In his book History of Cyrus the Great (1878), Jacob Abbott wrote: “[Babylon] was the capital of a large and very fertile region, which extended on both sides of the Euphrates toward the Persian Gulf. . . . The River Euphrates was the great source of fertility for the whole region through which it flowed.” Yes, Babylon’s prosperity stemmed from the Euphrates River. It is, therefore, all the more significant that the city’s fall should also be linked to that river.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. July 1, 1983 p. 6