Histories

Herodotus

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

So far, all I have said is the record of my own autopsy and judgment and inquiry. Henceforth I will record Egyptian chronicles, according to what I have heard, adding something of what I myself have seen.

The priests told me that Min was the first king of Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt, and that first he separated Mit Rahina [31.25,29.85] (inhabited place), Giza, Upper Egypt, Egypt, AfricaMemphis from the Nahr an- Nil [31.1,30.166] (river), AfricaNile by a dam. All the river had flowed close under the sandy mountains on the Libyan side, but Min made the southern bend of it, which begins about twelve and one half miles above Mit Rahina [31.25,29.85] (inhabited place), Giza, Upper Egypt, Egypt, AfricaMemphis, by damming the stream, thereby drying up the ancient channel, and carried the river by a channel so that it flowed midway between the hills.

And to this day the Persians keep careful watch on this bend of the river, strengthening its dam every year to keep the current in; for were the Nahr an- Nil [31.1,30.166] (river), AfricaNile to burst its dikes and overflow here, all Mit Rahina [31.25,29.85] (inhabited place), Giza, Upper Egypt, Egypt, AfricaMemphis would be in danger of flooding.