aras north of Iğdır

Course of the Aras in the southern basin of the Kura

The Aras, Araks or Arax ( Azerbaijani Araz, Persian ارس / ( rud -e) macaws, Արաքս Armenian, Kurdish Erez, Muna Urartian, Greek Araxes, Turkish Aras Nehri ) is 1,072 km in length, the longest tributary of the Kura in the Middle East.

River

The Aras springs in Turkey in the eastern Anatolia region, south of Erzurum in the Bingöl Mountains. From its source, he runs towards the east, where he passed the Mount Ararat north. Around this area, the river forms the frontier with Armenia. Later he river forms the border between Iran and the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan itself and continue in Azerbaijan, it flows through the Mugansteppe between Iran, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and finally empties into the lower reaches of the Kura.

Identification with the biblical river Gihon

Egyptologist David Rohl holds the Aras for the historic Gihon, which the Bible ( Genesis 1 Genesis 2:11) cites as one of the four rivers flowing from the garden in the description of the Garden of Eden. Rohl cites a document from the time of the Islamic invasion of Persia, that in proof of the reputation of the Aras under the name Gyhun to the 7th century. The old name of the region on Gyhun have gelautet Kush, a name which is also mentioned in the biblical account of creation. One of the peaks in the region is, even today Kuscha Dagh ( "Mountain of Kush ").