Histories

Herodotus

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

but we know that the soil of Libya [17,25] (nation), AfricaLibya is redder and somewhat sandy, and Arabian Peninsula [45,25] (region (general)), AsiaArabia and Syria [38,35] (nation), Asia Syria are lands of clay and stones.

This, too, that the priests told me about Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt, is a strong proof: when Moeris was king, if the river rose as much as thirteen feet, it watered all of Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt below Mit Rahina [31.25,29.85] (inhabited place), Giza, Upper Egypt, Egypt, AfricaMemphis.[*](Supposing this statement to be true, Moeris must have been king much more than 900 years before Hdt.: 900 years being much too short a period for a rise of eight cubits in the height of the Nile valley.) Moeris had not been dead nine hundred years when I heard this from the priests. But now, if the river does not rise at least twenty-six or twenty-five feet, the land is not flooded.