The Twitter Herodotus

2.1 Cambyses succeeded his father on the throne. He invaded Egypt w/an army composed of his various subjects, inc. the Greeks of Asia Minor.

2.2 The Egyptians used to think they were the oldest of mankind, but their king Psammetichus disproved this by experimenting on newborns.

2.3 I heard this story re. Psammetichus from priests in Memphis. I also went to Thebes and Heliopolis to hear what people there had to say.

2.4 The Egyptians invented the year & 12 30-day months (+ 5 more days). The 1st king of Egypt was Min, in whose time Egypt was mostly marsh.

2.5 I believe it, because it is clear when you travel there that Egypt is a gift of the river.

2.6 The Egyptian coastline is 60 schoeni long [about 397 miles].

2.7 From the coast inland to Heliopolis [at the apex of the Nile delta] is 165 miles.

2.8 South of Heliopolis Egypt is narrow, flat land bordered by mountains to the east and west Beyond these the land widens again.

2.9 It's 9 days by boat from Heliopolis south to Thebes (517 miles), and another 200 miles from Thebes to Elephantine.

2.10 Much of Egypt is an alluvial deposit. I think the land north of Memphis was once a gulf, now silted up. The Nile is huge with 5 mouths.

2.11 If the Nile flowed into the Red Sea, I expect it would be silted up in 10,000 yrs. I think Egypt was once a gulf like the Red Sea.

2.12 Other evidence suggests the same thing: there are seashells on the mountains, and Egypt's soil appears to be silt from Ethiopia.

2.13 Further, some 900 years ago the area north of Memphis used to be flooded if the river rose 12 ft. Now it has to rise 24 feet to flood.

2.14 If the land north of Memphis continues to increase in elevation, the river will not flood the Egyptians' fields, and they will starve.

2.15 The Ionians are wrong to say Egypt is just the delta. The delta is an alluvial deposit. The Egyptians existed before it/moved into it.

2.16 The Greeks say the Nile separates Asia from Libya. If so, the Nile delta is in neither, as the river flows around it.

2.17 Enough of the Ionians. My own opinion is that "Egypt" is all of the land that is inhabited by the Egyptians.

2.18 Besides, the oracle of Ammon has said that Egypt is all the land that is irrigated by the Nile.

2.19 I was unable to learn from the Egyptians why the river floods for 100 days beginning (unlike other rivers) on the summer solstice.

2.20 The Greeks have advanced 3 explanations for the Nile's behavior. The 1st 2 are stupid. No. 1. The Etesian winds cause the flooding.