Geography

​After Thebes comes the city of Hermonthis, in which both Apollo and Zeus are honored; and here too a bull is kept. Next is the City of Crocodiles, which honors the beast. Then the City of Aphrodite, and after this Latopolis, which honors Athena and the latus fish. Then the City of Eileithyia and her temple. On the opposite bank is the City of Hawks, which honors the hawk. Then another City of Apollo, which is also at war with the crocodiles.

​As for Syene and Elephantine, the former is a city on the borders of Ethiopia and Egypt, and the latter is an island in the Nile lying half a stadium in front of Syene, and in this island is a city having a temple of Cnuphis and a nilometer, just like Memphis. The nilometer is a well constructed of closely-fitted stone on the bank of the Nile, in which they record the rises of the Nile, both the greatest, the least, and the mean; for the water in the well rises and falls along with the river. There are therefore on the wall of the well markings, measures of the complete and of the other rises. Those who inspect these, therefore, signal to the others so that they may know; for from such signs and from the days they know long beforehand the coming rise, and they announce it. This is useful both to the husbandmen for the sake of the distribution of the waters, and of the embankments and canals and other such things, and to the rulers for the sake of the revenues; for the greater rises indicate greater revenues. And in Syene there is also the well that indicates the summer solstice, because these places lie under the tropic circle. For to those proceeding southward from our places, I mean the Greek places, here first the sun comes directly overhead for us, and makes the gnomons cast no shadow at noon. And it is necessary, when it comes directly overhead for us, that its rays should also strike into the wells as far as the water, even if they are very deep; for we stand vertically, and the shafts of the wells are constructed vertically. And there are three Roman cohorts stationed here for the sake of defense.

​A little above Elephantine is the small cataract, where the boatmen also show a kind of spectacle to the commanders. For the cataract is in the middle of the river, a rocky shelf, flat on top so as to receive the river, but ending in a precipice, down which the water rushes. On either side near the land is a stream, which especially permits navigation upward. Having sailed up by this, therefore, they drift down to the cataract and are pushed along with the boat to the precipice, and are saved together with it without harm. A little above the cataract lies Philae, a common settlement of Ethiopians and Egyptians, built like Elephantine and equal to it in size, having Egyptian temples. There too a bird is honored which they call a hawk, but it seemed to me to have nothing in common with the hawks among us and in Egypt, but it was both larger in size and very different in its varied coloring. They said it was Ethiopian, and was brought from there whenever it failed as before; and indeed at that time it was shown to us as being near death on account of disease.

​We went to Philae from Syene in a carriage through a very level plain, about one hundred stadia altogether. And along the whole road it was possible to see in many places on either side, like herms, a lofty, round rock, sufficiently smooth and nearly spherical, of the black and hard stone from which mortars are made, lying upon a larger rock, and upon that again another; and sometimes the rocks lay by themselves. The largest was not less than twelve feet in diameter, and all were larger than half of this. And we crossed over to the island on a pakton; and the pakton is a small boat constructed of small rods, so as to resemble wickerwork. Standing in the water, or sitting on some small planks, we crossed easily, fearing in vain; for there is no danger, unless someone overloads the ferry-boat.