An Account of Egypt | Page 8

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