an area of fertile land in the Middle East, extending around the Rivers Tigris and Euphrates in a semicircle from Israel to the Persian Gulf, where the Sumerian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Phoenician, and Hebrew civilizations flourished
Fertile Crescent in American English
historical crescent-shaped region in the Middle East, extending from the E end of the Mediterranean Sea to theTigris & Euphrates rivers: significant as the birthplace of several ancient civilizations