Histories

Herodotus

Herodotus. Godley, Alfred Denis, translator. Cambridge, MA; London: Harvard University Press; William Heinemann, Ltd., 1920-1925 (printing).

But the god forbade them: all the land, he said, watered by the Nahr an- Nil [31.1,30.166] (river), AfricaNile 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), AfricaNile 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.