The byblus[827] and the
Egyptian
bean grow in the marshes and lakes;
from the latter the ciborium is made.
from the latter the ciborium is made.
Strabo
In
sixty days the plain is entirely exposed to view, and dries up. The
sooner the land is dry, so much the sooner the ploughing and sowing are
accomplished, and it dries earlier in those parts where the heat is
greater.
The country above the Delta is irrigated in the same manner, except that
the river flows in a straight line to the distance of about 4000 stadia
in one channel, unless where some island intervenes, the most
considerable of which comprises the Heracleiotic Nome; or, where it is
diverted by a canal into a large lake, or a tract of country which it is
capable of irrigating, as the lake Mœris and the Arsinoïte Nome, or
where the canals discharge themselves into the Mareotis.
[CAS. 789] In short, Egypt, from the mountains of Ethiopia to the vertex
of the Delta, is merely a river tract on each side of the Nile, and
rarely if anywhere comprehends in one continued line a habitable
territory of 300 stadia in breadth. It resembles, except the frequent
diversions of its course, a bandage rolled out. [802]
The mountains on each side (of the Nile), which descend from the parts
about Syene to the Egyptian Sea,[803] give this shape to the river tract
of which I am speaking, and to the country. For in proportion as these
mountains extend along that tract, or recede from each other, in the
same degree is the river contracted or expanded, and they impart to the
habitable country its variety of shape. But the country beyond the
mountains is in a great measure uninhabited.
5. The ancients understood more by conjecture than otherwise, but
persons in later times learnt by experience as eye-witnesses, that the
Nile owes its rise to summer rains, which fall in great abundance in
Upper Ethiopia, particularly in the most distant mountains. On the rains
ceasing, the fulness of the river gradually subsides. This was
particularly observed by those who navigated the Arabian Gulf on their
way to the Cinnamon country, and by those who were sent out to hunt
elephants, or for such other purposes as induced the Ptolemies, kings of
Egypt, to despatch persons in that direction. These sovereigns had
directed their attention to objects of this kind, particularly Ptolemy
surnamed Philadelphus, who was a lover of science, and on account of
bodily infirmities always in search of some new diversion and amusement.
But the ancient kings paid little attention to such inquiries, although
both they and the priests, with whom they passed the greater part of
their lives, professed to be devoted to the study of philosophy. Their
ignorance therefore is more surprising, both on this account and because
Sesostris had traversed the whole of Ethiopia as far as the Cinnamon
country, of which expedition monuments exist even to the present day,
such as pillars and inscriptions. Cambyses also, when he was in
possession of Egypt, had advanced with the Egyptians as far even as
Meroë; and it is said that he gave this name both to the island and to
the city, because his sister, or according to some writers his wife,
Meroë died there. For this reason therefore he conferred the appellation
on the island, and in honour of a woman. It is surprising how, with such
opportunities of obtaining information, the history of these rains
should not have been clearly known to persons living in those times,
especially as the priests registered with the greatest diligence in the
sacred books all extraordinary facts, and preserved records of
everything which seemed to contribute to an increase of knowledge. And,
if this had been the case, would it be necessary to inquire what is even
still a question, what can possibly be the reason why rain falls in
summer, and not in winter, in the most southerly parts of the country,
but not in the Thebaïs, nor in the country about Syene? nor should we
have to examine whether the rise of the water of the Nile is occasioned
by rains, nor require such evidence for these facts as Poseidonius
adduces. For he says, that Callisthenes asserts that the cause of the
rise of the river is the rain of summer. This he borrows from Aristotle,
who borrowed it from Thrasyalces the Thasian (one of the ancient writers
on physics), Thrasyalces from some other person, and he from Homer, who
calls the Nile “heaven-descended:”
“back to Egypt’s heaven-descended stream. ”[804]
But I quit this subject, since it has been discussed by many writers,
among whom it will be sufficient to specify two, who have (each)
composed in our times a treatise on the Nile, Eudorus and Aristo the
Peripatetic philosopher. [They differ little from each other] except in
the order and disposition of the works, for the phraseology and
execution is the same in both writers. (I can speak with some confidence
in this matter), for when at a loss (for manuscripts) for the purpose of
comparison and copy, I collated both authors. [805] But which of them
surreptitiously substituted the other’s account as his own, we may
[CAS. 790] go to the temple of Ammon to be informed. Eudorus accused
Aristo, but the style is more like that of Aristo.
The ancients gave the name of Egypt to that country only which was
inhabited and watered by the Nile, and the extent they assigned to it
was from the neighbourhood of Syene to the sea. But later writers, to
the present time, have included on the eastern side almost all the tract
between the Arabian Gulf and the Nile (the Æthiopians however do not
make much use of the Red Sea); on the western side, the tract extending
to the Auases and the parts of the sea-coast from the Canobic mouth of
the Nile to Catabathmus, and the kingdom of Cyrenæa. For the kings who
succeeded the race of the Ptolemies had acquired so much power, that
they became masters of Cyrenæa, and even joined Cyprus to Egypt. The
Romans, who succeeded to their dominions, separated Egypt, and confined
it within the old limits.
The Egyptians give the name of Auases (Oases) to certain inhabited
tracts, which are surrounded by extensive deserts, and appear like
islands in the sea. They are frequently met with in Libya, and there are
three contiguous to Egypt, and dependent upon it.
This is the account which we have to give of Egypt in general and
summarily. I shall now describe the separate parts of the country and
their advantages.
6. As Alexandreia and its neighbourhood occupy the greatest and
principal portion of the description, I shall begin with it.
In sailing towards the west, the sea-coast from Pelusium to the Canobic
mouth of the Nile is about 1300 stadia in extent, and constitutes, as we
have said, the base of the Delta. Thence to the island Pharos are 150
stadia more.
Pharos is a small oblong island, and lies quite close to the continent,
forming towards it a harbour with a double entrance. For the coast
abounds with bays, and has two promontories projecting into the sea. The
island is situated between these, and shuts in the bay, lying lengthways
in front of it.
Of the extremities of the Pharos, the eastern is nearest to the
continent and to the promontory in that direction, called Lochias, which
is the cause of the entrance to the port being narrow. Besides the
narrowness of the passage, there are rocks, some under water, others
rising above it, which at all times increase the violence of the waves
rolling in upon them from the open sea. This extremity itself of the
island is a rock, washed by the sea on all sides, with a tower upon it
of the same name as the island, admirably constructed of white marble,
with several stories. Sostratus of Cnidus, a friend of the kings,
erected it for the safety of mariners, as the inscription imports. [806]
For as the coast on each side is low and without harbours, with reefs
and shallows, an elevated and conspicuous mark was required to enable
navigators coming in from the open sea to direct their course exactly to
the entrance of the harbour.
The western mouth does not afford an easy entrance, but it does not
require the same degree of caution as the other. It forms also another
port, which has the name of Eunostus, or Happy Return: it lies in front
of the artificial and close harbour. That which has its entrance at the
above-mentioned tower of Pharos is the great harbour. These (two) lie
contiguous in the recess called Heptastadium, and are separated from it
by a mound. This mound forms a bridge from the continent to the island,
and extends along its western side, leaving two passages only through it
to the harbour of Eunostus, which are bridged over. But this work served
not only as a bridge, but as an aqueduct also, when the island was
inhabited. Divus Cæsar devastated the island, in his war against the
people of Alexandreia, when they espoused the party of the kings. A few
sailors live near the tower.
The great harbour, in addition to its being well enclosed by the mound
and by nature, is of sufficient depth near the shore to allow the
largest vessel to anchor near the stairs. It is also divided into
several ports.
The former kings of Egypt, satisfied with what they possessed, and not
desirous of foreign commerce, entertained a dislike to all mariners,
especially the Greeks (who, on account of the poverty of their own
country, ravaged and coveted the property of other nations), and
stationed a guard here, who had orders to keep off all persons who
approached. To the guard was assigned as a place of residence the spot
called Rhacotis, which is now a part of the city of Alexandreia,
situated above the arsenal. At that time, however, it was a village. The
country about the village was given up to herdsmen, [CAS. 792] who were
also able (from their numbers) to prevent strangers from entering the
country.
When Alexander arrived, and perceived the advantages of the situation,
he determined to build the city on the (natural) harbour. The prosperity
of the place, which ensued, was intimated, it is said, by a presage
which occurred while the plan of the city was tracing. The architects
were engaged in marking out the line of the wall with chalk, and had
consumed it all, when the king arrived; upon which the dispensers of
flour supplied the workmen with a part of the flour, which was provided
for their own use; and this substance was used in tracing the greater
part of the divisions of the streets. This, they said, was a good omen
for the city.
7. The advantages of the city are of various kinds. The site is washed
by two seas; on the north, by what is called the Egyptian Sea, and on
the south, by the sea of the lake Mareia, which is also called Mareotis.
This lake is filled by many canals from the Nile, both by those above
and those at the sides, through which a greater quantity of merchandise
is imported than by those communicating with the sea. Hence the harbour
on the lake is richer than the maritime harbour. The exports by sea from
Alexandreia exceed the imports. This any person may ascertain, either at
Alexandreia or Dicæarchia, by watching the arrival and departure of the
merchant vessels, and observing how much heavier or lighter their
cargoes are when they depart or when they return.
In addition to the wealth derived from merchandise landed at the
harbours on each side, on the sea and on the lake, its fine air is
worthy of remark: this results from the city being on two sides
surrounded by water, and from the favourable effects of the rise of the
Nile. For other cities, situated near lakes, have, during the heats of
summer, a heavy and suffocating atmosphere, and lakes at their margins
become swampy by the evaporation occasioned by the sun’s heat. When a
large quantity of moisture is exhaled from swamps, a noxious vapour
rises, and is the cause of pestilential disorders. But at Alexandreia,
at the beginning of summer, the Nile, being full, fills the lake also,
and leaves no marshy matter which is likely to occasion malignant
exhalations. At the same period, the Etesian winds blow from the north,
over a large expanse of sea, and the Alexandrines in consequence pass
their summer very pleasantly.
8. The shape of the site of the city is that of a chlamys or military
cloak. The sides, which determine the length, are surrounded by water,
and are about thirty stadia in extent; but the isthmuses, which
determine the breadth of the sides, are each of seven or eight stadia,
bounded on one side by the sea, and on the other by the lake. The whole
city is intersected by roads for the passage of horsemen and chariots.
Two of these are very broad, exceeding a plethrum in breadth, and cut
one another at right angles. It contains also very beautiful public
grounds and royal palaces, which occupy a fourth or even a third part of
its whole extent. For as each of the kings was desirous of adding some
embellishment to the places dedicated to the public use, so, besides the
buildings already existing, each of them erected a building at his own
expense; hence the expression of the poet may be here applied,
“one after the other springs. ”[807]
All the buildings are connected with one another and with the harbour,
and those also which are beyond it.
The Museum is a part of the palaces. It has a public walk and a place
furnished with seats, and a large hall, in which the men of learning,
who belong to the Museum, take their common meal. This community
possesses also property in common; and a priest, formerly appointed by
the kings, but at present by Cæsar, presides over the Museum.
A part belonging to the palaces consists of that called Sema, an
enclosure, which contained the tombs of the kings and that of Alexander
(the Great). For Ptolemy the son of Lagus took away the body of
Alexander from Perdiccas, as he was conveying it down from Babylon; for
Perdiccas had turned out of his road towards Egypt, incited by ambition
and a desire of making himself master of the country. When Ptolemy had
attacked [and made him prisoner], he intended to [spare his life and]
confine him in a desert island, but he met with a miserable end at the
hand of his own soldiers, who rushed upon and despatched him by
transfixing him with the long Macedonian spears. The kings who were with
him, Aridæus, and the children of Alexander, and Roxana his wife,
departed to Macedonia. Ptolemy carried away the body [CAS. 794] of
Alexander, and deposited it at Alexandreia in the place where it now
lies; not indeed in the same coffin, for the present one is of hyalus
(alabaster? ) whereas Ptolemy had deposited it in one of gold: it was
plundered by Ptolemy surnamed Cocce’s son and Pareisactus, who came from
Syria and was quickly deposed, so that his plunder was of no service to
him.
9. In the great harbour at the entrance, on the right hand, are the
island and the Pharos tower; on the left are the reef of rocks and the
promontory Lochias, with a palace upon it: at the entrance, on the left
hand, are the inner palaces, which are continuous with those on the
Lochias, and contain numerous painted apartments and groves. Below lies
the artificial and close harbour, appropriated to the use of the kings;
and Antirrhodus a small island, facing the artificial harbour, with a
palace on it, and a small port. It was called Antirrhodus, a rival as it
were of Rhodes.
Above this is the theatre, then the Poseidium, a kind of elbow
projecting from the Emporium, as it is called, with a temple of Neptune
upon it. To this Antony added a mound, projecting still further into the
middle of the harbour, and built at the extremity a royal mansion, which
he called Timonium. This was his last act, when, deserted by his
partisans, he retired to Alexandreia after his defeat at Actium, and
intended, being forsaken by so many friends, to lead the [solitary] life
of Timon for the rest of his days.
Next are the Cæsarium, the Emporium, and the Apostaseis, or magazines:
these are followed by docks, extending to the Heptastadium. This is the
description of the great harbour.
10. Next after the Heptastadium is the harbour of Eunostus, and above
this the artificial harbour, called Cibotus (or the Ark), which also has
docks. At the bottom of this harbour is a navigable canal, extending to
the lake Mareotis. Beyond the canal there still remains a small part of
the city. Then follows the suburb Necropolis, in which are numerous
gardens, burial-places, and buildings for carrying on the process of
embalming the dead.
On this side the canal is the Sarapium and other ancient sacred places,
which are now abandoned on account of the erection of the temples at
Nicopolis; for [there are situated] an amphitheatre and a stadium, and
there are celebrated quinquennial games; but the ancient and customs
are neglected.
In short, the city of Alexandreia abounds with public and sacred
buildings. The most beautiful of the former is the Gymnasium, with
porticos exceeding a stadium in extent. In the middle of it are the
court of justice and groves. Here also is a Paneium, an artificial mound
of the shape of a fircone, resembling a pile of rock, to the top of
which there is an ascent by a spiral path. From the summit may be seen
the whole city lying all around and beneath it.
The wide street extends in length along the Gymnasium from the
Necropolis to the Canobic gate. Next is the Hippodromos (or
race-course), as it is called, and other buildings[808] near it, and
reaching to the Canobic canal. After passing through the Hippodromos is
the Nicopolis, which contains buildings fronting the sea not less
numerous than a city. It is 30 stadia distant from Alexandreia. Augustus
Cæsar distinguished this place, because it was here that he defeated
Antony and his party of adherents. He took the city at the first onset,
and compelled Antony to put himself to death, but Cleopatra to surrender
herself alive. A short time afterwards, however, she also put an end to
her life secretly, in prison, by the bite of an asp, or (for there are
two accounts) by the application of a poisonous ointment. Thus the
empire of the Lagidæ, which had subsisted many years, was dissolved.
11. Alexander was succeeded by Ptolemy the son of Lagus, the son of
Lagus by Philadelphus, Philadelphus by Euergetes; next succeeded
Philopator the lover[809] of Agathocleia, then Epiphanes, afterwards
Philometor, the son (thus far) always succeeding the father. But
Philometor was succeeded by his brother, the second Euergetes, who was
also called Physcon. He was succeeded by Ptolemy surnamed Lathurus,
Lathurus by Auletes of our time, who was the father of Cleopatra. All
these kings, after the third Ptolemy, were corrupted by luxury and
effeminacy, and the affairs of government were very badly administered
by them; but worst of all by the fourth, the seventh, and the last
(Ptolemy), Auletes (or the Piper), [CAS. 796] who, besides other deeds
of shamelessness, acted the piper; indeed he gloried so much in the
practice, that he scrupled not to appoint trials of skill in his palace;
on which occasions he presented himself as a competitor with other
rivals. He was deposed by the Alexandrines; and of his three daughters,
one, the eldest, who was legitimate, they proclaimed queen; but his two
sons, who were infants, were absolutely excluded from the succession.
As a husband for the daughter established on the throne, the
Alexandrines invited one Cybiosactes from Syria, who pretended to be
descended from the Syrian kings. The queen after a few days, unable to
endure his coarseness and vulgarity, rid herself of him by causing him
to be strangled. She afterwards married Archelaus, who also pretended to
be the son of Mithridates Eupator, but he was really the son of that
Archelaus[810] who carried on war against Sylla, and was afterwards
honourably treated by the Romans. He was grandfather of the last king of
Cappadocia in our time, and priest of Comana in Pontus. [811] He was then
(at the time we are speaking of) the guest of Gabinius, and intended to
accompany him in an expedition against the Parthians,[812] but unknown
to Gabinius, he was conducted away by some (friends) to the queen, and
declared king.
At this time Pompey the Great entertained Auletes as his guest on his
arrival at Rome, and recommended him to the senate, negotiated his
return, and contrived the execution of most of the deputies, in number a
hundred, who had undertaken to appear against him: at their head was
Dion the academic philosopher.
Ptolemy (Auletes) on being restored by Gabinius, put to death both
Archelaus and his daughter;[813] but not long after[814] he was
reinstated in his kingdom, he died a natural death, leaving two sons and
two daughters, the eldest of whom was Cleopatra.
The Alexandrines declared as sovereigns the eldest son and Cleopatra.
But the adherents of the son excited a sedition, and banished
Cleopatra, who retired with her sister into Syria. [815]
It was about this time that Pompey the Great, in his flight from
Palæpharsalus,[816] came to Pelusium and Mount Casium. He was
treacherously slain by the king’s party. When Cæsar arrived, he put the
young prince to death, and sending for Cleopatra from her place of
exile, appointed her queen of Egypt, declaring also her surviving
brother, who was very young, and herself joint sovereigns.
After the death of Cæsar and the battle at Pharsalia, Antony passed over
into Asia; he raised Cleopatra to the highest dignity, made her his
wife, and had children by her. He was present with her at the battle of
Actium, and accompanied her in her flight. Augustus Cæsar pursued them,
put an end to their power, and rescued Egypt from misgovernment and
revelry.
12. At present Egypt is a (Roman) province, pays considerable tribute,
and is well governed by prudent persons, who are sent there in
succession. The governor thus sent out has the rank of king. Subordinate
to him is the administrator of justice, who is the supreme judge in many
causes. There is another officer, who is called Idiologus, whose
business it is to inquire into property for which there is no claimant,
and which of right falls to Cæsar. These are accompanied by Cæsar’s
freedmen and stewards, who are intrusted with affairs of more or less
importance.
Three legions are stationed in Egypt, one in the city, the rest in the
country. Besides these there are also nine Roman cohorts, three
quartered in the city, three on the borders of Ethiopia in Syene, as a
guard to that tract, and three in other parts of the country. There are
also three bodies of cavalry distributed in convenient posts.
Of the native magistrates in the cities, the first is the expounder of
the law, who is dressed in scarlet; he receives the customary honours of
the country, and has the care of providing what is necessary for the
city. The second is the writer of records, the third is the chief judge.
The fourth is the commander of the night guard. These magistrates
existed in the time of the kings, but in consequence of the bad
administration of affairs by the latter, the prosperity of the city was
ruined by [CAS. 797] licentiousness. Polybius expresses his indignation
at the state of things when he was there: he describes the inhabitants
of the city to be composed of three classes; the (first) Egyptians and
natives, acute but indifferent citizens, and meddling with civil
affairs. The second, the mercenaries, a numerous and undisciplined body;
for it was an ancient custom to maintain foreign soldiers, who, from the
worthlessness of their sovereigns, knew better how to govern than to
obey. The third were the Alexandrines, who, for the same reason, were
not orderly citizens;[817] but still they were better than the
mercenaries, for although they were a mixed race, yet being of Greek
origin, they retained the customs common to the Greeks. But this class
was extinct nearly about the time of Euergetes Physcon, in whose reign
Polybius came to Alexandreia. For Physcon, being distressed by factions,
frequently exposed the multitude to the attacks of the soldiery, and
thus destroyed them. By such a state of things in the city the words of
the poet (says Polybius) were verified:
“The way to Egypt is long and vexatious. ”[818]
13. Such then, if not worse, was the condition of the city under the
last kings. The Romans, as far as they were able, corrected, as I have
said, many abuses, and established an orderly government, by appointing
vice-governors, nomarchs, and ethnarchs, whose business it was to
superintend affairs of minor importance.
The greatest advantage which the city possesses arises from its being
the only place in all Egypt well situated by nature for communication
with the sea by its excellent harbour, and with the land by the river,
by means of which everything is easily transported and collected
together into this city, which is the greatest mart in the habitable
world.
These may be said to be the superior excellencies of the city. Cicero,
in one of his orations,[819] in speaking of the revenues of Egypt,
states that an annual tribute of 12,500 talents was paid to (Ptolemy)
Auletes, the father of Cleopatra. If then a king, who administered his
government in the worst possible manner, and with the greatest
negligence, obtained so large a revenue, what must we suppose it to be
at present, when affairs are administered with great care, and when the
commerce with India and with Troglodytica has been so greatly increased?
For formerly not even twenty vessels ventured to navigate the Arabian
Gulf, or advance to the smallest distance beyond the straits at its
mouth; but now large fleets are despatched as far as India and the
extremities of Ethiopia, from which places the most valuable freights
are brought to Egypt, and are thence exported to other parts, so that a
double amount of custom is collected, arising from imports on the one
hand, and from exports on the other. The most expensive description of
goods is charged with the heaviest impost; for in fact Alexandreia has a
monopoly of trade, and is almost the only receptacle for this kind of
merchandise and place of supply for foreigners. The natural convenience
of the situation is still more apparent to persons travelling through
the country, and particularly along the coast which commences at the
Catabathmus; for to this place Egypt extends.
Next to it is Cyrenæa, and the neighbouring barbarians, the Marmaridæ.
14. From the Catabathmus[820] to Parætonium is a run of 900 stadia for a
vessel in a direct course. There is a city and a large harbour of about
40 stadia in extent, by some called the city Parætonium,[821] by others,
Ammonia. Between these is the village of the Egyptians, and the
promontory Ænesisphyra, and the Tyndareian rocks, four small islands,
with a harbour; then Drepanum a promontory, and Ænesippeia an island
with a harbour, and Apis a village, from which to Parætonium are 100
stadia; [from thence] to the temple of Ammon is a journey of five days.
From Parætonium to Alexandreia are about 1300 stadia. Between these are,
first, a promontory of white earth, called Leuce-Acte, then Phœnicus a
harbour, and Pnigeus a village; after these the island Sidonia
(Pedonia? ) with a harbour; then a little further off from the sea,
Antiphræ. The whole of this country produces no wine of a good quality,
and the earthen jars contain more sea-water than wine, which is called
Libyan;[822] this and beer are the [CAS. 799] principal beverage of the
common people of Alexandria. Antiphræ in particular was a subject of
ridicule (on account of its bad wine).
Next is the harbour Derrhis,[823] which has its name from an adjacent
black rock, resembling δέῤῥις, a hide. The neighbouring place is called
Zephyrium. Then follows another harbour, Leucaspis (the white shield),
and many others; then the Cynossema (or dog’s monument); then
Taposeiris, not that situated upon the sea; here is held a great public
festival. There is another Taposeiris,[824] situated at a considerable
distance beyond the city (Alexandreia). Near this, and close to the sea,
is a rocky spot, which is the resort of great numbers of people at all
seasons of the year, for the purpose of feasting and amusement. Next is
Plinthine,[825] and the village of Nicium, and Cherronesus a fortress,
distant from Alexandreia and the Necropolis about 70 stadia.
The lake Mareia, which extends as far as this place, is more than 150
stadia in breadth, and in length less than 300 stadia. It contains eight
islands. The whole country about it is well inhabited. Good wine also is
produced here, and in such quantity that the Mareotic wine is racked in
order that it may be kept to be old. [826]
15.
The byblus[827] and the Egyptian bean grow in the marshes and lakes;
from the latter the ciborium is made. [828] The stalks of the bean are
nearly of equal height, and grow to the length of ten feet. The byblus
is a bare stem, with a tuft on the top. But the bean puts out leaves and
flowers in many parts, and bears a fruit similar to our bean, differing
only in size and taste. The bean-grounds present an agreeable sight, and
afford amusement to those who are disposed to recreate themselves with
convivial feasts. These entertainments take place in boats with cabins;
they enter the thickest part of the plantation, where they are
overshadowed with the leaves, which are very large, and serve for
drinking-cups and dishes, having a hollow which fits them for the
purpose. They are found in great abundance in the shops in Alexandreia,
where they are used as vessels. One of the sources of land revenue is
the sale of these leaves. Such then is the nature of this bean.
The byblus does not grow here in great abundance, for it is not
cultivated. But it abounds in the lower parts of the Delta. There is one
sort inferior to the other. [829] The best is the hieratica. Some persons
intending to augment the revenue, employed in this case a method which
the Jews practised with the palm, especially the caryotic, and with the
balsamum. [830] In many places it is not allowed to be cultivated, and
the price is enhanced by its rarity: the revenue is indeed thus
increased, but the general consumption [of the article] is injured.
16. On passing through the Canobic gate of the city, on the right hand
is the canal leading to Canobus, close to the lake. They sail by this
canal to Schedia, to the great river, and to Canobus, but the first
place at which they arrive is Eleusis. This is a settlement near
Alexandreia and Nicopolis, and situated on the Canobic canal. It has
houses of entertainment which command beautiful views, and hither [CAS.
800] resort men and women who are inclined to indulge in noisy revelry,
a prelude to Canobic life, and the dissolute manners of the people of
Canobus.
At a little distance from Eleusis, on the right hand, is the canal
leading towards Schedia. Schedia is distant four schœni from
Alexandreia. It is a suburb of the city, and has a station for the
vessels with cabins, which convey the governors when they visit the
upper parts of the country. Here is collected the duty on merchandise,
as it is transported up or down the river. For this purpose a bridge of
boats is laid across the river, and from this kind of bridge the place
has the name of Schedia.
Next after the canal leading to Schedia, the navigation thence to
Canobus is parallel to the sea-coast, extending from Pharos to the
Canobic mouth. For between the sea and the canal, is a narrow band of
ground, on which is situated the smaller Taposeiris, which lies next
after Nicopolis, and Zephyrium a promontory, on which is a small temple
dedicated to Venus Arsinoë.
Anciently, it is said, a city called Thonis stood there, which bears the
name of the king, who entertained as his guests Menelaus and Helen. The
poet thus speaks of the drugs which were given to Helen,
“the potent drugs, which Polydamna, the wife of Thon, gave
to Helen. ”
17. Canobus is a city, distant by land from Alexandreia 120 stadia. It
has its name from Canobus, the pilot of Menelaus, who died there. It
contains the temple of Sarapis, held in great veneration, and celebrated
for the cure of diseases; persons even of the highest rank confide in
them, and sleep there themselves on their own account, or others for
them. Some persons record the cures, and others the veracity of the
oracles which are delivered there. But remarkable above everything else
is the multitude of persons who resort to the public festivals, and come
from Alexandreia by the canal. For day and night there are crowds of men
and women in boats, singing and dancing, without restraint, and with the
utmost licentiousness. Others, at Canobus itself, keep hostelries
situated on the banks of the canal, which are well adapted for such kind
of diversion and revelry.
18. Next to Canobus is Heracleium, in which is a temple of Hercules;
then follows the Canobic mouth,[832] and the commencement of the Delta.
On the right of the Canobic canal is the Menelaïte Nome, so called from
the brother of the first Ptolemy, but certainly not from the hero
(Menelaus), as some writers assert, among whom is Artemidorus.
Next to the Canobic mouth is the Bolbitine, then the Sebennytic, and the
Phatnitic, which is the third in magnitude compared with the first two,
which form the boundaries of the Delta. For it branches off into the
interior, not far from the vertex of the Delta. The Mendesian is very
near the Phatnitic mouth; next is the Tanitic, and lastly the Pelusiac
mouth. There are others, which are of little consequence, between these,
since they are as it were false mouths.
The mouths have entrances which are not capable of admitting large
vessels, but lighters only, on account of the shallows and marshes. The
Canobic mart is principally used as a mart for merchandise, the harbours
at Alexandreia being closed, as I have said before.
After the Bolbitine mouth there runs out to a great distance a low and
sandy promontory. It is called Agnu-ceras (or Willow Point). Then
follows the watch-tower of Perseus,[833] and the fortress of the
Milesians. For in the time of Psammitichus, and when Cyaxares was king
of the Medes, some Milesians with 30 vessels steered into the Bolbitine
mouth, disembarked there, and built the above-mentioned fortress. Some
time afterwards they sailed up to the Saïtic Nome, and having conquered
Inarus in an engagement at sea, founded the city Naucratis, not far
above Schedia.
Next after the fortress of the Milesians, in proceeding towards the
Sebennytic mouth, are lakes, one of which is called Butice, from the
city Butus; then the city Sebennytice and Sais, the capital of the lower
country; here Minerva is worshipped. In the temple there of this
goddess, is the tomb of Psammitichus. Near Butus is Hermopolis, situated
in an island, and at Butus is an oracle of Latona.
[CAS. 802] 19. In the interior above the Sebennytic and Phatnitic mouths
is Xoïs, both an island and a city in the Sebennytic Nome. There are
also Hermopolis, Lycopolis, and Mendes, where Pan[834] is worshipped,
and of animals a goat. Here, according to Pindar, goats have intercourse
with women.
Near Mendes are Diospolis, and the lakes about it, and Leontopolis; then
further on, the city Busiris,[835] in the Busirite Nome, and Cynospolis.
Eratosthenes says, “That to repel strangers is a practice common to all
barbarians, but that this charge against the Egyptians is derived from
fabulous stories related of (one) Busiris and his people in the Busirite
Nome, as some persons in later times were disposed to charge the
inhabitants of this place with inhospitality, although in truth there
was neither king nor tyrant of the name of Busiris: that besides there
was a common saying,
‘The way to Egypt is long and vexatious,’[836]
which originated in the want of harbours, and in the state of the
harbour at Pharos, which was not of free access, but watched and guarded
by herdsmen, who were robbers, and attacked those who attempted to sail
into it. The Carthaginians drown [he says] any strangers who sail past,
on their voyage to Sardinia or to the Pillars. Hence much of what is
related of the parts towards the west is discredited. The Persians also
were treacherous guides, and conducted the ambassadors along circuitous
and difficult ways. ”
20. Contiguous to the Busirite Nome are the Athribite Nome and the city
Athribis; next the Prosopite Nome, in which latter is Aphroditopolis
(the city of Venus). Above the Mendesian and the Tanitic mouths are a
large lake, and the Mendesian and Leontopolite Nomes, and a city of
Aphrodite (or Venus) and the Pharbetite Nome. Then follows the Tanitic,
which some call the Saïtic mouth, and the Tanite Nome,[837] and in it
Tanis a large city.
21. Between the Tanitic and the Pelusiac mouths are lakes and large and
continuous marshes, among which are numerous villages. Pelusium itself
has many marshes lying around it, which some call Barathra (or water
holes), and swamps. It is situated at a distance of more than 20 stadia
from the sea. The circumference of the wall is 20 stadia. It has its
name from the mud (πηλοῦ) of the swamps. [838] On this quarter Egypt is
difficult of access, i. e. from the eastern side towards Phœnicia and
Judæa, and on the side of Arabia Nabatæa, which is contiguous; through
which countries the road to Egypt lies.
The country between the Nile and the Arabian Gulf is Arabia, and at its
extremity is situated Pelusium. But the whole is desert, and not
passable by an army. The isthmus between Pelusium and the recess of the
Arabian Gulf near Heroopolis is 1000 stadia; but, according to
Poseidonius, less than 1500 stadia in extent. Besides its being sandy
and without water, it abounds with reptiles, which burrow in the sand.
22. In sailing up the river from Schedia to Memphis,[839] on the right
hand, are a great many villages extending as far as the lake Mareia,
among which is that called the village of Chabrias. Upon the river is
Hermopolis, then Gynæcopolis, and the Gynæcopolite Nome; next Momemphis
and the Momemphite Nome. Between these places are many canals, which
empty themselves into the lake Mareotis. The Momemphitæ worship Venus,
and a sacred cow is kept there, as Apis is maintained at Memphis, and
Mneyis[840] at Heliopolis. [CAS. 803] These animals are regarded as
gods, but there are other places, and these are numerous, both in the
Delta and beyond it, in which a bull or a cow is maintained, which are
not regarded as gods, but only as sacred.
23. Above Momemphis are two nitre mines, which furnish nitre in large
quantities, and the Nitriote Nome. Here Sarapis is worshipped, and they
are the only people in Egypt who sacrifice a sheep. In this nome and
near this place is a city called Menelaus. On the left hand in the
Delta, upon the river, is Naucratis. At the distance of two schœni from
the river is Saïs,[841] and a little above it the asylum of Osiris, in
which it is said Osiris is buried. This, however, is questioned by many
persons, and particularly by the inhabitants of Philæ, which is situated
above Syene and Elephantina. These people tell this tale, that Isis
placed coffins of Osiris in various places, but that one only contained
the body of Osiris, so that no one knew which of them it was; and that
she did this with the intention of concealing it from Typhon,[842] who
might come and cast the body out of its place of deposit.
24. This is the description of the country from Alexandreia to the
vertex of the Delta.
Artemidorus says, that the navigation up the river is 28 schœni, which
amount to 840 stadia, reckoning the schœnus at 30 stadia. When we
ourselves sailed up the river, schœni of different measures were used at
different places in giving the distances, so that sometimes the received
schœnus was a measure of 40 stadia and even more. That the measure of
the schœnus was unsettled among the Egyptians, Artemidorus himself shows
in a subsequent place. In reckoning the distance from Memphis to
Thebaïs, he says that each schœnus consists of 120 stadia, and from the
Thebaïs to Syene of 60 stadia. In sailing up from Pelusium to the same
vertex of the Delta, is a distance, he says, of 25 schœni, or 750
stadia, and he employs the same measure.
On setting out from Pelusium, the first canal met with is that which
fills the lakes, “near the marshes,” as they are called. There are two
of these lakes, situated upon the left hand of the great stream above
Pelusium in Arabia. He mentions other lakes also, and canals in the same
parts beyond the Delta.
The Sethroïte Nome extends along one of the two lakes. He reckons this
as one of the ten nomes in the Delta. There are two other canals, which
discharge themselves into the same lakes.
25. There is another canal also, which empties itself into the Red Sea,
or Arabian Gulf, near the city Arsinoë, which some call Cleopatris. [843]
It flows through the Bitter Lakes, as [CAS. 804] they are called, which
were bitter formerly, but when the above-mentioned canal was cut, the
bitter quality was altered by their junction with the river, and at
present they contain excellent fish, and abound with aquatic birds.
The canal was first cut by Sesostris before the Trojan times, but
according to other writers, by the son of[844] Psammitichus, who only
began the work, and afterwards died; lastly, Darius the First succeeded
to the completion of the undertaking, but he desisted from continuing
the work, when it was nearly finished, influenced by an erroneous
opinion that the level of the Red Sea was higher than Egypt, and that if
the whole of the intervening isthmus were cut through, the country would
be overflowed by the sea. The Ptolemaïc kings however did cut through
it, and placed locks upon the canal,[845] so that they sailed, when they
pleased, without obstruction into the outer sea, and back again [into
the canal].
We have spoken of the surfaces of bodies of water in the first part of
this work. [846]
26. Near Arsinoë are situated in the recess of the Arabian Gulf towards
Egypt, Heroopolis and Cleopatris; harbours, suburbs, many canals, and
lakes are also near. There also is the Phagroriopolite Nome, and the
city Phagroriopolis. The canal, which empties itself into the Red Sea,
begins at the village Phaccusa, to which the village of Philon is
contiguous. The canal is 100 cubits broad, and its depth sufficient to
float a vessel of large burden. These places are near the apex of the
Delta.
27. There also are the city Bubastus[847] and the Bubastite Nome, and
above it the Heliopolite Nome. There too is Heliopolis, situated upon a
large mound. It contains a temple of the sun, and the ox Mneyis, which
is kept in a sanctuary, and is regarded by the inhabitants as a god, as
Apis is regarded by the people of Memphis. In front of the mound are
lakes, into which the neighbouring canal discharges itself. At present
the city is entirely deserted. It has an ancient temple constructed
after the Egyptian manner, bearing many proofs of the madness and
sacrilegious acts of Cambyses, who did very great injury to the temples,
partly by fire, partly by violence, mutilating [in some] cases, and
applying fire [in others]. In this manner he injured the obelisks, two
of which, that were not entirely spoilt, were transported to Rome. [848]
There are others both here and at Thebes, the present Diospolis, some of
which are standing, much corroded by fire, and others lying on the
ground.
28. The plan of the temples is as follows.
At the entrance into the temenus is a paved floor, in breadth about a
plethrum, or even less; its length is three or four times as great, and
in some instances even more. This part is called Dromos, and is
mentioned by Callimachus,
“this is the Dromos, sacred to Anubis. ”
Throughout the whole length on each side are placed stone sphinxes, at
the distance of 20 cubits or a little more from each other, so that
there is one row of sphinxes on the right hand, and another on the left.
Next after the sphinxes is a large propylon, then on proceeding further,
another propylon, and then another. Neither the number of the propyla
nor of the sphinxes is determined by any rule. They are different in
different temples, as well as the length and breadth of the Dromi.
[CAS. 805] Next to the propyla is the naos, which has a large and
considerable pronaos; the sanctuary in proportion; there is no statue,
at least not in human shape, but a representation of some of the brute
animals. On each side of the pronaos project what are called the wings.
These are two walls of equal height with the naos. At first the distance
between them is a little more than the breadth of the foundation of the
naos. [849] As you proceed onwards, the [base] lines incline towards one
another till they approach within 50 or 60 cubits. These walls have
large sculptured figures, very much like the Tyrrhenian (Etruscan) and
very ancient works among the Greeks.
There is also a building with a great number of pillars, as at Memphis,
in the barbaric style; for, except the magnitude and number and rows of
pillars, there is nothing pleasing nor easily described,[850] but rather
a display of labour wasted.
29. At Heliopolis we saw large buildings in which the priests lived. For
it is said that anciently this was the principal residence of the
priests, who studied philosophy and astronomy. But there are no longer
either such a body of persons or such pursuits. No one was pointed out
to us on the spot, as presiding over these studies, but only persons who
performed sacred rites, and who explained to strangers [the
peculiarities of] the temples.
A person of the name of Chæremon accompanied the governor, Ælius Gallus,
in his journey from Alexandreia into Egypt, and pretended to some
knowledge of this kind, but he was generally ridiculed for his boasting
and ignorance. The houses of the priests, and the residences of Plato
and of Eudoxus, were shown to us. Eudoxus came here with Plato, and,
according to some writers, lived thirteen years in the society of the
priests. For the latter were distinguished for their knowledge of the
heavenly bodies, but were mysterious and uncommunicative, yet after a
time were prevailed upon by courtesy to acquaint them with some of the
principles of their science, but the barbarians concealed the greater
part of them. They had, however, communicated the knowledge of the
additional portions of the day and night, in the space of 365 days,
necessary to complete the annual period; and, at that time, the length
of the year was unknown to the Greeks, as were many other things, until
later astronomers received them from the persons who translated the
records of the priests into the Greek language, and even now derive
knowledge from their writings and from those of the Chaldeans. [851]
30. After Heliopolis is the “Nile above the Delta. ” The country on the
right hand, as you go up the Nile, is called Libya, as well as that near
Alexandreia and the lake Mareotis; the country on the left hand is
called Arabia. The territory belonging to Heliopolis is in Arabia, but
the city Cercesura is in Libya, and situated opposite to the observatory
of Eudoxus. For there is shown an observing station in front of
Heliopolis, as there is in front of Cnidus, where Eudoxus marked certain
motions of the heavenly bodies. This is the Letopolite Nome.
In sailing up the river we meet with Babylon, a strong fortress, built
by some Babylonians who had taken refuge there, and had obtained
permission from the kings to establish a settlement in that place. At
present it is an encampment for one of the three legions which garrison
Egypt. There is a mountainous ridge, which extends from the encampment
as far as the Nile. At this ridge are wheels and screws, by which water
is raised from the river, and one hundred and fifty prisoners are [thus]
employed.
The pyramids on the other side [of the river] at Memphis may be clearly
discerned from this place, for they are not far off.
31. Memphis itself also, the residence of the kings of Egypt, is near,
being only three schœni distant from the Delta. It contains temples,
among which is that of Apis, who is the same as Osiris. Here the ox Apis
is kept in a sort of sanctuary, and is held, as I have said, to be a
god. The forehead and some other small parts of its body are white; the
other parts are black. By these marks the fitness of the successor
[CAS. 807] is always determined, when the animal to which they pay these
honours dies. In front of the sanctuary is a court, in which there is
another sanctuary for the dam of Apis. Into this court the Apis is let
loose at times, particularly for the purpose of exhibiting him to
strangers. He is seen through a door in the sanctuary, and he is
permitted to be seen also out of it. After he has frisked about a little
in the court, he is taken back to his own stall.
The temple of Apis is near the Hephæsteium (or temple of Vulcan); the
Hephæsteium[852] itself is very sumptuously constructed, both as regards
the size of the naos and in other respects. In front of the Dromos is a
colossal figure consisting of a single stone. It is usual to celebrate
bull-fights in this Dromos; the bulls are bred expressly for this
purpose, like horses. They are let loose, and fight with one another,
the conqueror receiving a prize.
At Memphis also there is a temple of Venus, who is accounted a Grecian
deity. But some say that it is a temple dedicated to Selene, or the
moon. [853]
32. There is also a temple of Sarapis, situated in a very sandy spot,
where the sand is accumulated in masses by the wind. Some of the
sphinxes which we saw were buried in this sand up to the head, and one
half only of others was visible. Hence we may conceive the danger,
should any one, in his way to the temple, be surprised by a [sand]
storm.
The city is large and populous; it ranks next to Alexandreia, and, like
that place, is inhabited by mixed races of people. There are lakes in
front of the city and of the palaces, which at present are in ruins and
deserted. They are situated upon an eminence, and extend as far as the
lower part of the city.
Close to this place are a grove and a lake.
33. At the distance of 40 stadia from Memphis is a brow of a hill, on
which are many pyramids, the tombs of the kings. [854] Three of them are
considerable. Two of these are reckoned among the seven wonders [of the
world]. They are a stadium in height, and of a quadrangular shape. Their
height somewhat exceeds the length of each of the sides. [855] One
pyramid is a little larger than the other.
sixty days the plain is entirely exposed to view, and dries up. The
sooner the land is dry, so much the sooner the ploughing and sowing are
accomplished, and it dries earlier in those parts where the heat is
greater.
The country above the Delta is irrigated in the same manner, except that
the river flows in a straight line to the distance of about 4000 stadia
in one channel, unless where some island intervenes, the most
considerable of which comprises the Heracleiotic Nome; or, where it is
diverted by a canal into a large lake, or a tract of country which it is
capable of irrigating, as the lake Mœris and the Arsinoïte Nome, or
where the canals discharge themselves into the Mareotis.
[CAS. 789] In short, Egypt, from the mountains of Ethiopia to the vertex
of the Delta, is merely a river tract on each side of the Nile, and
rarely if anywhere comprehends in one continued line a habitable
territory of 300 stadia in breadth. It resembles, except the frequent
diversions of its course, a bandage rolled out. [802]
The mountains on each side (of the Nile), which descend from the parts
about Syene to the Egyptian Sea,[803] give this shape to the river tract
of which I am speaking, and to the country. For in proportion as these
mountains extend along that tract, or recede from each other, in the
same degree is the river contracted or expanded, and they impart to the
habitable country its variety of shape. But the country beyond the
mountains is in a great measure uninhabited.
5. The ancients understood more by conjecture than otherwise, but
persons in later times learnt by experience as eye-witnesses, that the
Nile owes its rise to summer rains, which fall in great abundance in
Upper Ethiopia, particularly in the most distant mountains. On the rains
ceasing, the fulness of the river gradually subsides. This was
particularly observed by those who navigated the Arabian Gulf on their
way to the Cinnamon country, and by those who were sent out to hunt
elephants, or for such other purposes as induced the Ptolemies, kings of
Egypt, to despatch persons in that direction. These sovereigns had
directed their attention to objects of this kind, particularly Ptolemy
surnamed Philadelphus, who was a lover of science, and on account of
bodily infirmities always in search of some new diversion and amusement.
But the ancient kings paid little attention to such inquiries, although
both they and the priests, with whom they passed the greater part of
their lives, professed to be devoted to the study of philosophy. Their
ignorance therefore is more surprising, both on this account and because
Sesostris had traversed the whole of Ethiopia as far as the Cinnamon
country, of which expedition monuments exist even to the present day,
such as pillars and inscriptions. Cambyses also, when he was in
possession of Egypt, had advanced with the Egyptians as far even as
Meroë; and it is said that he gave this name both to the island and to
the city, because his sister, or according to some writers his wife,
Meroë died there. For this reason therefore he conferred the appellation
on the island, and in honour of a woman. It is surprising how, with such
opportunities of obtaining information, the history of these rains
should not have been clearly known to persons living in those times,
especially as the priests registered with the greatest diligence in the
sacred books all extraordinary facts, and preserved records of
everything which seemed to contribute to an increase of knowledge. And,
if this had been the case, would it be necessary to inquire what is even
still a question, what can possibly be the reason why rain falls in
summer, and not in winter, in the most southerly parts of the country,
but not in the Thebaïs, nor in the country about Syene? nor should we
have to examine whether the rise of the water of the Nile is occasioned
by rains, nor require such evidence for these facts as Poseidonius
adduces. For he says, that Callisthenes asserts that the cause of the
rise of the river is the rain of summer. This he borrows from Aristotle,
who borrowed it from Thrasyalces the Thasian (one of the ancient writers
on physics), Thrasyalces from some other person, and he from Homer, who
calls the Nile “heaven-descended:”
“back to Egypt’s heaven-descended stream. ”[804]
But I quit this subject, since it has been discussed by many writers,
among whom it will be sufficient to specify two, who have (each)
composed in our times a treatise on the Nile, Eudorus and Aristo the
Peripatetic philosopher. [They differ little from each other] except in
the order and disposition of the works, for the phraseology and
execution is the same in both writers. (I can speak with some confidence
in this matter), for when at a loss (for manuscripts) for the purpose of
comparison and copy, I collated both authors. [805] But which of them
surreptitiously substituted the other’s account as his own, we may
[CAS. 790] go to the temple of Ammon to be informed. Eudorus accused
Aristo, but the style is more like that of Aristo.
The ancients gave the name of Egypt to that country only which was
inhabited and watered by the Nile, and the extent they assigned to it
was from the neighbourhood of Syene to the sea. But later writers, to
the present time, have included on the eastern side almost all the tract
between the Arabian Gulf and the Nile (the Æthiopians however do not
make much use of the Red Sea); on the western side, the tract extending
to the Auases and the parts of the sea-coast from the Canobic mouth of
the Nile to Catabathmus, and the kingdom of Cyrenæa. For the kings who
succeeded the race of the Ptolemies had acquired so much power, that
they became masters of Cyrenæa, and even joined Cyprus to Egypt. The
Romans, who succeeded to their dominions, separated Egypt, and confined
it within the old limits.
The Egyptians give the name of Auases (Oases) to certain inhabited
tracts, which are surrounded by extensive deserts, and appear like
islands in the sea. They are frequently met with in Libya, and there are
three contiguous to Egypt, and dependent upon it.
This is the account which we have to give of Egypt in general and
summarily. I shall now describe the separate parts of the country and
their advantages.
6. As Alexandreia and its neighbourhood occupy the greatest and
principal portion of the description, I shall begin with it.
In sailing towards the west, the sea-coast from Pelusium to the Canobic
mouth of the Nile is about 1300 stadia in extent, and constitutes, as we
have said, the base of the Delta. Thence to the island Pharos are 150
stadia more.
Pharos is a small oblong island, and lies quite close to the continent,
forming towards it a harbour with a double entrance. For the coast
abounds with bays, and has two promontories projecting into the sea. The
island is situated between these, and shuts in the bay, lying lengthways
in front of it.
Of the extremities of the Pharos, the eastern is nearest to the
continent and to the promontory in that direction, called Lochias, which
is the cause of the entrance to the port being narrow. Besides the
narrowness of the passage, there are rocks, some under water, others
rising above it, which at all times increase the violence of the waves
rolling in upon them from the open sea. This extremity itself of the
island is a rock, washed by the sea on all sides, with a tower upon it
of the same name as the island, admirably constructed of white marble,
with several stories. Sostratus of Cnidus, a friend of the kings,
erected it for the safety of mariners, as the inscription imports. [806]
For as the coast on each side is low and without harbours, with reefs
and shallows, an elevated and conspicuous mark was required to enable
navigators coming in from the open sea to direct their course exactly to
the entrance of the harbour.
The western mouth does not afford an easy entrance, but it does not
require the same degree of caution as the other. It forms also another
port, which has the name of Eunostus, or Happy Return: it lies in front
of the artificial and close harbour. That which has its entrance at the
above-mentioned tower of Pharos is the great harbour. These (two) lie
contiguous in the recess called Heptastadium, and are separated from it
by a mound. This mound forms a bridge from the continent to the island,
and extends along its western side, leaving two passages only through it
to the harbour of Eunostus, which are bridged over. But this work served
not only as a bridge, but as an aqueduct also, when the island was
inhabited. Divus Cæsar devastated the island, in his war against the
people of Alexandreia, when they espoused the party of the kings. A few
sailors live near the tower.
The great harbour, in addition to its being well enclosed by the mound
and by nature, is of sufficient depth near the shore to allow the
largest vessel to anchor near the stairs. It is also divided into
several ports.
The former kings of Egypt, satisfied with what they possessed, and not
desirous of foreign commerce, entertained a dislike to all mariners,
especially the Greeks (who, on account of the poverty of their own
country, ravaged and coveted the property of other nations), and
stationed a guard here, who had orders to keep off all persons who
approached. To the guard was assigned as a place of residence the spot
called Rhacotis, which is now a part of the city of Alexandreia,
situated above the arsenal. At that time, however, it was a village. The
country about the village was given up to herdsmen, [CAS. 792] who were
also able (from their numbers) to prevent strangers from entering the
country.
When Alexander arrived, and perceived the advantages of the situation,
he determined to build the city on the (natural) harbour. The prosperity
of the place, which ensued, was intimated, it is said, by a presage
which occurred while the plan of the city was tracing. The architects
were engaged in marking out the line of the wall with chalk, and had
consumed it all, when the king arrived; upon which the dispensers of
flour supplied the workmen with a part of the flour, which was provided
for their own use; and this substance was used in tracing the greater
part of the divisions of the streets. This, they said, was a good omen
for the city.
7. The advantages of the city are of various kinds. The site is washed
by two seas; on the north, by what is called the Egyptian Sea, and on
the south, by the sea of the lake Mareia, which is also called Mareotis.
This lake is filled by many canals from the Nile, both by those above
and those at the sides, through which a greater quantity of merchandise
is imported than by those communicating with the sea. Hence the harbour
on the lake is richer than the maritime harbour. The exports by sea from
Alexandreia exceed the imports. This any person may ascertain, either at
Alexandreia or Dicæarchia, by watching the arrival and departure of the
merchant vessels, and observing how much heavier or lighter their
cargoes are when they depart or when they return.
In addition to the wealth derived from merchandise landed at the
harbours on each side, on the sea and on the lake, its fine air is
worthy of remark: this results from the city being on two sides
surrounded by water, and from the favourable effects of the rise of the
Nile. For other cities, situated near lakes, have, during the heats of
summer, a heavy and suffocating atmosphere, and lakes at their margins
become swampy by the evaporation occasioned by the sun’s heat. When a
large quantity of moisture is exhaled from swamps, a noxious vapour
rises, and is the cause of pestilential disorders. But at Alexandreia,
at the beginning of summer, the Nile, being full, fills the lake also,
and leaves no marshy matter which is likely to occasion malignant
exhalations. At the same period, the Etesian winds blow from the north,
over a large expanse of sea, and the Alexandrines in consequence pass
their summer very pleasantly.
8. The shape of the site of the city is that of a chlamys or military
cloak. The sides, which determine the length, are surrounded by water,
and are about thirty stadia in extent; but the isthmuses, which
determine the breadth of the sides, are each of seven or eight stadia,
bounded on one side by the sea, and on the other by the lake. The whole
city is intersected by roads for the passage of horsemen and chariots.
Two of these are very broad, exceeding a plethrum in breadth, and cut
one another at right angles. It contains also very beautiful public
grounds and royal palaces, which occupy a fourth or even a third part of
its whole extent. For as each of the kings was desirous of adding some
embellishment to the places dedicated to the public use, so, besides the
buildings already existing, each of them erected a building at his own
expense; hence the expression of the poet may be here applied,
“one after the other springs. ”[807]
All the buildings are connected with one another and with the harbour,
and those also which are beyond it.
The Museum is a part of the palaces. It has a public walk and a place
furnished with seats, and a large hall, in which the men of learning,
who belong to the Museum, take their common meal. This community
possesses also property in common; and a priest, formerly appointed by
the kings, but at present by Cæsar, presides over the Museum.
A part belonging to the palaces consists of that called Sema, an
enclosure, which contained the tombs of the kings and that of Alexander
(the Great). For Ptolemy the son of Lagus took away the body of
Alexander from Perdiccas, as he was conveying it down from Babylon; for
Perdiccas had turned out of his road towards Egypt, incited by ambition
and a desire of making himself master of the country. When Ptolemy had
attacked [and made him prisoner], he intended to [spare his life and]
confine him in a desert island, but he met with a miserable end at the
hand of his own soldiers, who rushed upon and despatched him by
transfixing him with the long Macedonian spears. The kings who were with
him, Aridæus, and the children of Alexander, and Roxana his wife,
departed to Macedonia. Ptolemy carried away the body [CAS. 794] of
Alexander, and deposited it at Alexandreia in the place where it now
lies; not indeed in the same coffin, for the present one is of hyalus
(alabaster? ) whereas Ptolemy had deposited it in one of gold: it was
plundered by Ptolemy surnamed Cocce’s son and Pareisactus, who came from
Syria and was quickly deposed, so that his plunder was of no service to
him.
9. In the great harbour at the entrance, on the right hand, are the
island and the Pharos tower; on the left are the reef of rocks and the
promontory Lochias, with a palace upon it: at the entrance, on the left
hand, are the inner palaces, which are continuous with those on the
Lochias, and contain numerous painted apartments and groves. Below lies
the artificial and close harbour, appropriated to the use of the kings;
and Antirrhodus a small island, facing the artificial harbour, with a
palace on it, and a small port. It was called Antirrhodus, a rival as it
were of Rhodes.
Above this is the theatre, then the Poseidium, a kind of elbow
projecting from the Emporium, as it is called, with a temple of Neptune
upon it. To this Antony added a mound, projecting still further into the
middle of the harbour, and built at the extremity a royal mansion, which
he called Timonium. This was his last act, when, deserted by his
partisans, he retired to Alexandreia after his defeat at Actium, and
intended, being forsaken by so many friends, to lead the [solitary] life
of Timon for the rest of his days.
Next are the Cæsarium, the Emporium, and the Apostaseis, or magazines:
these are followed by docks, extending to the Heptastadium. This is the
description of the great harbour.
10. Next after the Heptastadium is the harbour of Eunostus, and above
this the artificial harbour, called Cibotus (or the Ark), which also has
docks. At the bottom of this harbour is a navigable canal, extending to
the lake Mareotis. Beyond the canal there still remains a small part of
the city. Then follows the suburb Necropolis, in which are numerous
gardens, burial-places, and buildings for carrying on the process of
embalming the dead.
On this side the canal is the Sarapium and other ancient sacred places,
which are now abandoned on account of the erection of the temples at
Nicopolis; for [there are situated] an amphitheatre and a stadium, and
there are celebrated quinquennial games; but the ancient and customs
are neglected.
In short, the city of Alexandreia abounds with public and sacred
buildings. The most beautiful of the former is the Gymnasium, with
porticos exceeding a stadium in extent. In the middle of it are the
court of justice and groves. Here also is a Paneium, an artificial mound
of the shape of a fircone, resembling a pile of rock, to the top of
which there is an ascent by a spiral path. From the summit may be seen
the whole city lying all around and beneath it.
The wide street extends in length along the Gymnasium from the
Necropolis to the Canobic gate. Next is the Hippodromos (or
race-course), as it is called, and other buildings[808] near it, and
reaching to the Canobic canal. After passing through the Hippodromos is
the Nicopolis, which contains buildings fronting the sea not less
numerous than a city. It is 30 stadia distant from Alexandreia. Augustus
Cæsar distinguished this place, because it was here that he defeated
Antony and his party of adherents. He took the city at the first onset,
and compelled Antony to put himself to death, but Cleopatra to surrender
herself alive. A short time afterwards, however, she also put an end to
her life secretly, in prison, by the bite of an asp, or (for there are
two accounts) by the application of a poisonous ointment. Thus the
empire of the Lagidæ, which had subsisted many years, was dissolved.
11. Alexander was succeeded by Ptolemy the son of Lagus, the son of
Lagus by Philadelphus, Philadelphus by Euergetes; next succeeded
Philopator the lover[809] of Agathocleia, then Epiphanes, afterwards
Philometor, the son (thus far) always succeeding the father. But
Philometor was succeeded by his brother, the second Euergetes, who was
also called Physcon. He was succeeded by Ptolemy surnamed Lathurus,
Lathurus by Auletes of our time, who was the father of Cleopatra. All
these kings, after the third Ptolemy, were corrupted by luxury and
effeminacy, and the affairs of government were very badly administered
by them; but worst of all by the fourth, the seventh, and the last
(Ptolemy), Auletes (or the Piper), [CAS. 796] who, besides other deeds
of shamelessness, acted the piper; indeed he gloried so much in the
practice, that he scrupled not to appoint trials of skill in his palace;
on which occasions he presented himself as a competitor with other
rivals. He was deposed by the Alexandrines; and of his three daughters,
one, the eldest, who was legitimate, they proclaimed queen; but his two
sons, who were infants, were absolutely excluded from the succession.
As a husband for the daughter established on the throne, the
Alexandrines invited one Cybiosactes from Syria, who pretended to be
descended from the Syrian kings. The queen after a few days, unable to
endure his coarseness and vulgarity, rid herself of him by causing him
to be strangled. She afterwards married Archelaus, who also pretended to
be the son of Mithridates Eupator, but he was really the son of that
Archelaus[810] who carried on war against Sylla, and was afterwards
honourably treated by the Romans. He was grandfather of the last king of
Cappadocia in our time, and priest of Comana in Pontus. [811] He was then
(at the time we are speaking of) the guest of Gabinius, and intended to
accompany him in an expedition against the Parthians,[812] but unknown
to Gabinius, he was conducted away by some (friends) to the queen, and
declared king.
At this time Pompey the Great entertained Auletes as his guest on his
arrival at Rome, and recommended him to the senate, negotiated his
return, and contrived the execution of most of the deputies, in number a
hundred, who had undertaken to appear against him: at their head was
Dion the academic philosopher.
Ptolemy (Auletes) on being restored by Gabinius, put to death both
Archelaus and his daughter;[813] but not long after[814] he was
reinstated in his kingdom, he died a natural death, leaving two sons and
two daughters, the eldest of whom was Cleopatra.
The Alexandrines declared as sovereigns the eldest son and Cleopatra.
But the adherents of the son excited a sedition, and banished
Cleopatra, who retired with her sister into Syria. [815]
It was about this time that Pompey the Great, in his flight from
Palæpharsalus,[816] came to Pelusium and Mount Casium. He was
treacherously slain by the king’s party. When Cæsar arrived, he put the
young prince to death, and sending for Cleopatra from her place of
exile, appointed her queen of Egypt, declaring also her surviving
brother, who was very young, and herself joint sovereigns.
After the death of Cæsar and the battle at Pharsalia, Antony passed over
into Asia; he raised Cleopatra to the highest dignity, made her his
wife, and had children by her. He was present with her at the battle of
Actium, and accompanied her in her flight. Augustus Cæsar pursued them,
put an end to their power, and rescued Egypt from misgovernment and
revelry.
12. At present Egypt is a (Roman) province, pays considerable tribute,
and is well governed by prudent persons, who are sent there in
succession. The governor thus sent out has the rank of king. Subordinate
to him is the administrator of justice, who is the supreme judge in many
causes. There is another officer, who is called Idiologus, whose
business it is to inquire into property for which there is no claimant,
and which of right falls to Cæsar. These are accompanied by Cæsar’s
freedmen and stewards, who are intrusted with affairs of more or less
importance.
Three legions are stationed in Egypt, one in the city, the rest in the
country. Besides these there are also nine Roman cohorts, three
quartered in the city, three on the borders of Ethiopia in Syene, as a
guard to that tract, and three in other parts of the country. There are
also three bodies of cavalry distributed in convenient posts.
Of the native magistrates in the cities, the first is the expounder of
the law, who is dressed in scarlet; he receives the customary honours of
the country, and has the care of providing what is necessary for the
city. The second is the writer of records, the third is the chief judge.
The fourth is the commander of the night guard. These magistrates
existed in the time of the kings, but in consequence of the bad
administration of affairs by the latter, the prosperity of the city was
ruined by [CAS. 797] licentiousness. Polybius expresses his indignation
at the state of things when he was there: he describes the inhabitants
of the city to be composed of three classes; the (first) Egyptians and
natives, acute but indifferent citizens, and meddling with civil
affairs. The second, the mercenaries, a numerous and undisciplined body;
for it was an ancient custom to maintain foreign soldiers, who, from the
worthlessness of their sovereigns, knew better how to govern than to
obey. The third were the Alexandrines, who, for the same reason, were
not orderly citizens;[817] but still they were better than the
mercenaries, for although they were a mixed race, yet being of Greek
origin, they retained the customs common to the Greeks. But this class
was extinct nearly about the time of Euergetes Physcon, in whose reign
Polybius came to Alexandreia. For Physcon, being distressed by factions,
frequently exposed the multitude to the attacks of the soldiery, and
thus destroyed them. By such a state of things in the city the words of
the poet (says Polybius) were verified:
“The way to Egypt is long and vexatious. ”[818]
13. Such then, if not worse, was the condition of the city under the
last kings. The Romans, as far as they were able, corrected, as I have
said, many abuses, and established an orderly government, by appointing
vice-governors, nomarchs, and ethnarchs, whose business it was to
superintend affairs of minor importance.
The greatest advantage which the city possesses arises from its being
the only place in all Egypt well situated by nature for communication
with the sea by its excellent harbour, and with the land by the river,
by means of which everything is easily transported and collected
together into this city, which is the greatest mart in the habitable
world.
These may be said to be the superior excellencies of the city. Cicero,
in one of his orations,[819] in speaking of the revenues of Egypt,
states that an annual tribute of 12,500 talents was paid to (Ptolemy)
Auletes, the father of Cleopatra. If then a king, who administered his
government in the worst possible manner, and with the greatest
negligence, obtained so large a revenue, what must we suppose it to be
at present, when affairs are administered with great care, and when the
commerce with India and with Troglodytica has been so greatly increased?
For formerly not even twenty vessels ventured to navigate the Arabian
Gulf, or advance to the smallest distance beyond the straits at its
mouth; but now large fleets are despatched as far as India and the
extremities of Ethiopia, from which places the most valuable freights
are brought to Egypt, and are thence exported to other parts, so that a
double amount of custom is collected, arising from imports on the one
hand, and from exports on the other. The most expensive description of
goods is charged with the heaviest impost; for in fact Alexandreia has a
monopoly of trade, and is almost the only receptacle for this kind of
merchandise and place of supply for foreigners. The natural convenience
of the situation is still more apparent to persons travelling through
the country, and particularly along the coast which commences at the
Catabathmus; for to this place Egypt extends.
Next to it is Cyrenæa, and the neighbouring barbarians, the Marmaridæ.
14. From the Catabathmus[820] to Parætonium is a run of 900 stadia for a
vessel in a direct course. There is a city and a large harbour of about
40 stadia in extent, by some called the city Parætonium,[821] by others,
Ammonia. Between these is the village of the Egyptians, and the
promontory Ænesisphyra, and the Tyndareian rocks, four small islands,
with a harbour; then Drepanum a promontory, and Ænesippeia an island
with a harbour, and Apis a village, from which to Parætonium are 100
stadia; [from thence] to the temple of Ammon is a journey of five days.
From Parætonium to Alexandreia are about 1300 stadia. Between these are,
first, a promontory of white earth, called Leuce-Acte, then Phœnicus a
harbour, and Pnigeus a village; after these the island Sidonia
(Pedonia? ) with a harbour; then a little further off from the sea,
Antiphræ. The whole of this country produces no wine of a good quality,
and the earthen jars contain more sea-water than wine, which is called
Libyan;[822] this and beer are the [CAS. 799] principal beverage of the
common people of Alexandria. Antiphræ in particular was a subject of
ridicule (on account of its bad wine).
Next is the harbour Derrhis,[823] which has its name from an adjacent
black rock, resembling δέῤῥις, a hide. The neighbouring place is called
Zephyrium. Then follows another harbour, Leucaspis (the white shield),
and many others; then the Cynossema (or dog’s monument); then
Taposeiris, not that situated upon the sea; here is held a great public
festival. There is another Taposeiris,[824] situated at a considerable
distance beyond the city (Alexandreia). Near this, and close to the sea,
is a rocky spot, which is the resort of great numbers of people at all
seasons of the year, for the purpose of feasting and amusement. Next is
Plinthine,[825] and the village of Nicium, and Cherronesus a fortress,
distant from Alexandreia and the Necropolis about 70 stadia.
The lake Mareia, which extends as far as this place, is more than 150
stadia in breadth, and in length less than 300 stadia. It contains eight
islands. The whole country about it is well inhabited. Good wine also is
produced here, and in such quantity that the Mareotic wine is racked in
order that it may be kept to be old. [826]
15.
The byblus[827] and the Egyptian bean grow in the marshes and lakes;
from the latter the ciborium is made. [828] The stalks of the bean are
nearly of equal height, and grow to the length of ten feet. The byblus
is a bare stem, with a tuft on the top. But the bean puts out leaves and
flowers in many parts, and bears a fruit similar to our bean, differing
only in size and taste. The bean-grounds present an agreeable sight, and
afford amusement to those who are disposed to recreate themselves with
convivial feasts. These entertainments take place in boats with cabins;
they enter the thickest part of the plantation, where they are
overshadowed with the leaves, which are very large, and serve for
drinking-cups and dishes, having a hollow which fits them for the
purpose. They are found in great abundance in the shops in Alexandreia,
where they are used as vessels. One of the sources of land revenue is
the sale of these leaves. Such then is the nature of this bean.
The byblus does not grow here in great abundance, for it is not
cultivated. But it abounds in the lower parts of the Delta. There is one
sort inferior to the other. [829] The best is the hieratica. Some persons
intending to augment the revenue, employed in this case a method which
the Jews practised with the palm, especially the caryotic, and with the
balsamum. [830] In many places it is not allowed to be cultivated, and
the price is enhanced by its rarity: the revenue is indeed thus
increased, but the general consumption [of the article] is injured.
16. On passing through the Canobic gate of the city, on the right hand
is the canal leading to Canobus, close to the lake. They sail by this
canal to Schedia, to the great river, and to Canobus, but the first
place at which they arrive is Eleusis. This is a settlement near
Alexandreia and Nicopolis, and situated on the Canobic canal. It has
houses of entertainment which command beautiful views, and hither [CAS.
800] resort men and women who are inclined to indulge in noisy revelry,
a prelude to Canobic life, and the dissolute manners of the people of
Canobus.
At a little distance from Eleusis, on the right hand, is the canal
leading towards Schedia. Schedia is distant four schœni from
Alexandreia. It is a suburb of the city, and has a station for the
vessels with cabins, which convey the governors when they visit the
upper parts of the country. Here is collected the duty on merchandise,
as it is transported up or down the river. For this purpose a bridge of
boats is laid across the river, and from this kind of bridge the place
has the name of Schedia.
Next after the canal leading to Schedia, the navigation thence to
Canobus is parallel to the sea-coast, extending from Pharos to the
Canobic mouth. For between the sea and the canal, is a narrow band of
ground, on which is situated the smaller Taposeiris, which lies next
after Nicopolis, and Zephyrium a promontory, on which is a small temple
dedicated to Venus Arsinoë.
Anciently, it is said, a city called Thonis stood there, which bears the
name of the king, who entertained as his guests Menelaus and Helen. The
poet thus speaks of the drugs which were given to Helen,
“the potent drugs, which Polydamna, the wife of Thon, gave
to Helen. ”
17. Canobus is a city, distant by land from Alexandreia 120 stadia. It
has its name from Canobus, the pilot of Menelaus, who died there. It
contains the temple of Sarapis, held in great veneration, and celebrated
for the cure of diseases; persons even of the highest rank confide in
them, and sleep there themselves on their own account, or others for
them. Some persons record the cures, and others the veracity of the
oracles which are delivered there. But remarkable above everything else
is the multitude of persons who resort to the public festivals, and come
from Alexandreia by the canal. For day and night there are crowds of men
and women in boats, singing and dancing, without restraint, and with the
utmost licentiousness. Others, at Canobus itself, keep hostelries
situated on the banks of the canal, which are well adapted for such kind
of diversion and revelry.
18. Next to Canobus is Heracleium, in which is a temple of Hercules;
then follows the Canobic mouth,[832] and the commencement of the Delta.
On the right of the Canobic canal is the Menelaïte Nome, so called from
the brother of the first Ptolemy, but certainly not from the hero
(Menelaus), as some writers assert, among whom is Artemidorus.
Next to the Canobic mouth is the Bolbitine, then the Sebennytic, and the
Phatnitic, which is the third in magnitude compared with the first two,
which form the boundaries of the Delta. For it branches off into the
interior, not far from the vertex of the Delta. The Mendesian is very
near the Phatnitic mouth; next is the Tanitic, and lastly the Pelusiac
mouth. There are others, which are of little consequence, between these,
since they are as it were false mouths.
The mouths have entrances which are not capable of admitting large
vessels, but lighters only, on account of the shallows and marshes. The
Canobic mart is principally used as a mart for merchandise, the harbours
at Alexandreia being closed, as I have said before.
After the Bolbitine mouth there runs out to a great distance a low and
sandy promontory. It is called Agnu-ceras (or Willow Point). Then
follows the watch-tower of Perseus,[833] and the fortress of the
Milesians. For in the time of Psammitichus, and when Cyaxares was king
of the Medes, some Milesians with 30 vessels steered into the Bolbitine
mouth, disembarked there, and built the above-mentioned fortress. Some
time afterwards they sailed up to the Saïtic Nome, and having conquered
Inarus in an engagement at sea, founded the city Naucratis, not far
above Schedia.
Next after the fortress of the Milesians, in proceeding towards the
Sebennytic mouth, are lakes, one of which is called Butice, from the
city Butus; then the city Sebennytice and Sais, the capital of the lower
country; here Minerva is worshipped. In the temple there of this
goddess, is the tomb of Psammitichus. Near Butus is Hermopolis, situated
in an island, and at Butus is an oracle of Latona.
[CAS. 802] 19. In the interior above the Sebennytic and Phatnitic mouths
is Xoïs, both an island and a city in the Sebennytic Nome. There are
also Hermopolis, Lycopolis, and Mendes, where Pan[834] is worshipped,
and of animals a goat. Here, according to Pindar, goats have intercourse
with women.
Near Mendes are Diospolis, and the lakes about it, and Leontopolis; then
further on, the city Busiris,[835] in the Busirite Nome, and Cynospolis.
Eratosthenes says, “That to repel strangers is a practice common to all
barbarians, but that this charge against the Egyptians is derived from
fabulous stories related of (one) Busiris and his people in the Busirite
Nome, as some persons in later times were disposed to charge the
inhabitants of this place with inhospitality, although in truth there
was neither king nor tyrant of the name of Busiris: that besides there
was a common saying,
‘The way to Egypt is long and vexatious,’[836]
which originated in the want of harbours, and in the state of the
harbour at Pharos, which was not of free access, but watched and guarded
by herdsmen, who were robbers, and attacked those who attempted to sail
into it. The Carthaginians drown [he says] any strangers who sail past,
on their voyage to Sardinia or to the Pillars. Hence much of what is
related of the parts towards the west is discredited. The Persians also
were treacherous guides, and conducted the ambassadors along circuitous
and difficult ways. ”
20. Contiguous to the Busirite Nome are the Athribite Nome and the city
Athribis; next the Prosopite Nome, in which latter is Aphroditopolis
(the city of Venus). Above the Mendesian and the Tanitic mouths are a
large lake, and the Mendesian and Leontopolite Nomes, and a city of
Aphrodite (or Venus) and the Pharbetite Nome. Then follows the Tanitic,
which some call the Saïtic mouth, and the Tanite Nome,[837] and in it
Tanis a large city.
21. Between the Tanitic and the Pelusiac mouths are lakes and large and
continuous marshes, among which are numerous villages. Pelusium itself
has many marshes lying around it, which some call Barathra (or water
holes), and swamps. It is situated at a distance of more than 20 stadia
from the sea. The circumference of the wall is 20 stadia. It has its
name from the mud (πηλοῦ) of the swamps. [838] On this quarter Egypt is
difficult of access, i. e. from the eastern side towards Phœnicia and
Judæa, and on the side of Arabia Nabatæa, which is contiguous; through
which countries the road to Egypt lies.
The country between the Nile and the Arabian Gulf is Arabia, and at its
extremity is situated Pelusium. But the whole is desert, and not
passable by an army. The isthmus between Pelusium and the recess of the
Arabian Gulf near Heroopolis is 1000 stadia; but, according to
Poseidonius, less than 1500 stadia in extent. Besides its being sandy
and without water, it abounds with reptiles, which burrow in the sand.
22. In sailing up the river from Schedia to Memphis,[839] on the right
hand, are a great many villages extending as far as the lake Mareia,
among which is that called the village of Chabrias. Upon the river is
Hermopolis, then Gynæcopolis, and the Gynæcopolite Nome; next Momemphis
and the Momemphite Nome. Between these places are many canals, which
empty themselves into the lake Mareotis. The Momemphitæ worship Venus,
and a sacred cow is kept there, as Apis is maintained at Memphis, and
Mneyis[840] at Heliopolis. [CAS. 803] These animals are regarded as
gods, but there are other places, and these are numerous, both in the
Delta and beyond it, in which a bull or a cow is maintained, which are
not regarded as gods, but only as sacred.
23. Above Momemphis are two nitre mines, which furnish nitre in large
quantities, and the Nitriote Nome. Here Sarapis is worshipped, and they
are the only people in Egypt who sacrifice a sheep. In this nome and
near this place is a city called Menelaus. On the left hand in the
Delta, upon the river, is Naucratis. At the distance of two schœni from
the river is Saïs,[841] and a little above it the asylum of Osiris, in
which it is said Osiris is buried. This, however, is questioned by many
persons, and particularly by the inhabitants of Philæ, which is situated
above Syene and Elephantina. These people tell this tale, that Isis
placed coffins of Osiris in various places, but that one only contained
the body of Osiris, so that no one knew which of them it was; and that
she did this with the intention of concealing it from Typhon,[842] who
might come and cast the body out of its place of deposit.
24. This is the description of the country from Alexandreia to the
vertex of the Delta.
Artemidorus says, that the navigation up the river is 28 schœni, which
amount to 840 stadia, reckoning the schœnus at 30 stadia. When we
ourselves sailed up the river, schœni of different measures were used at
different places in giving the distances, so that sometimes the received
schœnus was a measure of 40 stadia and even more. That the measure of
the schœnus was unsettled among the Egyptians, Artemidorus himself shows
in a subsequent place. In reckoning the distance from Memphis to
Thebaïs, he says that each schœnus consists of 120 stadia, and from the
Thebaïs to Syene of 60 stadia. In sailing up from Pelusium to the same
vertex of the Delta, is a distance, he says, of 25 schœni, or 750
stadia, and he employs the same measure.
On setting out from Pelusium, the first canal met with is that which
fills the lakes, “near the marshes,” as they are called. There are two
of these lakes, situated upon the left hand of the great stream above
Pelusium in Arabia. He mentions other lakes also, and canals in the same
parts beyond the Delta.
The Sethroïte Nome extends along one of the two lakes. He reckons this
as one of the ten nomes in the Delta. There are two other canals, which
discharge themselves into the same lakes.
25. There is another canal also, which empties itself into the Red Sea,
or Arabian Gulf, near the city Arsinoë, which some call Cleopatris. [843]
It flows through the Bitter Lakes, as [CAS. 804] they are called, which
were bitter formerly, but when the above-mentioned canal was cut, the
bitter quality was altered by their junction with the river, and at
present they contain excellent fish, and abound with aquatic birds.
The canal was first cut by Sesostris before the Trojan times, but
according to other writers, by the son of[844] Psammitichus, who only
began the work, and afterwards died; lastly, Darius the First succeeded
to the completion of the undertaking, but he desisted from continuing
the work, when it was nearly finished, influenced by an erroneous
opinion that the level of the Red Sea was higher than Egypt, and that if
the whole of the intervening isthmus were cut through, the country would
be overflowed by the sea. The Ptolemaïc kings however did cut through
it, and placed locks upon the canal,[845] so that they sailed, when they
pleased, without obstruction into the outer sea, and back again [into
the canal].
We have spoken of the surfaces of bodies of water in the first part of
this work. [846]
26. Near Arsinoë are situated in the recess of the Arabian Gulf towards
Egypt, Heroopolis and Cleopatris; harbours, suburbs, many canals, and
lakes are also near. There also is the Phagroriopolite Nome, and the
city Phagroriopolis. The canal, which empties itself into the Red Sea,
begins at the village Phaccusa, to which the village of Philon is
contiguous. The canal is 100 cubits broad, and its depth sufficient to
float a vessel of large burden. These places are near the apex of the
Delta.
27. There also are the city Bubastus[847] and the Bubastite Nome, and
above it the Heliopolite Nome. There too is Heliopolis, situated upon a
large mound. It contains a temple of the sun, and the ox Mneyis, which
is kept in a sanctuary, and is regarded by the inhabitants as a god, as
Apis is regarded by the people of Memphis. In front of the mound are
lakes, into which the neighbouring canal discharges itself. At present
the city is entirely deserted. It has an ancient temple constructed
after the Egyptian manner, bearing many proofs of the madness and
sacrilegious acts of Cambyses, who did very great injury to the temples,
partly by fire, partly by violence, mutilating [in some] cases, and
applying fire [in others]. In this manner he injured the obelisks, two
of which, that were not entirely spoilt, were transported to Rome. [848]
There are others both here and at Thebes, the present Diospolis, some of
which are standing, much corroded by fire, and others lying on the
ground.
28. The plan of the temples is as follows.
At the entrance into the temenus is a paved floor, in breadth about a
plethrum, or even less; its length is three or four times as great, and
in some instances even more. This part is called Dromos, and is
mentioned by Callimachus,
“this is the Dromos, sacred to Anubis. ”
Throughout the whole length on each side are placed stone sphinxes, at
the distance of 20 cubits or a little more from each other, so that
there is one row of sphinxes on the right hand, and another on the left.
Next after the sphinxes is a large propylon, then on proceeding further,
another propylon, and then another. Neither the number of the propyla
nor of the sphinxes is determined by any rule. They are different in
different temples, as well as the length and breadth of the Dromi.
[CAS. 805] Next to the propyla is the naos, which has a large and
considerable pronaos; the sanctuary in proportion; there is no statue,
at least not in human shape, but a representation of some of the brute
animals. On each side of the pronaos project what are called the wings.
These are two walls of equal height with the naos. At first the distance
between them is a little more than the breadth of the foundation of the
naos. [849] As you proceed onwards, the [base] lines incline towards one
another till they approach within 50 or 60 cubits. These walls have
large sculptured figures, very much like the Tyrrhenian (Etruscan) and
very ancient works among the Greeks.
There is also a building with a great number of pillars, as at Memphis,
in the barbaric style; for, except the magnitude and number and rows of
pillars, there is nothing pleasing nor easily described,[850] but rather
a display of labour wasted.
29. At Heliopolis we saw large buildings in which the priests lived. For
it is said that anciently this was the principal residence of the
priests, who studied philosophy and astronomy. But there are no longer
either such a body of persons or such pursuits. No one was pointed out
to us on the spot, as presiding over these studies, but only persons who
performed sacred rites, and who explained to strangers [the
peculiarities of] the temples.
A person of the name of Chæremon accompanied the governor, Ælius Gallus,
in his journey from Alexandreia into Egypt, and pretended to some
knowledge of this kind, but he was generally ridiculed for his boasting
and ignorance. The houses of the priests, and the residences of Plato
and of Eudoxus, were shown to us. Eudoxus came here with Plato, and,
according to some writers, lived thirteen years in the society of the
priests. For the latter were distinguished for their knowledge of the
heavenly bodies, but were mysterious and uncommunicative, yet after a
time were prevailed upon by courtesy to acquaint them with some of the
principles of their science, but the barbarians concealed the greater
part of them. They had, however, communicated the knowledge of the
additional portions of the day and night, in the space of 365 days,
necessary to complete the annual period; and, at that time, the length
of the year was unknown to the Greeks, as were many other things, until
later astronomers received them from the persons who translated the
records of the priests into the Greek language, and even now derive
knowledge from their writings and from those of the Chaldeans. [851]
30. After Heliopolis is the “Nile above the Delta. ” The country on the
right hand, as you go up the Nile, is called Libya, as well as that near
Alexandreia and the lake Mareotis; the country on the left hand is
called Arabia. The territory belonging to Heliopolis is in Arabia, but
the city Cercesura is in Libya, and situated opposite to the observatory
of Eudoxus. For there is shown an observing station in front of
Heliopolis, as there is in front of Cnidus, where Eudoxus marked certain
motions of the heavenly bodies. This is the Letopolite Nome.
In sailing up the river we meet with Babylon, a strong fortress, built
by some Babylonians who had taken refuge there, and had obtained
permission from the kings to establish a settlement in that place. At
present it is an encampment for one of the three legions which garrison
Egypt. There is a mountainous ridge, which extends from the encampment
as far as the Nile. At this ridge are wheels and screws, by which water
is raised from the river, and one hundred and fifty prisoners are [thus]
employed.
The pyramids on the other side [of the river] at Memphis may be clearly
discerned from this place, for they are not far off.
31. Memphis itself also, the residence of the kings of Egypt, is near,
being only three schœni distant from the Delta. It contains temples,
among which is that of Apis, who is the same as Osiris. Here the ox Apis
is kept in a sort of sanctuary, and is held, as I have said, to be a
god. The forehead and some other small parts of its body are white; the
other parts are black. By these marks the fitness of the successor
[CAS. 807] is always determined, when the animal to which they pay these
honours dies. In front of the sanctuary is a court, in which there is
another sanctuary for the dam of Apis. Into this court the Apis is let
loose at times, particularly for the purpose of exhibiting him to
strangers. He is seen through a door in the sanctuary, and he is
permitted to be seen also out of it. After he has frisked about a little
in the court, he is taken back to his own stall.
The temple of Apis is near the Hephæsteium (or temple of Vulcan); the
Hephæsteium[852] itself is very sumptuously constructed, both as regards
the size of the naos and in other respects. In front of the Dromos is a
colossal figure consisting of a single stone. It is usual to celebrate
bull-fights in this Dromos; the bulls are bred expressly for this
purpose, like horses. They are let loose, and fight with one another,
the conqueror receiving a prize.
At Memphis also there is a temple of Venus, who is accounted a Grecian
deity. But some say that it is a temple dedicated to Selene, or the
moon. [853]
32. There is also a temple of Sarapis, situated in a very sandy spot,
where the sand is accumulated in masses by the wind. Some of the
sphinxes which we saw were buried in this sand up to the head, and one
half only of others was visible. Hence we may conceive the danger,
should any one, in his way to the temple, be surprised by a [sand]
storm.
The city is large and populous; it ranks next to Alexandreia, and, like
that place, is inhabited by mixed races of people. There are lakes in
front of the city and of the palaces, which at present are in ruins and
deserted. They are situated upon an eminence, and extend as far as the
lower part of the city.
Close to this place are a grove and a lake.
33. At the distance of 40 stadia from Memphis is a brow of a hill, on
which are many pyramids, the tombs of the kings. [854] Three of them are
considerable. Two of these are reckoned among the seven wonders [of the
world]. They are a stadium in height, and of a quadrangular shape. Their
height somewhat exceeds the length of each of the sides. [855] One
pyramid is a little larger than the other.
