Book 2
for we have seen that (as the Egyptians themselves say, and as I myself judge) the Delta is alluvial land and but lately (so to speak) came into being. Then if there was once no land for them, it was an idle notion that they were the oldest nation on earth, and they need not have made that trial to see what language the children would first speak.
I maintain, rather, that the Egyptians did not come into existence together with what the Ionians call the Delta, but have existed since the human race came into being; and as the land grew in extent, there were many of them who stayed behind, and many who spread down over it. Be that as it may, the Theban district, a land of seven hundred and sixty-five miles in circumference, was in the past called Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt .
If, then, our judgment of this is right, the Ionians are in error concerning Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt ; but if their opinion is right, then it is plain that they and the rest of the Greeks cannot reckon truly, when they divide the whole earth into three parts, Europe (continent) Europe , Asia (continent) Asia , and Libya [17,25] (nation), Africa Libya ;
they must add to these a fourth part, the Delta of Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt , if it belongs neither to Asia (continent) Asia nor to Libya [17,25] (nation), Africa Libya ; for by their showing the Nahr an- Nil [31.1,30.166] (river), Africa Nile is not the river that separates Asia (continent) Asia and Libya [17,25] (nation), Africa Libya ; the Nahr an- Nil [31.1,30.166] (river), Africa Nile divides at the apex of this Delta, so that this land must be between Asia (continent) Asia and Libya [17,25] (nation), Africa Libya .
We leave the Ionians' opinion aside, and our own judgment about the matter is this: Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt is all that country which is inhabited by Egyptians, just as Cilicia [34.333,36.666] (region (general)), Turkey, Asia Cilicia and Assyria are the countries inhabited by Cilicians and Assyrians, and we know of no boundary line (rightly so called) below Asia (continent) Asia and Libya [17,25] (nation), Africa Libya except the borders of the Egyptians.
But if we follow the belief of the Greeks, we shall consider all Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt commencing from the Cataracts and the city of Elephantine On the island opposite Aswan [32.933,24.83] (inhabited place), Aswan, Upper Egypt, Egypt, Africa Syene (Aswan [32.666,23.83] (governorate), Upper Egypt, Egypt, Africa Assuan ). to be divided into two parts, and to claim both the names, the one a part of Libya [17,25] (nation), Africa Libya and the other of Asia (continent) Asia .
For the Nahr an- Nil [31.1,30.166] (river), Africa Nile , beginning from the Cataracts, divides Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt into two parts as it flows to the sea. Now, as far as the city Cercasorus the Nahr an- Nil [31.1,30.166] (river), Africa Nile flows in one channel, but after that it parts into three.
One of these, which is called the Pelusian mouth, flows east; the second flows west, and is called the Canobic mouth. But the direct channel of the Nahr an- Nil [31.1,30.166] (river), Africa Nile , when the river in its downward course reaches the apex of the Delta, flows thereafter clean through the middle of the Delta into the sea; in this is seen the greatest and most famous part of its waters, and it is called the Sebennytic mouth.
There are also two channels which separate themselves from the Sebennytic and so flow into the sea: by name, the Saïtic and the Mendesian.
The Bolbitine and Bucolic mouths are not natural but excavated channels.
The response of oracle of Ammon in fact bears witness to my opinion, that Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt is of such an extent as I have argued; I learned this by inquiry after my judgment was already formed about Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt .
The men of the cities of Marea and Apis, in the part of Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt bordering on Libya [17,25] (nation), Africa Libya , believing themselves to be Libyans and not Egyptians, and disliking the injunction of the religious law that forbade them to eat cows' meat, sent to Ammon saying that they had no part of or lot with Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt : for they lived (they said) outside the Delta and did not consent to the ways of its people, and they wished to be allowed to eat all foods.
But the god forbade them: all the land, he said, watered by the Nahr an- Nil [31.1,30.166] (river), Africa Nile in its course was Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt , and all who lived lower down than the city Elephantine and drank the river's water were Egyptians. Such was the oracle given to them.
When the Nahr an- Nil [31.1,30.166] (river), Africa Nile is in flood, it overflows not only the Delta but also the lands called Libyan and Arabian, as far as two days' journey from either bank in places, and sometimes more than this, sometimes less. Concerning its nature, I could not learn anything either from the priests or from any others.
Yet I was anxious to learn from them why the Nahr an- Nil [31.1,30.166] (river), Africa Nile comes down with a rising flood for a hundred days from the summer solstice; and when this number of days is passed, sinks again with a diminishing stream, so that the river is low for the whole winter until the summer solstice again.
I was not able to get any information from any of the Egyptians regarding this, when I asked them what power the Nahr an- Nil [31.1,30.166] (river), Africa Nile has to be contrary in nature to all other rivers. I wished to know this, and asked; also, why no breezes blew from it as from every other riverNot from the river itself, perhaps; but there is a regular current of air blowing up the valley..
But some of the Greeks, wishing to be notable for cleverness, put forward three opinions about this river, two of which I would not even mention except just to show what they are.
One of them maintains that the Etesian windsThe regular N.W. winds which blow in summer from the Mediterranean Sea [30,31.5] (sea) Mediterranean . are the cause of the river being in flood, because they hinder the Nahr an- Nil [31.1,30.166] (river), Africa Nile from emptying into the sea. But there are many times when the Etesian winds do not blow, yet the Nahr an- Nil [31.1,30.166] (river), Africa Nile does the same as before.
And further, if the Etesian winds were the cause, then the other rivers which flow contrary to those winds should be affected like the Nahr an- Nil [31.1,30.166] (river), Africa Nile , and even more so, since being smaller they have a weaker current. Yet there are many rivers in Syria [38,35] (nation), Asia Syria and many in Libya [17,25] (nation), Africa Libya , and they behave nothing like the Nahr an- Nil [31.1,30.166] (river), Africa Nile .
The second opinion is less grounded on knowledge than the previous, though it is more marvellous to the ear: according to it, the river effects what it does because it flows from Ocean, which flows around the whole world.
The third opinion is by far the most plausible, yet the most erroneous of all. It has no more truth in it than the others. According to this, the Nahr an- Nil [31.1,30.166] (river), Africa Nile flows from where snows melt; but it flows from Libya [17,25] (nation), Africa Libya through the midst of Ethiopia [39,8] (nation), Africa Ethiopia , and comes out into Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt .
How can it flow from snow, then, seeing that it comes from the hottest places to lands that are for the most part cooler? In fact, for a man who can reason about such things, the principal and strongest evidence that the river is unlikely to flow from snows is that the winds blowing from Libya [17,25] (nation), Africa Libya and Ethiopia [39,8] (nation), Africa Ethiopia are hot.
In the second place, the country is rainless and frostless; but after snow has fallen, it has to rain within five daysIt does not seem to be known what authority there is for this assertion. ; so that if it snowed, it would rain in these lands. And thirdly, the men of the country are black because of the heat.
Moreover, kites and swallows live there all year round, and cranes come every year to these places to winter there, flying from the wintry weather of Scythia (region (general)), Asia Scythia . Now, were there but the least fall of snow in this country through which the Nahr an- Nil [31.1,30.166] (river), Africa Nile flows and where it rises, none of these things would happen, as necessity proves.
The opinion about Ocean is grounded in obscurity and needs no disproof; for I know of no Ocean river; and I suppose that Homer or some older poet invented this name and brought it into his poetry.
If, after having condemned the opinions proposed, I must indicate what I myself think about these obscure matters, I shall say why I think the Nahr an- Nil [31.1,30.166] (river), Africa Nile floods in the summer. During the winter, the sun is driven by storms from his customary course and passes over the inland parts of Libya [17,25] (nation), Africa Libya .
For the briefest demonstration, everything has been said; for whatever country this god is nearest, or over, it is likely that that land is very thirsty for water and that the local rivers are dried up.
A lengthier demonstration goes as follows. In its passage over the inland parts of Libya [17,25] (nation), Africa Libya , the sun does this: as the air is always clear in that region, the land warm, and the winds cool, the sun does in its passage exactly as it would do in the summer passing through the middle of the heaven:
it draws the water to itself, and having done so, expels it away to the inland regions, and the winds catch it and scatter and dissolve it; and, as is to be expected, those that blow from that country, the south and the southwest, are the most rainy of all winds.
Yet I think that the sun never lets go of all of the water that it draws up from the Nahr an- Nil [31.1,30.166] (river), Africa Nile yearly, but keeps some back near itself. Then, as the winter becomes milder, the sun returns to the middle of the heaven, and after that draws from all rivers alike.
Meanwhile, the other rivers are swollen to high flood by the quantity of water that falls into them from the sky, because the country is rained on and cut into gullies; but in the summer they are low, lacking the rain and being drawn up too by the sun.
But the Nahr an- Nil [31.1,30.166] (river), Africa Nile , being fed by no rain, and being the only river drawn up by the sun in winter, at this time falls far short of the height that it had in summer; which is but natural; for in summer all other waters too and not it alone are attracted to the sun, but in the winter it alone is afflicted.
I am convinced, therefore, that the sun is the cause of this phenomenon. The dryness of the air in these parts is also caused by the sun, in my opinion, because it burns its way through it; hence, it is always summer in the inland part of Libya [17,25] (nation), Africa Libya .
But were the stations of the seasons changed, so that the south wind and the summer had their station where the north wind and winter are now set, and the north wind was where the south wind is now—if this were so, the sun, when driven from mid-heaven by the winter and the north wind, would pass over the inland parts of Europe (continent) Europe as it now passes over Libya [17,25] (nation), Africa Libya , and I think that in its passage over all Europe (continent) Europe it would have the same effect on the Ister as it now does on the Nahr an- Nil [31.1,30.166] (river), Africa Nile .
And as to why no breeze blows from the river, this is my opinion: it is not natural that any breeze blow from very hot places; breezes always come from that which is very cold.
Let this be, then, as it is and as it was in the beginning. But as to the sources of the Nahr an- Nil [31.1,30.166] (river), Africa Nile , no one that conversed with me, Egyptian, Libyan, or Greek, professed to know them, except the recorder of the sacred treasures of Athena in the Egyptian city of Saïs.
I thought he was joking when he said that he had exact knowledge, but this was his story. Between the city of Aswan [32.933,24.83] (inhabited place), Aswan, Upper Egypt, Egypt, Africa Syene in the Thebaid (region (general)), Upper Egypt, Egypt, Africa Thebaid and Elephantine, there are two hills with sharp peaks, one called Crophi and the other Mophi.
The springs of the Nahr an- Nil [31.1,30.166] (river), Africa Nile , which are bottomless, rise between these hills; half the water flows north towards Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt , and the other half south towards Ethiopia [39,8] (nation), Africa Ethiopia .
He said that Psammetichus king of Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt had put to the test whether the springs are bottomless: for he had a rope of many thousand fathoms' length woven and let down into the spring, but he could not reach to the bottom.
This recorder, then, if he spoke the truth, showed, I think, that there are strong eddies and an upward flow of water, such that with the stream rushing against the hills the sounding-line when let down cannot reach bottom.