§2.15.1εἰ ὦν βουλόμεθα γνώμῃσι τῇσι Ἰώνων χρᾶσθαι τὰ περὶ Αἴγυπτον, οἳ φασὶ τὸ Δέλτα μοῦνον εἶναι Αἴγυπτον, ἀπὸ Περσέος καλεομένης σκοπιῆς λέγοντες τὸ παρὰ θάλασσαν εἶναι αὐτῆς μέχρι Ταριχηίων τῶν Πηλουσιακῶν, τῇ δὴ τεσσεράκοντα εἰσὶ σχοῖνοι, τὸ δὲ ἀπὸ θαλάσσης λεγόντων ἐς μεσόγαιαν τείνειν αὐτὴν μέχρι Κερκασώρου πόλιος, κατʼ ἣν σχίζεται ὁ Νεῖλος ἔς τε Πηλούσιον ῥέων καὶ ἐς Κάνωβον, τὰ δὲ ἄλλα λεγόντων τῆς Αἰγύπτου τὰ μὲν Λιβύης τὰ δὲ Ἀραβίης εἶναι, ἀποδεικνύοιμεν ἂν τούτῳ τῷ λόγῳ χρεώμενοι Αἰγυπτίοισι οὐκ ἐοῦσαν πρότερον χώρην.
If then we choose to follow the opinion of the Ionians concerning Egypt, who say that the Delta alone is Egypt, stating that its seaboard extends from the so-called Watchtower of Perseus to the Pelusian Taricheae, where indeed the distance is forty schoinoi, and saying that from the sea it extends inland as far as the city of Kerkasoros, at which point the Nile divides and flows to Pelusion and to Kanobos, and saying that the other parts of Egypt belong partly to Libya and partly to Arabia—if we were to follow this argument, we should demonstrate that the Egyptians formerly had no land at all.
§2.15.2ἤδη γάρ σφι τό γε Δέλτα, ὡς αὐτοὶ λέγουσι Αἰγύπτιοι καὶ ἐμοὶ δοκέει, ἐστὶ κατάρρυτόν τε καὶ νεωστὶ ὡς λόγῳ εἰπεῖν ἀναπεφηνός.
For indeed their Delta, as the Egyptians themselves say and as it seems to me also, is an alluvial land and has appeared, so to speak, only recently.
εἰ τοίνυν σφι χώρη γε μηδεμία ὑπῆρχε, τί περιεργάζοντο δοκέοντες πρῶτοι ἀνθρώπων γεγονέναι;
If then they had no land at all to begin with, why did they trouble themselves with the belief that they were the first of men to have come into being?
οὐδὲ ἔδει σφέας ἐς διάπειραν τῶν παιδίων ἰέναι, τίνα γλῶσσαν πρώτην ἀπήσουσι.
Nor was there any need for them to make trial of the children, to see what tongue they would first utter.
§2.15.3ἀλλʼ οὔτε Αἰγυπτίους δοκέω ἅμα τῷ Δέλτα τῷ ὑπὸ Ἰώνων καλεομένῳ γενέσθαι αἰεί τε εἶναι ἐξ οὗ ἀνθρώπων γένος ἐγένετο, προϊούσης δὲ τῆς χώρης πολλοὺς μὲν τοὺς ὑπολειπομένους αὐτῶν γενέσθαι πολλοὺς δὲ τοὺς ὑποκαταβαίνοντας.
But I do not think that the Egyptians came into being at the same time as the Delta, which is so called by the Ionians, but rather that they have always existed ever since the human race came into being; and as the land advanced, many of them remained behind, while many others went down into the new land.
τὸ δʼ ὦν πάλαι αἱ Θῆβαι Αἴγυπτος ἐκαλέετο, τῆς τὸ περίμετρον στάδιοι εἰσὶ εἴκοσι καὶ ἑκατὸν καὶ ἑξακισχίλιοι.
At all events, in ancient times Thebes was called Egypt, the circumference of which is six thousand one hundred and twenty stadia.