As regards the nature of the river, neither from the priests

Produced by John Bickers; Dagny; David Widger

AN ACCOUNT OF EGYPT

By Herodotus

Translated By G. C. Macaulay

NOTE

HERODOTUS was born at Halicarnassus, on the southwest coast of Asia

Minor, in the early part of the fifth century, B. C. Of his life we know

almost nothing, except that he spent much of it traveling, to collect

the material for his writings, and that he finally settled down at

Thurii, in southern Italy, where his great work was composed. He died in

424 B. C.

The subject of the history of Herodotus is the struggle between the

Greeks and the barbarians, which he brings down to the battle of Mycale

in 479 B. C. The work, as we have it, is divided into nine books,

named after the nine Muses, but this division is probably due to the

Alexandrine grammarians. His information he gathered mainly from oral

sources, as he traveled through Asia Minor, down into Egypt, round

the Black Sea, and into various parts of Greece and the neighboring

countries. The chronological narrative halts from time to time to give

opportunity for descriptions of the country, the people, and their

customs and previous history; and the political account is constantly

varied by rare tales and wonders.

Among these descriptions of countries the most fascinating to the

modern, as it was to the ancient, reader is his account of the marvels

of the land of Egypt. From the priests at Memphis, Heliopolis, and the

Egyptian Thebes he learned what he reports of the size of the country,

the wonders of the Nile, the ceremonies of their religion, the

sacredness of their animals. He tells also of the strange ways of the

crocodile and of that marvelous bird, the Phoenix; of dress and funerals

and embalming; of the eating of lotos and papyrus; of the pyramids and

the great labyrinth; of their kings and queens and courtesans.

Yet Herodotus is not a mere teller of strange tales. However credulous

he may appear to a modern judgment, he takes care to keep separate what

he knows by his own observation from what he has merely inferred and

from what he has been told. He is candid about acknowledging ignorance,

and when versions differ he gives both. Thus the modern scientific

historian, with other means of corroboration, can sometimes learn from

Herodotus more than Herodotus himself knew.

There is abundant evidence, too, that Herodotus had a philosophy of

history. The unity which marks his work is due not only to the strong

Greek national feeling running through it, the feeling that rises to a

height in such passages as the descriptions of the battles of Marathon,

Thermopylae, and Salamis, but also to his profound belief in Fate and

in Nemesis. To his belief in Fate is due the frequent quoting of oracles

and their fulfilment, the frequent references to things foreordained by

Providence. The working of Nemesis he finds in the disasters that befall

men and nations whose towering prosperity awakens the jealousy of the

gods. The final overthrow of the Persians, which forms his main theme,

is only one specially conspicuous example of the operation of this force

from which human life can never free itself.

But, above all, he is the father of story-tellers. "Herodotus is such

simple and delightful reading," says Jevons; "he is so unaffected and

entertaining, his story flows so naturally and with such ease that

we have a difficulty in bearing in mind that, over and above the hard

writing which goes to make easy reading there is a perpetual marvel in

the work of Herodotus. It is the first artistic work in prose that Greek

literature produced. This prose work, which for pure literary merit no

subsequent work has surpassed, than which later generations, after

using the pen for centuries, have produced no prose more easy or more

readable, this was the first of histories and of literary prose."

AN ACCOUNT OF EGYPT

BY HERODOTUS

BEING THE SECOND BOOK OF HIS HISTORIES CALLED EUTERPE

When Cyrus had brought his life to an end, Cambyses received the royal

power in succession, being the son of Cyrus and of Cassandane the

daughter of Pharnaspes, for whose death, which came about before his

own, Cyrus had made great mourning himself and also had proclaimed to

all those over whom he bore rule that they should make mourning for her:

Cambyses, I say, being the son of this woman and of Cyrus, regarded

the Ionians and Aiolians as slaves inherited from his father; and he

proceeded to march an army against Egypt, taking with him as helpers not

only other nations of which he was ruler, but also those of the Hellenes

over whom he had power besides.

Now the Egyptians, before the time when Psammetichos became king over

them, were wont to suppose that they had come into being first of all

men; but since the time when Psammetichos having become king desired to

know what men had come into being first, they suppose that the Phrygians

came into being before themselves, but they themselves before all other

men. Now Psammetichos, when he was not able by inquiry to find out any

means of knowing who had come into being first of all men, contrived a

device of the following kind:--Taking two newborn children belonging to

persons of the common sort he gave them to a shepherd to bring up at

the place where his flocks were, with a manner of bringing up such as

I shall say, charging him namely that no man should utter any word in

their presence, and that they should be placed by themselves in a room

where none might come, and at the proper time he should bring them

she-goats, and when he had satisfied them with milk he should do for

them whatever else was needed. These things Psammetichos did and gave

him this charge wishing to hear what word the children would let break

forth first after they had ceased from wailings without sense. And

accordingly it came to pass; for after a space of two years had gone by,

during which the shepherd went on acting so, at length, when he opened

the door and entered, both children fell before him in entreaty and

uttered the word _bekos_, stretching forth their hands. At first when

he heard this the shepherd kept silence; but since this word was often

repeated, as he visited them constantly and attended to them, at last

he declared the matter to his master, and at his command he brought the

children before his face. Then Psammetichos having himself also heard

it, began to inquire what nation of men named anything _bekos_, and

inquiring he found that the Phrygians had this name for bread. In this

manner and guided by an indication such as this, the Egyptians were

brought to allow that the Phrygians were a more ancient people than

themselves. That so it came to pass I heard from the priests of that

Hephaistos who dwells at Memphis; but the Hellenes relate, besides many

other idle tales, that Psammetichos cut out the tongues of certain women

and then caused the children to live with these women.

With regard then to the rearing of the children they related so much as

I have said: and I heard also other things at Memphis when I had speech

with the priests of Hephaistos. Moreover I visited both Thebes and

Heliopolis for this very cause, namely because I wished to know whether

the priests at these places would agree in their accounts with those at

Memphis; for the men of Heliopolis are said to be the most learned in

records of the Egyptians. Those of their narrations which I heard with

regard to the gods I am not earnest to relate in full, but I shall name

them only because I consider that all men are equally ignorant of these

matters: and whatever things of them I may record I shall record only

because I am compelled by the course of the story. But as to those

matters which concern men, the priests agreed with one another in saying

that the Egyptians were the first of all men on earth to find out the

course of the year, having divided the seasons into twelve parts to make

up the whole; and this they said they found out from the stars: and they

reckon to this extent more wisely than the Hellenes, as it seems to

me, inasmuch as the Hellenes throw in an intercalated month every other

year, to make the seasons right, whereas the Egyptians, reckoning the

twelve months at thirty days each, bring in also every year five days

beyond number, and thus the circle of their season is completed and

comes round to the same point whence it set out. They said moreover that

the Egyptians were the first who brought into use appellations for the

twelve gods and the Hellenes took up the use from them; and that they

were the first who assigned altars and images and temples to the gods,

and who engraved figures on stones; and with regard to the greater

number of these things they showed me by actual facts that they had

happened so. They said also that the first man who became king of Egypt

was Min; and that in his time all Egypt except the district of Thebes

was a swamp, and none of the regions were then above water which now lie

below the lake of Moiris, to which lake it is a voyage of seven days

up the river from the sea: and I thought that they said well about the

land; for it is manifest in truth even to a person who has not heard it

beforehand but has only seen, at least if he have understanding, that

the Egypt to which the Hellenes come in ships is a land which has been

won by the Egyptians as an addition, and that it is a gift of the river:

moreover the regions which lie above this lake also for a distance of

three days' sail, about which they did not go on to say anything of

this kind, are nevertheless another instance of the same thing: for the

nature of the land of Egypt is as follows:--First when you are still

approaching it in a ship and are distant a day's run from the land, if

you let down a sounding-line you will bring up mud and you will find

yourself in eleven fathoms. This then so far shows that there is a

silting forward of the land. Then secondly, as to Egypt itself, the

extent of it along the sea is sixty _schoines_, according to our

definition of Egypt as extending from the Gulf of Plinthine to the

Serbonian lake, along which stretches Mount Casion; from this lake then

the sixty _schoines_ are reckoned: for those of men who are poor in

land have their country measured by fathoms, those who are less poor by

furlongs, those who have much land by parasangs, and those who have

land in very great abundance by _schoines_: now the parasang is equal

to thirty furlongs, and each _schoine_, which is an Egyptian measure, is

equal to sixty furlongs. So there would be an extent of three thousand

six hundred furlongs for the coast-land of Egypt. From thence and as

far as Heliopolis inland Egypt is broad, and the land is all flat and

without springs of water and formed of mud: and the road as one goes

inland from the sea to Heliopolis is about the same in length as that

which leads from the altar of the twelve gods at Athens to Pisa and the

temple of Olympian Zeus: reckoning up you would find the difference

very small by which these roads fail of being equal in length, not more

indeed than fifteen furlongs; for the road from Athens to Pisa wants

fifteen furlongs of being fifteen hundred, while the road to Heliopolis

from the sea reaches that number completely. From Heliopolis however,

as you go up, Egypt is narrow; for on the one side a mountain-range

belonging to Arabia stretches along by the side of it, going in a

direction from the North towards the midday and the South Wind, tending

upwards without a break to that which is called the Erythraian Sea, in

which range are the stone-quarries which were used in cutting stone for

the pyramids at Memphis. On this side then the mountain ends where I

have said, and then takes a turn back; and where it is widest, as I was

informed, it is a journey of two months across from East to West;

and the borders of it which turn towards the East are said to produce

frankincense. Such then is the nature of this mountain-range; and on the

side of Egypt towards Libya another range extends, rocky and enveloped

in sand: in this are the pyramids, and it runs in the same direction

as those parts of the Arabian mountains which go towards the midday. So

then, I say, from Heliopolis the land has no longer a great extent so

far as it belongs to Egypt, and for about four days' sail up the

river Egypt properly so called is narrow: and the space between the

mountain-ranges which have been mentioned is plain-land, but where it is

narrowest it did not seem to me to exceed two hundred furlongs from the

Arabian mountains to those which are called the Libyan. After this again

Egypt is broad. Such is the nature of this land: and from Heliopolis to

Thebes is a voyage up the river of nine days, and the distance of the

journey in furlongs is four thousand eight hundred and sixty, the number

of _schoines_ being eighty-one. If these measures of Egypt in furlongs

be put together, the result is as follows:--I have already before this

shown that the distance along the sea amounts to three thousand six

hundred furlongs, and I will now declare what the distance is inland

from the sea to Thebes, namely six thousand one hundred and twenty

furlongs: and again the distance from Thebes to the city called

Elephantine is one thousand eight hundred furlongs.

Of this land then, concerning which I have spoken, it seemed to myself

also, according as the priests said, that the greater part had been won

as an addition by the Egyptians; for it was evident to me that the

space between the aforesaid mountain-ranges, which lie above the city

of Memphis, once was a gulf of the sea, like the regions about Ilion and

Teuthrania and Ephesos and the plain of the Maiander, if it be permitted

to compare small things with great; and small these are in comparison,

for of the rivers which heaped up the soil in those regions none is

worthy to be compared in volume with a single one of the mouths of the

Nile, which has five mouths. Moreover there are other rivers also, not

in size at all equal to the Nile, which have performed great feats; of

which I can mention the names of several, and especially the Acheloos,

which flowing through Acarnania and so issuing out into the sea has

already made half of the Echinades from islands into mainland. Now there

is in the land of Arabia, not far from Egypt, a gulf of the sea running

in from that which is called the Erythraian Sea, very long and narrow,

as I am about to tell. With respect to the length of the voyage along

it, one who set out from the innermost point to sail out through it into

the open sea, would spend forty days upon the voyage, using oars; and

with respect to breadth, where the gulf is broadest it is half a day's

sail across: and there is in it an ebb and flow of tide every day. Just

such another gulf I suppose that Egypt was, and that the one ran in

towards Ethiopia from the Northern Sea, and the other, the Arabian,

of which I am about to speak, tended from the South towards Syria,

the gulfs boring in so as almost to meet at their extreme points, and

passing by one another with but a small space left between. If then the

stream of the Nile should turn aside into this Arabian gulf, what would

hinder that gulf from being filled up with silt as the river continued

to flow, at all events within a period of twenty thousand years? indeed

for my part I am of the opinion that it would be filled up even within

ten thousand years. How, then, in all the time that has elapsed before I

came into being should not a gulf be filled up even of much greater size

than this by a river so great and so active? As regards Egypt then, I

both believe those who say that things are so, and for myself also I am

strongly of opinion that they are so; because I have observed that Egypt

runs out into the sea further than the adjoining land, and that shells

are found upon the mountains of it, and an efflorescence of salt forms

upon the surface, so that even the pyramids are being eaten away by it,

and moreover that of all the mountains of Egypt, the range which lies

above Memphis is the only one which has sand: besides which I notice

that Egypt resembles neither the land of Arabia, which borders upon it,

nor Libya, nor yet Syria (for they are Syrians who dwell in the parts

of Arabia lying along the sea), but that it has soil which is black and

easily breaks up, seeing that it is in truth mud and silt brought down

from Ethiopia by the river: but the soil of Libya, we know, is reddish

in colour and rather sandy, while that of Arabia and Syria is somewhat

clayey and rocky. The priests also gave me a strong proof concerning

this land as follows, namely that in the reign of king Moiris, whenever

the river reached a height of at least eight cubits it watered Egypt

below Memphis; and not yet nine hundred years had gone by since the

death of Moiris, when I heard these things from the priests: now

however, unless the river rises to sixteen cubits, or fifteen at the

least, it does not go over the land. I think too that those Egyptians

who dwell below the lake of Moiris and especially in that region which

is called the Delta, if that land continues to grow in height according

to this proportion and to increase similarly in extent, will suffer for

all remaining time, from the Nile not overflowing their land, that same

thing which they themselves said that the Hellenes would at some time

suffer: for hearing that the whole land of the Hellenes has rain and is

not watered by rivers as theirs is, they said that the Hellenes would at

some time be disappointed of a great hope and would suffer the ills of

famine. This saying means that if the god shall not send them rain, but

shall allow drought to prevail for a long time, the Hellenes will be

destroyed by hunger; for they have in fact no other supply of water

to save them except from Zeus alone. This has been rightly said by

the Egyptians with reference to the Hellenes: but now let me tell

how matters are with the Egyptians themselves in their turn. If, in

accordance with what I before said, their land below Memphis (for

this is that which is increasing) shall continue to increase in height

according to the same proportion as in the past time, assuredly those

Egyptians who dwell here will suffer famine, if their land shall not

have rain nor the river be able to go over their fields. It is certain

however that now they gather in fruit from the earth with less labour

than any other men and also with less than the other Egyptians; for they

have no labour in breaking up furrows with a plough nor in hoeing nor in

any other of those labours which other men have about a crop; but when

the river has come up of itself and watered their fields and after

watering has left them again, then each man sows his own field and turns

into it swine, and when he has trodden the seed into the ground by

means of the swine, after that he waits for the harvest, and when he has

threshed the corn by means of the swine, then he gathers it in.

If we desire to follow the opinions of the Ionians as regards Egypt, who

say that the Delta alone is Egypt, reckoning its sea-coast to be from

the watch-tower called of Perseus to the fish-curing houses of Pelusion,

a distance of forty _schoines_, and counting it to extend inland as far

as the city of Kercasoros, where the Nile divides and runs to Pelusion

and Canobos, while as for the rest of Egypt, they assign it partly to

Libya and partly to Arabia,--if, I say, we should follow this account,

we should thereby declare that in former times the Egyptians had no land

to live in; for, as we have seen, their Delta at any rate is alluvial,

and has appeared (so to speak) lately, as the Egyptians themselves say

and as my opinion is. If then at the first there was no land for them

to live in, why did they waste their labour to prove that they had come

into being before all other men? They needed not to have made trial of

the children to see what language they would first utter. However I am

not of the opinion that the Egyptians came into being at the same time

as that which is called by the Ionians the Delta, but that they existed

always ever since the human race came into being, and that as their land

advanced forwards, many of them were left in their first abodes and many

came down gradually to the lower parts. At least it is certain that in

old times Thebes had the name of Egypt, and of this the circumference

measures six thousand one hundred and twenty furlongs.

If then we judge aright of these matters, the opinion of the Ionians

about Egypt is not sound: but if the judgment of the Ionians is right, I

declare that neither the Hellenes nor the Ionians themselves know how

to reckon since they say that the whole earth is made up of three

divisions, Europe, Asia, and Libya: for they ought to count in addition

to these the Delta of Egypt, since it belongs neither to Asia nor to

Libya; for at least it cannot be the river Nile by this reckoning which

divides Asia from Libya, but the Nile is cleft at the point of this

Delta so as to flow round it, and the result is that this land would

come between Asia and Libya.

We dismiss then our opinion of the Ionians, and express a judgment

of our own on this matter also, that Egypt is all that land which is

inhabited by Egyptians, just as Kilikia is that which is inhabited by

Kilikians and Assyria that which is inhabited by Assyrians, and we

know of no boundary properly speaking between Asia and Libya except

the borders of Egypt. If however we shall adopt the opinion which is

commonly held by the Hellenes, we shall suppose that the whole of Egypt,

beginning from the Cataract and the city of Elephantine, is divided into

two parts and that it thus partakes of both the names, since one side

will thus belong to Libya and the other to Asia; for the Nile from the

Cataract onwards flows to the sea cutting Egypt through in the midst;

and as far as the city of Kercasoros the Nile flows in one single

stream, but from this city onwards it is parted into three ways; and

one, which is called the Pelusian mouth, turns towards the East; the

second of the ways goes towards the West, and this is called the Canobic

mouth; but that one of the ways which is straight runs thus,--when the

river in its course downwards comes to the point of the Delta, then it

cuts the Delta through the midst and so issues out to the sea. In this

we have a portion of the water of the river which is not the smallest

nor the least famous, and it is called the Sebennytic mouth. There are

also two other mouths which part off from the Sebennytic and go to

the sea, and these are called, one the Saitic, the other the Mendesian

mouth. The Bolbitinitic, and Bucolic mouths, on the other hand, are

not natural but made by digging. Moreover also the answer given by the

Oracle of Ammon bears witness in support of my opinion that Egypt is of

the extent which I declare it to be in my account; and of this answer

I heard after I had formed my own opinion about Egypt. For those of the

city of Marea and of Apis, dwelling in the parts of Egypt which border

on Libya, being of opinion themselves that they were Libyans and not

Egyptians, and also being burdened by the rules of religious service,

because they desired not to be debarred from the use of cows' flesh,

sent to Ammon saying that they had nought in common with the Egyptians,

for they dwelt outside the Delta and agreed with them in nothing;

and they said they desired that it might be lawful for them to eat

everything without distinction. The god however did not permit them to

do so, but said that that land was Egypt where the Nile came over and

watered, and that those were Egyptians who dwelling below the city of

Elephantine drank of that river. Thus was it answered to them by the

Oracle about this: and the Nile, when it is in flood, goes over not only

the Delta but also of the land which is called Libyan and of that which

is called Arabian sometimes as much as two days' journey on each side,

and at times even more than this or at times less.

As regards the nature of the river, neither from the priests nor

yet from any other man was I able to obtain any knowledge: and I was

desirous especially to learn from them about these matters, namely

why the Nile comes down increasing in volume from the summer solstice

onwards for a hundred days, and then, when it has reached the number of

these days, turns and goes back, failing in its stream, so that through

the whole winter season it continues to be low, and until the summer

solstice returns. Of none of these things was I able to receive any

account from the Egyptians, when I inquired of them what power the Nile

has whereby it is of a nature opposite to that of all other rivers. And

I made inquiry, desiring to know both this which I say and also why,

unlike all other rivers, it does not give rise to any breezes blowing

from it. However some of the Hellenes who desired to gain distinction

for cleverness have given an account of this water in three different

ways: two of these I do not think it worth while even to speak of except

only to indicate their nature; of which the one says that the Etesian

Winds are the cause that makes the river rise, by preventing the Nile

from flowing out into the sea. But often the Etesian Winds fail and yet

the Nile does the same work as it is wont to do; and moreover, if these

were the cause, all the other rivers also which flow in a direction

opposed to the Etesian Winds ought to have been affected in the same way

as the Nile, and even more, in as much as they are smaller and present

to them a feebler flow of streams: but there are many of these rivers in

Syria and many also in Libya, and they are affected in no such manner as

the Nile. The second way shows more ignorance than that which has been

mentioned, and it is more marvellous to tell; for it says that the river

produces these effects because it flows from the Ocean, and that the

Ocean flows round the whole earth. The third of the ways is much the

most specious, but nevertheless it is the most mistaken of all: for

indeed this way has no more truth in it than the rest, alleging as it

does that the Nile flows from melting snow; whereas it flows out of

Libya through the midst of the Ethiopians, and so comes out into Egypt.

How then should it flow from snow, when it flows from the hottest parts

to those which are cooler? And indeed most of the facts are such as

to convince a man (one at least who is capable of reasoning about such

matters), that it is not at all likely that it flows from snow. The

first and greatest evidence is afforded by the winds, which blow hot

from these regions; the second is that the land is rainless always and

without frost, whereas after snow has fallen rain must necessarily come

within five days, so that if it snowed in those parts rain would fall

there; the third evidence is afforded by the people dwelling there, who

are of a black colour by reason of the burning heat. Moreover kites and

swallows remain there through the year and do not leave the land; and

cranes flying from the cold weather which comes on in the region of

Scythia come regularly to these parts for wintering: if then it snowed

ever so little in that land through which the Nile flows and in which

it has its rise, none of these things would take place, as necessity

compels us to admit. As for him who talked about the Ocean, he carried

his tale into the region of the unknown, and so he need not be refuted;

since I for my part know of no river Ocean existing, but I think that

Homer or one of the poets who were before him invented the name and

introduced it into his verse.

If however after I have found fault with the opinions proposed, I am

bound to declare an opinion of my own about the matters which are in

doubt, I will tell what to my mind is the reason why the Nile increases

in the summer. In the winter season the Sun, being driven away from his

former path through the heaven by the stormy winds, comes to the upper

parts of Libya. If one would set forth the matter in the shortest way,

all has now been said; for whatever region this god approaches most and

stands directly above, this it may reasonably be supposed is most in

want of water, and its native streams of rivers are dried up most.

However, to set it forth at greater length, thus it is:--the Sun passing

in his course by the upper parts of Libya, does thus, that is to say,

since at all times the air in those parts is clear and the country is

warm, because there are no cold winds, in passing through it the Sun

does just as he was wont to do in the summer, when going through the

midst of the heaven, that is he draws to himself the water, and having

drawn it he drives it away to the upper parts of the country, and the

winds take it up and scattering it abroad melt it into rain; so it is

natural that the winds which blow from this region, namely the South

and South-west Winds, should be much the most rainy of all the winds. I

think however that the Sun does not send away from himself all the water

of the Nile of each year, but that also he lets some remain behind with

himself. Then when the winter becomes milder, the Sun returns back again

to the midst of the heaven, and from that time onwards he draws equally

from all rivers; but in the meantime they flow in large volume, since

water of rain mingles with them in great quantity, because their country

receives rain then and is filled with torrent streams. In summer however

they are weak, since not only the showers of rain fail them, but also

they are drawn by the Sun. The Nile however, alone of all rivers, not

having rain and being drawn by the Sun, naturally flows during this time

of winter in much less than its proper volume, that is much less than in

summer; for then it is drawn equally with all the other waters, but in

winter it bears the burden alone. Thus I suppose the Sun to be the cause

of these things. He also is the cause in my opinion that the air in

these parts is dry, since he makes it so by scorching up his path

through the heaven: thus summer prevails always in the upper parts of

Libya. If however the station of the seasons had been changed, and where

now in the heaven are placed the North Wind and winter, there was the

station of the South Wind and of the midday, and where now is placed

the South Wind, there was the North, if this had been so, the Sun being

driven from the midst of the heaven by the winter and the North Wind

would go to the upper parts of Europe, just as now he comes to the upper

parts of Libya, and passing in his course throughout the whole of Europe

I suppose he would do to the Ister that which he now works upon the

Nile. As to the breeze, why none blows from the river, my opinion is

that from very hot places it is not natural that anything should blow,

and that a breeze is wont to blow from something cold.

Let these matters then be as they are and as they were at the first: but

as to the sources of the Nile, not one either of the Egyptians or of

the Libyans or of the Hellenes, who came to speech with me, professed to

know anything, except the scribe of the sacred treasury of Athene at the

city of Sais in Egypt. To me however this man seemed not to be speaking

seriously when he said that he had certain knowledge of it; and he said

as follows, namely that there were two mountains of which the tops ran

up to a sharp point, situated between the city of Syene, which is in

the district of Thebes, and Elephantine, and the names of the mountains

were, of the one Crophi and of the other Mophi. From the middle between

these mountains flowed (he said) the sources of the Nile, which were

fathomless in depth, and half of the water flowed to Egypt and towards

the North Wind, the other half to Ethiopia and the South Wind. As for

the fathomless depth of the source, he said that Psammetichos king of

Egypt came to a trial of this matter; for he had a rope twisted of many

thousand fathoms and let it down in this place, and it found no bottom.

By this the scribe (if this which he told was really as he said) gave me

to understand that there were certain strong eddies there and a backward

flow, and that since the water dashed against the mountains, therefore

the sounding-line could not come to any bottom when it was let down.

From no other person was I able to learn anything about this matter;

but for the rest I learnt so much as here follows by the most diligent

inquiry; for I went myself as an eye-witness as far as the city of

Elephantine and from that point onwards I gathered knowledge by report.

From the city of Elephantine as one goes up the river there is country

which slopes steeply; so that here one must attach ropes to the vessel

on both sides, as one fastens an ox, and so make one's way onward;

and if the rope break, the vessel is gone at once, carried away by the

violence of the stream. Through this country it is a voyage of about

four days in length, and in this part the Nile is winding like the river

Maiander, and the distance amounts to twelve _schoines_, which one must

traverse in this manner. Then you will come to a level plain, in which

the Nile flows round an island named Tachompso. (Now in the regions

above the Elephantine there dwell Ethiopians at once succeeding, who

also occupy half of the island, and Egyptians the other half.) Adjoining

this island there is a great lake, round which dwell Ethiopian nomad

tribes; and when you have sailed through this you will come to the

stream of the Nile again, which flows into this lake. After this you

will disembark and make a journey by land of forty days; for in the Nile

sharp rocks stand forth out of the water, and there are many reefs, by

which it is not possible for a vessel to pass. Then after having passed

through this country in the forty days which I have said, you will

embark again in another vessel and sail for twelve days; and after this

you will come to a great city called Meroe. This city is said to be

the mother-city of all the other Ethiopians: and they who dwell in it

reverence of the gods Zeus and Dionysos alone, and these they greatly

honour; and they have an Oracle of Zeus established, and make warlike

marches whensoever the god commands them by prophesyings and to

whatsoever place he commands. Sailing from this city you will come to

the "Deserters" in another period of time equal to that in which you

came from Elephantine to the mother-city of the Ethiopians. Now the

name of these "Deserters" is _Asmach_, and this word signifies, when

translated into the tongue of the Hellenes, "those who stand on the left

hand of the king." These were two hundred and forty thousand Egyptians

of the warrior class, who revolted and went over to these Ethiopians for

the following cause:--In the reign of Psammetichos garrisons were set,

one towards the Ethiopians at the city of Elephantine, another towards

the Arabians and Assyrians at Daphnai of Pelusion, and another towards

Libya at Marea: and even in my own time the garrisons of the Persians

too are ordered in the same manner as these were in the reign of

Psammetichos, for both at Elephantine and at Daphnai the Persians have

outposts. The Egyptians then of whom I speak had served as outposts for

three years and no one relieved them from their guard; accordingly they

took counsel together, and adopting a common plan they all in a body

revolted from Psammetichos and set out for Ethiopia. Hearing this

Psammetichos set forth in pursuit, and when he came up with them he

entreated them much and endeavoured to persuade them not to desert the

gods of their country and their children and wives: upon which it is

said that one of them pointed to his privy member and said that wherever

this was, there would they have both children and wives. When these came

to Ethiopia they gave themselves over to the king of the Ethiopians; and

he rewarded them as follows:--there were certain of the Ethiopians who

had come to be at variance with him; and he bade them drive these out

and dwell in their land. So since these men settled in the land of

the Ethiopians, the Ethiopians have come to be of milder manners, from

having learnt the customs of the Egyptians.

The Nile then, besides the part of its course which is in Egypt, is

known as far as a four months' journey by river and land: for that is

the number of months which are found by reckoning to be spent in going

from Elephantine to these "Deserters": and the river runs from the West

and the setting of the sun. But what comes after that point no one can

clearly say; for this land is desert by reason of the burning heat. This

much however I heard from men of Kyrene, who told me that they had been

to the Oracle of Ammon, and had come to speech with Etearchos king of

the Ammonians: and it happened that after speaking of other matters they

fell to discourse about the Nile and how no one knew the sources of it;

and Etearchos said that once there came to him men of the Nasamonians

(this is a Libyan race which dwells in the Syrtis, and also in the land

to the East of the Syrtis reaching to no great distance), and when the

Nasamonians came and were asked by him whether they were able to tell

him anything more than he knew about the desert parts of Libya, they

said that there had been among them certain sons of chief men, who were

of unruly disposition; and these when they grew up to be men had devised

various other extravagant things and also they had told off by lot five

of themselves to go to see the desert parts of Libya and to try

whether they could discover more than those who had previously explored

furthest: for in those parts of Libya which are by the Northern Sea,

beginning from Egypt and going as far as the headland of Soloeis, which

is the extreme point of Libya, Libyans (and of them many races) extend

along the whole coast, except so much as the Hellenes and Phenicians

hold; but in the upper parts, which lie above the sea-coast and above

those people whose land comes down to the sea, Libya is full of wild

beasts; and in the parts above the land of wild beasts it is full of

sand, terribly waterless and utterly desert. These young men then (said

they), being sent out by their companions well furnished with supplies

of water and provisions, went first through the inhabited country, and

after they had passed through this they came to the country of wild

beasts, and after this they passed through the desert, making their

journey towards the West Wind; and having passed through a great tract

of sand in many days, they saw at last trees growing in a level place;

and having come up to them, they were beginning to pluck the fruit which

was upon the trees: but as they began to pluck it, there came upon them

small men, of less stature than men of the common size, and these seized

them and carried them away; and neither could the Nasamonians understand

anything of their speech nor could those who were carrying them off

understand anything of the speech of the Nasamonians; and they led them

(so it was said) through very great swamps, and after passing through

these they came to a city in which all the men were in size like those

who carried them off and in colour of skin black; and by the city ran

a great river, which ran from the West towards the sunrising, and in it

were seen crocodiles. Of the account given by Etearchos the Ammonian let

so much suffice as is here said, except that, as the men of Kyrene told

me, he alleged that the Nasamonians returned safe home, and that the

people to whom they had come were all wizards. Now this river which ran

by the city, Etearchos conjectured to be the Nile, and moreover reason

compels us to think so; for the Nile flows from Libya and cuts Libya

through in the midst, and as I conjecture, judging of what is not known

by that which is evident to the view, it starts at a distance from its

mouth equal to that of the Ister: for the river Ister begins from the

Keltoi and the city of Pyrene and so runs that it divides Europe in the

midst (now the Keltoi are outside the Pillars of Heracles and border

upon the Kynesians, who dwell furthest towards the sunset of all those

who have their dwelling in Europe): and the Ister ends, having its

course through the whole of Europe, by flowing into the Euxine Sea at

the place where the Milesians have their settlement of Istria. Now the

Ister, since it flows through land which is inhabited, is known by

the reports of many; but of the sources of the Nile no one can give an

account, for the part of Libya through which it flows is uninhabited and

desert. About its course however so much as it was possible to learn by

the most diligent inquiry has been told; and it runs out into Egypt.

Now Egypt lies nearly opposite to the mountain districts of Kilikia; and

from thence to Sinope, which lies upon the Euxine Sea, is a journey in

the same straight line of five days for a man without encumbrance; and

Sinope lies opposite to the place where the Ister runs out into the sea:

thus I think that the Nile passes through the whole of Libya and is of

equal measure with the Ister.

Of the Nile then let so much suffice as has been said. Of Egypt however

I shall make my report at length, because it has wonders more in number

than any other land, and works too it has to show as much as any land,

which are beyond expression great: for this reason then more shall be

said concerning it.

The Egyptians in agreement with their climate, which is unlike any

other, and with the river, which shows a nature different from all other

rivers, established for themselves manners and customs in a way opposite

to other men in almost all matters: for among them the women frequent

the market and carry on trade, while the men remain at home and weave;

and whereas others weave pushing the woof upwards, the Egyptians push

it downwards: the men carry their burdens upon their heads and the

women upon their shoulders: the women make water standing up and the

men crouching down: they ease themselves in their houses and they eat

without in the streets, alleging as reason for this that it is right

to do secretly the things that are unseemly though necessary, but those

which are not unseemly, in public: no woman is a minister either of male

or female divinity, but men of all, both male and female: to support

their parents the sons are in no way compelled, if they do not desire

to do so, but the daughters are forced to do so, be they never so

unwilling. The priests of the gods in other lands wear long hair, but

in Egypt they shave their heads: among other men the custom is that in

mourning those whom the matter concerns most nearly have their hair cut

short, but the Egyptians, when deaths occur, let their hair grow long,

both that on the head and that on the chin, having before been close

shaven: other men have their daily living separated from beasts, but the

Egyptians have theirs together with beasts: other men live on wheat and

on barley, but to any one of the Egyptians who makes his living on these

it is a great reproach; they make their bread of maize, which some call

spelt: they knead dough with their feet and clay with their hands, with

which also they gather up dung: and whereas other men, except such as

have learnt otherwise from the Egyptians, have their members as nature

made them, the Egyptians practice circumcision: as to garments, the men

wear two each and the women but one: and whereas others make fast the

rings and ropes of the sails outside the ship, the Egyptians do this

inside: finally in the writing of characters and reckoning with pebbles,

while the Hellenes carry the hand from the left to the right, the

Egyptians do this from the right to the left; and doing so they say that

they do it themselves rightwise and the Hellenes leftwise: and they use

two kinds of characters for writing, of which the one kind is called

sacred and the other common.

They are religious excessively beyond all other men, and with regard to

this they have customs as follows:--they drink from cups of bronze and

rinse them out every day, and not some only do this but all: they wear

garments of linen always newly washed, and this they make a special

point of practice: they circumcise themselves for the sake of

cleanliness, preferring to be clean rather than comely. The priests

shave themselves all over their body every other day, so that no lice or

any other foul thing may come to be upon them when they minister to

the gods; and the priests wear garments of linen only and sandals of

papyrus, and any other garment they may not take nor other sandals;

these wash themselves in cold water twice in a day and twice again in

the night; and other religious services they perform (one may almost

say) of infinite number. They enjoy also good things not a few, for they

do not consume or spend anything of their own substance, but there is

sacred bread baked for them and they have each great quantity of flesh

of oxen and geese coming in to them each day, and also wine of grapes is

given to them; but it is not permitted to them to taste of fish: beans

moreover the Egyptians do not at all sow in their land, and those which

they grow they neither eat raw nor boil for food; nay the priests do not

endure even to look upon them, thinking this to be an unclean kind of

pulse: and there is not one priest only for each of the gods but many,

and of them one is chief-priest, and whenever a priest dies his son is

appointed to his place.