§17.1.4Ἀπὸ γὰρ τῶν Αἰθιοπικῶν τερμόνων ῥεῖ ἐπʼ εὐθείας ὁ Νεῖλος πρὸς ἄρκτους ἕως τοῦ καλουμένου χωρίου Δέλτα· εἶτʼ ἐπὶ κορυφὴν σχιζόμενος, ὥς φησιν ὁ Πλάτων, ὡς ἂν τριγώνου κορυφὴν ἀποτελεῖ τὸν τόπον τοῦτον· πλευρὰς δὲ τοῦ τριγώνου τὰ σχιζόμενα ἐφʼ ἑκάτερα ῥεῖθρα καθήκοντα μέχρι τῆς θαλάττης, τὸ μὲν ἐν δεξιᾷ τῆς κατὰ Πηλούσιον, τὸ δʼ ἐν ἀριστερᾷ τῆς κατὰ Κάνωβον καὶ τὸ πλησίον Ἡράκλειον προσαγορευόμενον· βάσιν δὲ τὴν παραλίαν τὴν μεταξὺ τοῦ Πηλουσίου καὶ τοῦ Ἡρακλείου.
For from the Ethiopian boundaries the Nile flows in a straight line towards the north as far as the place called Delta; then splitting at the apex, as Plato says, it makes this place as it were the apex of a triangle; and the streams that split to either side and reach down to the sea make the sides of the triangle, the one on the right being that near Pelusium, and the one on the left being that near Canobus and the neighboring place called Heracleium; and the coast between Pelusium and Heracleium makes the base.
γέγονε δὴ νῆσος ἔκ τε τῆς θαλάττης καὶ τῶν ῥευμάτων ἀμφοῖν τοῦ ποταμοῦ, καὶ καλεῖται Δέλτα διὰ τὴν ὁμοιότητα τοῦ σχήματος· τὸ δʼ ἐπὶ τῇ κορυφῇ χωρίον ὁμωνύμως κέκληται διὰ τὸ ἀρχὴν εἶναι τοῦ λεχθέντος σχήματος, καὶ ἡ κώμη δὲ ἡ ἐπʼ αὐτῷ καλεῖται Δέλτα.
Thus an island has been formed both by the sea and by the two streams of the river, and it is called Delta because of the similarity of its shape; and the place at the apex is called by the same name because it is the beginning of the said shape, and the village upon it is also called Delta.
δύο μὲν οὖν ταῦτα τοῦ Νείλου στόματα, ὧν τὸ μὲν Πηλουσιακὸν καλεῖται, τὸ δὲ Κανωβικὸν καὶ Ἡρακλειωτικόν· μεταξὺ δὲ τούτων ἄλλαι πέντε εἰσὶν ἐκβολαὶ αἵ γε ἀξιόλογοι, λεπτότεραι δὲ πλείους· ἀπὸ γὰρ τῶν πρώτων μερῶν ἀπορρῶγες πολλαὶ καθʼ ὅλην μερισθεῖσαι τὴν νῆσον πολλὰ καὶ ῥεῖθρα καὶ νήσους ἐποίησαν, ὥσθʼ ὅλην γενέσθαι πλωτὴν διωρύγων ἐπὶ διώρυξι τμηθεισῶν, αἳ κατὰ ῥᾳστώνην πλέονται τοσαύτην ὥστε καὶ ὀστράκινα ἐνίοις εἶναι πορθμεῖα·
These, then, are two mouths of the Nile, of which one is called the Pelusiac, and the other the Canobic and Heracleiotic; and between these there are five other outlets, at least those that are noteworthy, and many more that are finer; for many branches branching off from the first parts of the river, having been distributed through the whole island, have made many streams and islands, so that the whole island has become navigable, canals having been cut upon canals; and these are sailed with such ease that even earthenware ferry-boats are used by some.
τὴν μὲν οὖν περίμετρον ὅσον τρισχιλίων σταδίων ἐστὶν ἡ σύμπασα νῆσος· καλοῦσι δʼ αὐτὴν καὶ τὴν κάτω χώραν σὺν ταῖς ἀπαντικρὺ ποταμίαις τοῦ Δέλτα·
The perimeter, then, of the whole island is about three thousand stadia; and they call this island, together with the river-lands opposite the Delta, the Lower Country.
ἐν δὲ ταῖς ἀναβάσεσι τοῦ Νείλου καλύπτεται πᾶσα καὶ πελαγίζει πλὴν τῶν οἰκήσεων· αὗται δʼ ἐπὶ λόφων αὐτοφυῶν ἢ χωμάτων ἵδρυνται, πόλεις τε ἀξιόλογοι καὶ κῶμαι, νησίζουσαι κατὰ τὴν πόρρωθεν ὄψιν.
And during the rises of the Nile, the whole of it is covered and becomes a sea, except for the habitations; and these are settled upon natural hills or embankments, being noteworthy cities and villages, appearing like islands from a distance.
πλείους δὲ τετταράκοντα ἡμέρας τοῦ θέρους διαμεῖναν τὸ ὕδωρ ἔπειθʼ ὑπόβασιν λαμβάνει κατʼ ὀλίγον, καθάπερ καὶ τὴν αὔξησιν ἔσχεν· ἐν ἑξήκοντα δὲ ἡμέραις τελέως γυμνοῦται καὶ ἀναψύχεται τὸ πεδίον· ὅσῳ δὲ θᾶττον ἡ ἀνάψυξις, τοσῷδε θᾶττον ὁ ἄροτος καὶ ὁ σπόρος· θᾶττον δέ, παρʼ οἷς τὰ μείζω θάλπη.
After the water has remained for more than forty days in the summer, it then begins to subside little by little, just as it made its rise; and in sixty days the plain is completely bared and dried; and the quicker the drying, the quicker the ploughing and the sowing; and it is quicker among those who experience the greater heat.
τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ τὰ ἐπάνω τοῦ Δέλτα ποτίζεται, πλὴν ὅτι ἐπʼ εὐθείας ὅσον τετρακισχιλίοις σταδίοις διʼ ἑνὸς ῥείθρου τοῦ ποταμοῦ φερομένου, πλὴν εἴ πού τις ἐντρέχει νῆσος, ὧν ἀξιολογωτάτη ἡ τὸν Ἡρακλειωτικὸν νομὸν περιέχουσα, ἢ εἴ πού τις ἐκτροπὴ διώρυγι ἐπὶ πλέον εἰς λίμνην μεγάλην καὶ χώραν, ἣν ποτίζειν δύναται, καθάπερ ἐπὶ τῆς τὸν Ἀρσινοΐτην νομὸν ποτιζούσης καὶ τὴν Μοίριδος λίμνην καὶ τῶν εἰς τὴν Μαρεῶτιν ἀναχεομένων.
In the same manner the region above the Delta is also watered, except that the river flows in a straight line for about four thousand stadia through a single stream, unless some island runs in between, of which the most noteworthy is that containing the Heracleotic nome, or unless there is some diversion by a canal to a greater extent into a large lake and country which it is able to water, as in the case of the canal watering the Arsinoïte nome and Lake Moeris, and the canals discharging into Lake Mareotis.
συλλήβδην δʼ εἰπεῖν, ἡ ποταμία μόνον ἐστὶν Αἴγυπτος ἡ ἑκατέρωθεν * ἐσχάτη τοῦ Νείλου, σπάνιον εἴ που τριακοσίων σταδίων ἐπέχουσα συνεχῶς πλάτος τὸ οἰκήσιμον ἀρξαμένη ἀπὸ τῶν ὅρων τῆς Αἰθιοπίας μέχρι τῆς κορυφῆς τοῦ Δέλτα.
To speak in brief, Egypt is only the river-land on the extreme on either side of the Nile, which rarely has a continuous habitable width of as much as three hundred stadia, starting from the boundaries of Ethiopia as far as the apex of the Delta.
ἔοικεν οὖν κειρία * ψυχομένη ἐπὶ μῆκος, ὑπεξαιρουμένων τῶν ἐπὶ πλέον ἐκτροπῶν.
So it resembles a bandage stretched out and drying along its length, if one excepts the larger diversions.
ποιεῖ δὲ τὸ σχῆμα τοῦτο τῆς ποταμίας ἧς λέγω καὶ τῆς χώρας τὰ ὄρη τὰ ἑκατέρωθεν ἀπὸ τῶν περὶ Συήνην τόπων καταγόμενα μέχρι τοῦ Αἰγυπτίου πελάγους· ἐφʼ ὅσον γὰρ ταῦτα παρατείνει καὶ διέστηκεν ἀπʼ ἀλλήλων, ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον καὶ ὁ ποταμὸς συνάγεταί τε καὶ διαχεῖται καὶ διασχηματίζει τὴν χώραν διαφόρως τὴν οἰκήσιμον· ἡ δὲ ὑπὲρ τῶν ὀρῶν ἐπὶ συχνὸν ἀοίκητός ἐστιν.
And the mountains on either side, coming down from the parts around Syene as far as the Egyptian sea, produce this shape of the river-land of which I speak and of the country; for as far as these extend and are distant from one another, so far the river is also contracted and poured out, and shapes the habitable land in different ways; and the region beyond the mountains is uninhabitable for a great distance.