Histories

For this is the nature of the land of Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt: in the first place, when you approach it from the sea and are still a day's sail from land, if you let down a sounding line you will bring up mud from a depth of eleven fathoms. This shows that the deposit from the land reaches this far.

Further, the length of the seacoast of Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt itself is sixty “schoeni”[*](Literally “ropes.”) —of Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt, that is, as we judge it to be, reaching from the Plinthinete gulf to the Serbonian marsh, which is under the Casian mountain—between these there is this length of sixty schoeni.

Men that have scant land measure by feet; those that have more, by miles; those that have much land, by parasangs; and those who have great abundance of it, by schoeni.