The Twitter Herodotus

2.21 No. 2. The Nile floods because it comes from the Ocean, which flows around the whole world.

2.22 No. 3. It floods bc it comes from melting snow. This seems plausible but it's wrong: the Nile flows from the hottest places on Earth!

2.23 The Ocean theory can't be disproved, but I, at least, have no knowledge that Ocean exists. I think Homer made it up.

2.24 Here's why I think the Nile floods in the summer: in the winter, the sun travels to the sky over Libya, dehydrating its rivers.

2.25 Later the sun returns to its normal path. Unlike other rivers, which are augmented by seasonal rain, the Nile loses H20 in the winter.

2.26 The sun also causes Egypt's dryness. If the seasons & north/south switched places, the same thing would happen to the Ister in Europe.

2.27 Wind doesn't blow from the river because, I think, breezes don't naturally come from extremely hot places.

2.28 No one knew about the Nile's source except a guy in Saïs, who said it comes from a bottomless spring somewhere north of Elephantine.

2.29 I went as far south as Elephantine & learned from others what is beyond it: it takes 56 days to travel from there to Meroe in Ethiopia.

2.30 It’s another 56 days from Meroe to the land of the Deserters, named after some Egyptians who left Ethiopia during Psammetichus’ reign.